Tulane University Medical School building, where the Cardiology and Pathology (Carmen’s) laboratories were located.	Adjacent building complex of the Charity Hospital, which was a clinical training base for Tulane University and Louisiana State University (LSU) – these buildings have been abandoned since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when their underground service structures were flooded and destroyed.

The medical and scientific aspects of my stay in New Orleans are described separately (see) . The initial fellowship contract was for one year, but then it was extended for another 6 months.

A few episodes, happenings and impressions stayed in my memory – and I will describe them in a chronological order:

- parts of my suit, as described above, and elegant shiny black shoes were stored in a closet, and when inspected after a few weeks, appeared to change color to bright, emerald-green – they were covered with mold. The suit was saved after treatment at a dry cleaner, the shoes were lost;

- next to my rented room, on the ground floor of the house, there was a shower cubicle with a hanging light bulb, which could be turned on by pulling on a metal chain attached to the socket – probably it was not grounded, since … one evening, returning home tired, hot and sweaty, I started the shower, entered the cubicle and pulled the chain – there were no sparks, but I felt a substantial shock. I was able to release the chain - perhaps, because it was only 120 V in the USA. I survived! Who was at fault in this case – the Wild West or my upbringing in the uncivilized “Wild East”? We had a distant cousin in Poland, Urban Krzyżanowski, who served as an officer on a Polish merchant ship during the War transporting Allied soldiers and supplies across the Atlantic – he always claimed (teasing us, of course) that I and my family, (who live in Siedlce), derive from a wild and uncivilized Yatvingian tribe (a Medieval Baltic Tribe - (http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2491998?uid=3739728&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=55902936653, who lived several centuries ago in the area, what used to be the East Prussia before the war – apparently my parents were not answering his letters soon enough (he was teasing them, whether they know, how to write);

- the warmth and hospitality of the people in the South of the USA, although…, I sometimes suspected also a bit of curiosity – I was the first, whom they have ever seen, coming from a “communist country”. They had little contact and exposure to that part of the world, but someone was supposedly told by another someone that “in Warsaw, white bears are walking the streets in deep snow in winter” – I heard, that somebody was asking, whether it is true? Apparently the East-West propaganda was working in both directions. I was being invited on several occasions to different parties, including the famous Mardi Gras balls – I had to make an appearance in a rented tailcoat and white tie. Parties were very elegant, people nice and friendly, I did not feel uncomfortable even for a moment, although, I was sure that I was being observed closely but discreetly. The company asked questions and listened attentively to my answers and stories. Those people were real “Southern Gentlemen” and left me with a lot of sentiment to that part of the country and to them. (I also hope, that I did not embarrass my ancestors, the Yatvingians!);

- I have to mention here separately, dr. George E. Burch, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine and Chief of the Cardiology Division of the Tulane Medical School and his family. He was a world renown cardiologist, excellent clinician, a master of bedside diagnosis (“history-taking and physical examination are the basis for diagnosis, the laboratory and other testing are only supplemental”). He had very broad, diverse interests, conducted pioneering research in many areas of medicine and cardiology, including electrocardiography and vetorcardiography and electrophysiology of the heart, which were at that time also of major interest to me. Renaud Koechlin from Paris recommended me to him and my fellowship in cardiology research was arranged with some delay, after the funds became available to him He was very inquisitive, a very thorough and conscientious researcher and no publication left his desk until it was checked and rechecked for accuracy, he was famous for that. He was a fantastic boss and teacher and cared a lot of his employees and collaborators. Recently a book "THE CELESTIAL SOCIETY, A Life in Medicine" was published by his daughter, Vivian Burch Martin, and she mentioned my name there on page 275. That’s, what she wrote about the foreign trainees: “My parents did their best to help ease the homesickness of those newcomers with dinner at our home. … Said Mother …’It was nice as a welcome, too, to bring them home to dinner. Our children were always at the table. Once, after Dr. [Waldemar J.] Wajszczuk from Poland had dinner with us, Beezy (one of their sons) fussed at us: ,I don’s see how those poor people have time to eat! Daddy asks them so many questions!’. He did, too. He wanted to know about physicians and researches in their countries and about life for the general population. What were the schools like?... And food…?”

