Istanbul - Last Stop before Home!

After our wonderful time in Ankara, we were off for the final leg of our journey - Istanbul.
The plan for Istanbul was to see as much of this amazing city as possible in roughly 5 1/2 hours!!!!  Our tour guides were two local pediatric orthopedic surgeons- Ilker and Enis. 
We set out to tour Istanbul like orthopedic ward rounds - concise and to the point.
Despite our time constraints, we were able to see much of the old city including:

Istanbul University-one of the oldest centers of higher learning

on

Constantine Column - constructed in 330AD to commemorate Byzantium as the new capital of the the Roman Empire

 The famous Blue Mosque - pictured with Ilker one of our awesome guides.

 The Hagia Sophia pictured in the background (we later toured the inside) the mosaics inside were phenomenal! Enis, our other awesome "tour guide," pictured here with us.


After Hagia Sophia and a quick bite for lunch we were off for a boat tour of the Bosphorous Strait.

Off the boat and a quick walking tour in the Spice Market and a little shopping at the famous Bazaar - Let's just say some areas of Istanbul were crowded!!!  It was good to have knowledgeable guides!

We finished our evening with a wonderful dinner (with Enis, Ilker, and Professor Muharrem Inan) at a restaurant overlooking the Bosphorous.

That night, a final bittersweet drink was shared between fellows back at the hotel.  Over the past two weeks we have met so many amazing people and we have learned many things.  Perhaps best of all, the three of fellows shared a bond that will last the rest of our lives.  Thank you EPOS, POSNA, and all of our wonderful hosts for this truly amazing opportunity and experience- the 2014 POSNA/EPOS Traveling Fellows.

We then set off for our last legs of our fantastic trip to Europe....Turkey!  After a very easy travel day from Germany to Istanbul to Ankara, we settled in and got ready for our visit to the Hacettepe University in Ankara.  Our local host was Professor Muharrem Yazici, immediate past president of EPOS.

One of the best parts of the fellowship was the close friendships made.

Professor Yazici organized a comprehensive day of lectures from his staff (including Salih Marangoz, future EPOS traveling fellow), and the POSNA fellows.

After the lecture program, we were able to tour the old city of Ankara, including the Anatolian Civilization Museum.

Surgical instruments from 200 AD!

We were very impressed with the Hacettepe University Medical Center, and we saw some amazing surgical cases.

Here is Professor Yazici demonstrating their technique for a very stiff neuromuscular scoliosis case.

Fantastic view of the beautiful city of Ankara.  Once again, we were so thankful for such wonderful hosts, great food and entertainment, and making contacts and friends that will last our entire career.  Our last stop will be Istanbul!

After a great meeting in Bruges, it was off to the next country on our adventure.  A short trip to neighbouring Germany (via Denmark!), we were greeted at the airport by Professor Thomas Wirth.  

Our Sunday started with a visit to Prof Wirth’s home to meet his family.  We hiked up Birkenkopf, a hill that is composed of 1.5 million cubic metres of rubble from the destruction of over 45% of Stuttgart during World War II.  A stunning view of the city!  A walking tour of the city centre with his wife Yvonne oriented us to the layout and demonstrated the mix of preserved and rebuilt architecture.  We toured an adjacent wine region and visited the Wurttemberg Mausoleum. 

The highlight of our afternoon was a trip to the incredible Mercedes Benz Museum - a building that is truly remarkable inside and out.  Thoughful architecture and design befitting its subject and content. 

Our day ended with a family dinner at Prof Wirth’s home with his family.  Local cuisine and libations were enjoyed by all!

Monday signified the return to the work week and our first visit to Olga Hospital.  We had the opportunity to present our individual research programs as well as participate in a review of the trauma cases from a busy weekend for the house staff.  We met the orthopaedic residents from the hospital as well as the full orthopaedic faculty: Drs Oliver Eberhart, Micha Langendorfer, Michael Wachowsky and Francisco Fernandez. We spent the day in the operating room observing a variety of cases where we were impressed not only by the pathology but the efficiency of the operating theatres.  At the end of a busy clinical day we had the opportunity to tour the new hospital facility with the orthopaedic faculty and their full complement of residents.  A very exciting time for everyone there seeing their new offices, clinics and wards for the first time.

Our second clinical day started with more sharing of cases and research presentations followed by a half day in the operating room.  The afternoon included a once in a life time experience - a private tour of the Porsche factory and museum.   Due to the unparalleled access of our tour, we were not allowed to bring our cameras - Top Secret!  The museum presented the history of Porsche and the evolution of their iconic cars over the past 100 years.  We re-joined the rest of the Olga Hospital orthopaedic faculty for a dinner in one of the oldest buildings in Stuttgart where we enjoyed traditional Swabian food and drink. 

