Another Successful Embryo Recovery and Transfer, An Expensive Wreck

Written by Lonny (April 24th, 2010)

I slept well last night and woke up feeling much better.  I still had a bad case of diarrhea but otherwise I felt good.  I called Abera and asked him to bring the anti-diarrheal medicine that I had given him for Duety. I didn’t have an appetite at all when I went to breakfast but I knew that I needed to eat so I forced myself to eat an omelet sandwich.  I did enjoy the fresh juice that came with breakfast.

Abera and I drove to ATARC and implanted four embryos in the recipients that they had for us.  Four of the five animals that came into heat had good CL’s.  None of the main staff was there but the herders and feeders helped us separate and work the five cows.  When we finished I gave them all a piece of jerky. They were hesitant at first but several of them came back for another piece so even though it was something new to them they liked it.

We made it to DZARC about 12:30 just as they were finishing searching the first cows flush dish.  They hadn’t found any embryos and were very discouraged.  I changed the light source from above the dish to below it and found an embryo within a few minutes.  Everybody was thrilled.  We found eight more embryos four of them were good fertile embryos.  The second cow had a uterine infection so we didn’t get any embryos from her at all.  Dr. Tamrat transferred the fresh embryos into the recipients.  There was one that they couldn’t pass and ask me to try.  She had the S shaped cervix and I couldn’t get through either.

I think that they have enough experience and confidence that they can go forward on their own now.  We haven’t frozen embryos yet but they have the equipment to do it.  I went over the manual with Dr. Tamrat and challenged him to practice with it so that he will be comfortable using it when the time comes to use it.  I explained to them that I would need to focus more on our project now but felt confident that they could be successful on their own.

Abera mentioned that he had been on the Morrell Agro website and read about our project.  He mentioned something about a short biography for himself on the site.  I encouraged him to write one but he said it was better to have someone else write it because they could “make it bigger” then he laughed.  I spent much of the four hour drive learning about my incredible companion and his struggle from poverty to success.  I took some notes so that I could put together a biography for him.  His is a great story!

The home was locked when we arrived so we left our luggage and went to eat.  Abera took me to Passion Burger for pizza, for Ethiopian food it was pretty good.  I had a Coke to help settle my stomach.  I felt much better today but I am still having digestive problems.

I called Getu to settle things with him concerning the car.  He ended ordering all of the parts from Moenco which put the total cost of the repairs at 22,000 ETB about $1600.  Legally I am probably not obligated to pay anything but I was the one that wrecked the car so I am responsible.  It is a hard decision to make but it is the correct one.

I had two texts and a missed call from Erika today.  I was very excited to hear from her and miss her dearly.  I had a nice visit with her and Jessica this evening.  I can’t wait to get back to see her and my family.