In the same book, on page 457 she writes that in 1959 after completing an extensive lecture tour in Africa, "He was scheduled next to lecture at a vectorcardiography symposium in Wrocław by the invitation of the Polish Ministry of Health, but my parents made it only as far as Zurich. 'We were about to board the plane for Warsaw when we both felt so sick we had to go to bed,' my father apologized to Professor Dr. Zdzisław Askanas of Warsaw Academy of Medicine. 'Vivian and I both developed gastroenteritis while in Africa, and had a terrible time for several days.'" - I attended the same symposium which was organized in Wroclaw by Professor Hugo Kowarzyk and his wife Zofia, and ... did not meet dr. Burch there.

At work, access to dr. Burch was controlled by his office manager, Miss Juanita Arbour (undoubtedly of French ancestry) and the function and work in the experimental and other scientific laboratories was closely monitored by Miss Ruth Ziifle (undoubtedly of German origin). Both ladies were also very involved in helping and making the life easier and pleasant, for many foreign visitors and students – here I am expressing again my thanks to them. Another and very helpful person in the laboratory was Ralph Millet, an engineer who constructed most of the equipment in the laboratories and ensured its proper function. A professor from the Department of Physics, Mr. James Cronvich consulted the manuscripts and supervised their scientific accuracy.

A separate category of memories and impressions is connected with more private events:

- a few weeks after arriving in New Orleans, while sitting and working in my office, I heard outside my door some steps, voices, and laughter – obviously, the people stopped at my door, then a spirited discussion followed. I looked outside and saw a few laboratory workers from the Department of Pathology with their boss, director of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory. They were going or coming from lunch. On my door, there was a small sign with my name, they noticed the strange and unusual spelling and were commenting on it. They worked in the same building on a project with dr. Burch, looking for evidence of virus infection in the heart valves and muscle. Among the girls was Carmen. I looked up later her office and … - this was the beginning of the rest of my life.

On the shores of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans – [easy-going, but determined!]	Carmen at the electron microscope – [rebel, independent, intelligent, smart, romantic and sexy! Stubborn? – it comes together with the first two!]

- in New Orleans, we met some Polish people – initially an older couple, I do not remember their name, they left soon, but before leaving, they introduced us to a young Polish couple – Ivo and Magda Pogonowski. Ivo worked as an engineer designing the oil rigs for a major oil company and Magda just arrived from Poland and was doing her residency in the Radiology Department at the Charity Hospital. Later on, Magda was collecting for me from the hospital staff the unused free meal tickets to the hospital cafeteria. I became familiar there, for the first time, with the seafood and in particular with the delicious New Orleans gumbo – it remained my favored dish forever. What was even more important, I was able to save more money for the planned purchase of a car on the way back to Poland. The dream was getting closer, more realistic. Magda and Ivo lived in the same neighborhood and he was giving me a ride back home initially. After a few months, I was able to buy a used car – a Ford 1956 model with new tires, new set of brakes and repainted. I practiced my driving at night, during the week-ends and in empty streets. I had with me a driver’s license from Poland, which I got just before leaving for the USA., but the course of instruction consisted mainly of lectures, how to fix a car, change sparkplugs, belts etc. (since these services were practically unavailable at that time in Poland), but only a very few hours of practice behind the steering wheel, (trying to avoid the streetcars in Warsaw) – they were very expensive. We made later with Carmen many interesting excursions, into the Bayou Country, to the Plantation Homes along the Mississippi and to Florida. Carmen was wondering initially, why I was driving so slow?

- other people, who helped us and contributed to our very pleasant stay in New Orleans, they were friends of Magda and Ivo – a young American lawyer, Andre Trawick and his wife of Ukrainian origin – they were both very nice, friendly, warm and hospitable. He helped us to make arrangements for the civil wedding ceremony before leaving for Poland. Another one was dr. Isaacson and his wife, he was a surgeon at the Medical School and they both were involved in the activities of the Welcoming Committee of the School, which was helping foreign students on their arrival to the USA.