     

Our final morning in Stuttgart was capped off with a working rounds of the wards where the residents presented each patient in remarkable detail in English for our benefit.  Yvonne kindly drove us to the airport and bid us Auf Wiedersehen.  Next stop Turkey!

33rd Annual Meeting of the European Paediatric Orthopaedic Society

After a fantastic day in Ghent, we headed to the picturesque town of Bruges, Belgium for the EPOS meeting.  We had all heard about this wonderful historic town,  and it has certainly lived up to the hype.

The meeting was held in the Concertgebouw, and we were very nicely housed right across the street.  We enjoyed the scientific program, learning about the perspectives of our colleagues in Europe.  But, most importantly, the best part of the meeting has been making so many new friends from EPOS and hanging out with the POSNA leadership.

The opening reception was held in the Belfry at the City Centre.

One of the main "squares" of Bruges, across from the Concert Hall.

Finally, the meeting wrapped up at the Provinciaal Hof with the Gala Dinner, where we were the guests at the EPOS Presidential table, with Deb Eastwood from the U.K.  We have absolutely loved our time in Belgium and are very grateful to our wonderful hosts.  We are excited to start the next segment of our trip.  Off to Germany!

Day 3
After awaking from our first night in Ghent (or Gent), we were taken to the "kinderziekenhuis Prinses Elisabeth," the children's hospital in Ghent, by our host Frank Plasschaert (on the left below).

The old children's hospital could be seen from the road and had outdoor patio areas that were designed for children suffering from TB.  In addition, we had a chance to visit Frank's gait lab.   As Wade has been building a gait lab in Phoenix, he was especially interested in the set-up here in Ghent. 

While in Ghent, we were lucky to also be accompanied by Nanni Allington (below left), a pediatric orthopedic surgeon from Liege, Belgium - who took many of the photos while we were in Ghent.

After touring the hospitals in Ghent, we had a wonderful outdoor lunch (ask Wade about the Gambas), in what has been described as unusually excellent weather for this time of year in Belgium.

After lunch we were able to explore Gravensteen Castle, a true medieval castle (~11th century). 

This same castle was used later as a center for courts/judgement.  With our medical background the "Implements of Justice" that were used to extract confessions from those on trial were quite disturbing.

As our local hosts (Renaud, Frank, and Nanni ) were also the local hosts for the annual EPOS (European Pediatric Orthopaedic Society) meeting in Bruges, Belgium; we needed to get to Bruges in the afternoon (Bruges city gate below).  Here the fellows had the night "off" and really enjoyed getting to know one another better while exploring Bruges.

Follow our experience at the EPOS annual meeting in Bruges in the upcoming blogs!
 

Day 2

Our second day started bright and early with a visit to St. Pierre University Hospital in Brussels.   We enjoyed a presentation by Prof Everard Munting detailing the Spine Tango registry.  Lots of lessons learned and great advice for those of us embarking on registries of our own.

We had the opportunity to observe Dr. Renaud Rossillon in the operating room.  One of the greatest parts of this fellowship is the chance to observe subtle differences and reassuring similarities.  Wade and Matt were more than happy to weigh-in with their opinions on lowest instrumented vertebrae.

In the afternoon we had our first opportunity to share some of our research presentations and discuss some complex cases presented by the residents.  An anatomically correct Belgian chocolate limb was a special treat!

After a busy day, we made the short drive to Ghent to visit Dr. Frank Plasschaert.  We were treated to a dinner in a converted grain house in old port with many past and present orthopaedic surgeons from Belgium.   An obligatory sampling of local beers was enjoyed by all!

We made it to Belgium!  After a very easy and pleasant flight from Chicago to Brussels (thank you POSNA!), we were delighted to spend the day with Dr. Renaud Rossillon, our first local host.  He and his wife Anne shared their home with us for a fantastic afternoon and wonderful lunch of local Belgium food and, of course, Belgium beer!

Here is Renaud showing off his impressive display of Belgium beer for us!

After that very relaxing afternoon, we ventured into the city for a tour of Old Brussels, followed by a great dinner in the heart of the city.

Here are Matt, Lucas, Wade, and Renaud in front of Town Hall in the amazing center square of Brussels.

After the great meal, we were ready to recover from our jet lag.  On Monday, we're looking forward to joining Renaud and his staff at the St. Pierre Hospital for surgery, rounds with the residents, and lectures.