nameeta and i are sitting at PDX waiting for our plane... we barely made it into the airport...nameeta was nearly taken out by her monstrous bags (there was a revolving door situation...). our bags weighed in at a cumulative 198 pounds. They let my 52 pounder go... and then nameeta put on the biggest bag of all... drum roll, please - yep, it weighed in at 68 pounds. With a little explanation of what we are up to, the delta agent went back to talk to her manager (? or at least pretend to talk to someone with some pull), and came back to investigate what was really in the bag. Nameeta showed her our letter form the division head, Linda (you know, the one with the Cobras from previous blogging) saying that we were going to work with kids with cancer in Africa (definite tear jerker - and can get you out of just about anything we are hoping). And, then she had to open the bag to reveal our medical supplies. When she opened the bag, the top items were glitter pens, nail polish, construction paper, and coloring books...not so convincing of our honorable mission. Luckily there were gloves, masks, NG tubes underneath. With that, she agreed to let us go and not charge for the extra weight. And, she informed us that if you call ahead of time and say you are going to do volunteer work, they will let the extra weight slide (and they get a tax break). So, off to security we went. Nothing exciting there - just the usual hair bun squeeze from the security lady and then to the gate.
We are just headed to get some water and then board the plane. Very very exciting...
chronicling the ups and downs, overs and unders, and forwards and backwards of three pediatric hematologist/oncologists helping to care for children with cancer in Tanzania
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