- another group – these were Carmen’s friends or schoolmates from Puerto Rico and other members of the Puerto Rican Club in New Orleans. We spent occasionally the week-ends together grilling or met at other gatherings.

There is still another category of even more personal memories:

French Quarter in New Orlean during the day and  at the night

- during the Carnival period, between Christmas and Ash Wednesday, many private parties or gatherings were organized by young people during the week-ends. They were informal and usually attended by many people, frequently more than 100, no invitation needed, news spread by the word of mouth, friends and acquaintances and friends of friends. The only requirement was to bring alcohol, usually in small breast-pocket bottles, for own consumption and the hosts, or more commonly hostesses, supplied the ice, paper or plastic cups and small snacks. They were usually attended by the medical students, laboratory technicians, hospital personnel, young doctors and lawyers and occasionally by stewardesses (even from foreign airlines) on lay-over in New Orleans. It was not uncommon to go to 3-4 such parties in one night. The most popular locations were, of course, in the old French Quarter, or “Vieux Carré” in French tradition. Carmen and her friends were renting a big apartment in the French Quarter, gave a party one week-end and I was invited! No doubt that the charm of the surroundings and of the hostesses, and in particular one of them – was irresistible!

- another night in French Quarter – but this one is less commendable – it took place during our next stay in New Orleans (described here later). We attended a party in company of Carmen’s friend, Irma and Wlodek Janczakowski, a young Polish doctor, who recently arrived from Gdańsk. I was enjoying my Bourbon mixed with 7-up. On the way back home, I suddenly took off running and nobody could catch me until I got tired and stopped. We made it home without further incident, but next what I remembered, was Monday morning. Obviously, there was something wrong with the mixture and I avoided it from that time on. Incidentally, my father used to drink 7-up (but alone) all the time and loved it during my parents’ visits with us in America.

Evenings in French Quarter in New Orleans (pictures from Wikipedia)y and  at the night

- evening walks in the French Quarter, visiting the jazz bars, Pete Fountain’s (famous clarinet player) lounge, Al Hirt’s (trumpet) place, listening to George Lewis Band in the Preservation Hall, drinking Hurricanes in Pat O’Brien’s Piano Bar;

- participating, as spectators, in the Mardi Gras parades and occasionally collecting the glass beads, at that time “made in Czechoslovakia” – now in China?

Street parades during the Mardi Gras season (pictures from Wikipedia)

“En Mi Viejo San Juan”		“Greenfields”
See on YouTube		See on YouTube

- in the experimental laboratory, I was assisted (and initially taught and instructed) by a very pleasant, helpful and cooperative laboratory technician – a Negro (to be politically correct, I should now say - an African American), Ernest Watson. He was generally called by everybody by his last name, “Watson”, (which was new to me, since otherwise everybody else was being addressed as Mr., Mrs., Dr., or by their first name). He lived, probably, in one of the small suburban and predominantly Black settlements. I heard from him about the “jam sessions” which were taking place there on week-ends. He invited us one week-end to come. We drove there, into the “Bayou country”, in the darkness, by the moonlight, through the swamps along the mighty Mississippi, narrow country road, noise from the tires running over the crashed shells, moss hanging from the tree branches, and fog and haze over the swamps and water – unforgettable! (we were looking for “Zombies”, but did not get to see any, we were safe!). We saw finally from the distance a big bonfire, people dancing and the music – drums, trumpets, saxophone and clarinets. We were welcomed warmly, time passed fast and we returned home. At that time, we did not have to think or worry about racial antagonisms or our safety – there were only cultural differences and everybody lived peacefully side by side. We felt safe walking at night almost any place in New Orleans. There were still visible occasionally residuals of racial segregation, which was being eliminated with some delay in the South, for instance “Black only” or “Whites only”, or “Whites” and “Colored”, only at some entrances to some stores, soda fountains, movie theatres or in the streetcars.(I remembered “Nur für Deutsche” in Poland during the war). Situation was different several years later, when we visited New Orleans again – there were no official signs of segregation, but we were warned not to walk outside the tourist zone of French Quarter.

