TRAVELS AROUND THE WORLD
Medical Volunteer
I still remember the day in 1969 when Dr . Hunt had asked me why I wanted to be a neurosurgeon . I had told him that I wanted to be an international volunteer . I was a resident in a department where Dr . Robert Zollinger ( Zollinger-Ellison syndrome ) was the Chairman of the Department of Surgery , and Dr . William E . Hunt ( Tolosa-Hunt syndrome and Hunt-Hess classification of aneurysms ) was the Chief of Neurosurgery .
In June 1988 I left Louisville for Londrina , Brazil to work in a hospital that was run by the Presbyterians . I didn ’ t speak any Portuguese , but I had memorized a few phrases before I left . I thought Dr . Alvaro would meet me at the airport , but I had not communicated well so after I had waited for a while , I realized that I needed to find a hotel . He met me the next morning ( I had the front desk call him to let him know that I had arrived ) and took me to the hospital . We made rounds and made plans for our operating schedule . I stayed for a month , and we operated together three days a week . My job was to discuss different options and help whenever I was asked . Dr . Alvaro spoke English and introduced me to the
by TIMIR BANERJEE , MD other physicians , nurses and the preacher of the local Presbyterian church . The preacher thought that since I was from Louisville ( it is the headquarters for the Presbyterians ) I might be able to help him with his salary . He was a little disappointed to learn that I was only an underling and not a boss and I had nothing to do with his salary . After the end of the day Dr . Alvaro took me to his club where we drank Antarctica , Skol and Brahma beer . I soon realized that Brahma was a great soporific .
I had asked Dr . Alvaro ’ s wife if she could arrange an evening class where I could teach English to people she knew in exchange for my audience to teach me Portuguese . Soon , three of my evenings every week were occupied in mutual learning and eating good Brazilian food . Every morning I drank a glass of suco de naranja and ate a papaya for one dollar , and I walked a mile to the hospital . Some evenings my colleagues invited me to their clubs where they played tennis and I watched . We talked about our lives , football , soccer , Pele , Xu Xa and other topics that interested us then .
One day we had a patient with a posterior communicating aneurysm to operate on and we didn ’ t have a good drill . So the doctor and I drove to Paraguay , a short distance from Londrina ,
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