"ah BONNE" (How to pronounce Avon in BsAs)

On Saturday, I went for a run in the park and came across the Avon Mammogram Van. "Wow, this is perfect," I thought. I have been unsuccessful in finding the equivalent of genetic counselors or physicians here who work in hereditary cancer. Maybe the Avon mammovan would have some answers. The Cancer Risk Program at San Francisco General is supported by Avon, so maybe that will help facilitate some sort of collaboration. The only person there was a man who seemed to be more of a security guy. He told me to come back tomorrow, anytime between 8AM to 6PM....I think that's what he said. On Sunday, I dressed up and returned around 2PM....no one in sight. I started to feel that I was getting a glimpse of the Argentine bureaucracy. I returned Tuesday, although at 8PM, but that's early in Argentina, still no one. Today (Wednesday), I returned for a 3rd time, and yes, the van was IN service. The people working the van game me the address of the screening clinic and physician managing the van. I then went to the clinic, tried to explain to the receptionist that I am looking for "doctors who work in hereditary cancer....Are there doctors here who see women who get cancer at young ages?" She asked me to sit in the waiting room and she'd find someone for me to speak with. (hmmmm, I wondered how long I'd have to sit here. If I were to do this at UCSF, I'd be waiting several weeks!) About 10 minutes later, she gave me the name of the head of gyn department, and the name of the president of this center, The foundation of the investigation and prevention of cancer. http://www.FUCA.org.ar Not bad, but what do I do with these names? She showed me to the door where I could then speak to a receptionist of the president. OK, I'm getting warmer. Someone saw me waiting who took me up to the president right away. She was great. I would have been so weary of someone just coming up to my office.

I think they thought I was a student looking for volunteer. They have a 6 month training course before you can volunteer, or work there, or something. I hope I explained to them that I'm a practicing provider looking to offer my expertise through a collaboration/volunteer opportunity.

Tomorrow there is an awards/acknowledgement dinner for a few University medical faculty. They gave me an invitation so they could introduce me to someone who will be there. I'm not sure if she or he is the person receiving the award, or is just expected to be there.

So I walked home laughing to myself at how I managed to speak with the president and get this ticket, still not quite sure who I'm trying to meet tomorrow night nor what exactly is going to happen.

While on my run, I also found the most wonderful smelling rose garden in the park! It's rare to find roses that have such a great purfume since they are mostly bred for looks these days. I definitely stopped to smell the roses on this run.