I found out recently from the Vivian Burch Martin's book (p. 354), that Watson was a member of several famous Mardi Gras Bands, the Olympia Brass Band, Sherman's Tuxedo Brass Band, and others, where he played a tenor saxophone He also played at the Preservation Hall in New Orleans, travelled extensively and played for the Pope, Queen Elizabeth, at the White House, at the Congressional Mard Gras Balls and at the Smithsonian in Washington... and "landed a bit part in a movie, the Mickey O'Rourke thriller Angel Heart".

(http://www.blockbuster.com/browse/catalog/movieDetails/1371#readMore)

- I appreciated and liked, that people coming on Sundays to Church were dressed nice and elegant, – women and girls dressed in dresses or blouses and skirts, hats and frequently wearing white gloves and men in slacks and jackets or suits, (like going to a party). What I noticed and it was different to me – the very young teen-aged girls wearing lipstick and nail polish, how unnecessary. (Now, at least in our area, the same age girls come in shorts or slacks, and have their breasts half-exposed, along with the navel and the buttocks – pretty, but not in Church. The times and customs are changing – to think, that only 50 years have passed).

- it was different (than in my Department in Poland) – occasionally, attending the rounds at the Charity Hospital, I noticed young physicians, residents or medical students smoking cigars on the hospital wards. The wards were big with many beds, most of them not air conditioned at that time, hot and humid and some of the people were very sick. Apparently, it was a custom in the South at that time but it was highly disapproved by the faculty;

- “Bermuda shorts” – another unfamiliar sight - in the hospital, in the streets or public places – they were the young or older men wearing long shorts, down to the knees – so-called: “Bermuda shorts” or both sexes wearing colorful hospital scrub suits, they were more frequently visible in the vicinity of the hospital. Apparently, such was the fashion, perhaps because of the climate? But scrub suits, while going to a bank – what about the hygiene and danger of infection? The long shorts created an impression of disproportion between the body torso and the lower extremities and made me wonder that, perhaps, there was something wrong with their lower extremities – are they perhaps in the process of regression (accelerated Darwinian [d]evolution) due to the lack of exercise resulting from decades of riding the automobile instead of walking? I was used to short shorts worn by the Boy Scouts, who liked to proudly display their quadriceps muscles. (This fashion of long shorts still continues now – but now the overhangs of the beer bellies seem to have gotten bigger - and I am still having the same suspicions. I wonder, if somebody had conducted some research on this topic?) Also, different were the thick woolen socks worn with dressy shoes (apparently a carry-over from the college dressing style). Or no socks at all – apparently a weekend leisurely dressing code.

(In later years, the tennis shoes became omnipresent – my associations looking at them were: sport, in particular tennis and wealth and prosperity - if clean, …and poverty and social bottom [probably retrieved from a dumpster] – if dirty! Cannot help it! Baseball caps everywhere and all the time, also indoors replaced the Borsalino or Fedora hats, at one time commonly seen in men wearing business suits - one can see them now only in the old movies)

- people chewing gum - everywhere, at home, in the office, in the street, behind windows in the bank, in the teatre, in the hospital, .... even in the church, and continously, for hours! A particular sight from my youth - imbedded in my memory, while travelling by train to visit with my parents in Siedlce for the Holidays, or later while driving a car down the roads across green meadows - kept recurring and I could not chase it away. The cows, standing or lying down in the meadows, singly or in herds - brown, white, black, multicolor spotted - slowly chewing, and chewing, and chewing, and chewing...! They had beautiful big, shiny, sometimes fogged eyes, but ... "'empty" blank gaze - (but, may be it was only my impression?).

