High Altitude
I am at almost 1,000 feet above sea level. At such a high altitude my body has to compensate for certain deficiencies. More specifically, the oxygen level at this elevation is much lower than at sea level. The people who live in this city have more red blood cells (hemoglobin) and larger lung capacity. Why do they have more blood cells? See if you can figure it out before you get to the end of this post!
Red blood cells pick up oxygen as they pass through the lungs. The device in the picture above measured my heart beats per minute and my oxygen saturation level (how much oxygen is in my blood). Since I've arrived in Addis Ababa, my heart rate has increased to almost 100 beats per minute, up from my normal 60 - 70 beats per minute. My oxygen saturation has been low as well. I'm breathing more frequently and I get winded climbing one flight of stairs. I've got to work extra hard to get the oxygen I need and circulate it throughout my body (Thus, the heart and blood vessels are called the _____________ system). Wouldn't it be great to have a few more blood cells?
How to Use this Blog
Dear Students,
Please accept my “virtual invitation” to join me on this profound mission, this exciting adventure!
Blog posts will include a chronicle of daily events, interviews with patients and volunteers, and photographs.
Some brief advice on reading blog posts.
1. Go to the top of the page to find the most recent post.
2. Read the date at the top of the latest entry.
3. Read the entries from the bottom up for each date. Each entry posted on that date will be time stamped. This will help you read the posts in order (this may be relevant if we are following a particular story of a patient or event).
4. To find a list of all blog posts, go to the bottom right hand side of the blog. The entries are listed by date and title.
Sincerely,
Mr. Bucs
The Mission
On February 13, 2009 I will be traveling to Addis Adaba, Ethiopia with the World Surgical Foundation as a volunteer. I will be assisting the videographer, collecting and recording daily surgical data, maintaining the Foundation’s daily blog, and acting as a liaison for the press. For two weeks the volunteer doctors and nurses of WSF will be providing much needed surgical procedures to people who do not have adequate access to health care.
Addis Ababa: "The Capital of Africa"
Addis Ababa is the largest city in Ethiopia (about 3,000,000 people). Ethiopia has the unique distinction of being considered the origin of modern humans due to several very important hominid fossils which were discovered there, the most famous of which is the Australopithecine “Lucy.” Furthermore, a recent study suggests that Addis Ababa is the exact location of the origin of modern humans. After analyzing the DNA of 985 people around the world, geneticists and other scientists claim that they have found a pattern which shows that homo sapiens left Addis Ababa 100,000 years ago and migrated throughout the world. The DNA evidence indicates that genetic diversity declines steadily the farther one's ancestors traveled from Addis Ababa, which suggests that all homo sapiens throughout the world are descendents of small populations of individuals who branched off from a larger group of individuals in Ethiopia.
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