- more recently - the arrival of a fashion for clean-shaven heads and shiny skulls. It appeared to be, perhaps, more acceptable for the rappers or body builders, (it makes me wonder about the intellect inside the skull), but less appropriate for businessmen, politicians or professionals. In my memory and recollections, it was always associated, almost exclusively, with the criminals in jail and later with the prisoners in concentration camps or gulags, and during and after the war, with the epidemics of typhoid fever, which was transmitted by lice. The only way to get read of them was to clean-shave the head and all other hairy areas of the body.

These comments, by no means, represent my criticism - they are intended only for the readers to become aware of the impressions of one of the many persons arriving from the other side of the Atlantic - perhaps an isolated one?

- other “non-similarities” – in the cities, thick power and telephone cables suspended from and dangling heavily between the utility poles, even over some major streets – in New Orleans it was probably associated with its location over the swamps and marshes, making it difficult and impractical to bury them underground;

- otherwise, people, animals and insects were the same or similar, except… huge, fat and shiny cockroaches, which were running on the sidewalks between the gassy areas or were falling of the trees in front of the passerby’s or on them. Sometimes they would fly. They were also present in my room – food had to be kept in tightly closed large glass containers. But their presence was not related to the degree of cleanliness, as in our climate in Poland – they were part of the tropical fauna. I saw alligators only from the great distance.

After fulfilling my commitments and finishing work in Dr. Burch’s Department in New Orleans, time came to start packing the suitcases. We left probably in April of 1962, after a civil marriage ceremony in the District Court in New Orleans and previous ordering a car, Simca Etoile, to be picked up in Paris in France. The marriage certificate was necessary to be able to reserve a cabin on a ship to travel together. The car, international registration and insurance papers, covering 6 months of travel in Europe cost us 960 US dollars. Two large trunks were added to our luggage, but they were supposed to travel separately and directly to Gdansk in Poland.

A few months before leaving for Poland, I went with Carmen to Puerto Rico, to meet her parents and to ask for their permission and blessing to marry Carmen.

Carmen’s parents, Carlina and Juan Caceres with their grandchildren	Carmen with parents at the San Juan aiport before her departure for New Orleans

On the way back to New Orleans, I flew to Mexico City, where dr. Burch arranged for me a visit at the Institute of Cardiology (Instituto Nacional de Cardiologia) , which was headed at that time by Prof. Ignacio Chavez, a world famous cardiologist. www.cardiologyjournal.org/en/darmowy_pdf.phtml?id=104&indeks. I met there also Prof. Demetrio Sodi Palares – an electrophysiologist, who was famous at that time because of his method of treating patients with acute myocardial infarction with a „polarization mixture” administered intravenously, and Prof. Enrique Cabrera, also an electrophysiogist and one of the pioneers of vectorcardiography. Later I traveled by bus to visit Acapulco on the Pacific and Tasco, a small town in the mountains which was famous for its silver mines and jewelry. Back in Mexico City, I boarded a bus heading for Houston in Texas. During short stops in small towns, there was time only for quick snacks at the roadside food stands – I never experienced any stomach problems, I guess I still had the immunity acquired at home in Poland. While on the bus, I woke up in the morning to an unusual and extraordinary sight – huge saguaro cactuses covered with snow – we were passing across the high plateau and the mountains. I arrived in Houston aching all over after a long ride, stopped to rest at the Pogonowskis, who moved in the meantime there, and borrowed some money to buy a plane ticket to New Orleans – I had enough of the buses! (I forgot to mention before, that a few months earlier dr. Burch arranged for me a series of visits to different Cardiology Departments and research laboratories along the East coast and I also traveled there by bus, from New Orleans to Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, New York, Syracuse, Cleveland and Chicago (where I also visited the son of my violin teacher from Siedlce). From Chicago, I returned to New Orleans by train – enough of the bus ride!

On the way to Europe, we left New Orleans on board of a freighter (they usually have a few passenger cabins) and, after stops in Jacksonville and New York, we arrived after about two weeks to Saint-Nazaire on the west coast of France. The crossing weather was good and it was relaxing. From Saint-Nazaire we went by train to Paris, where we stayed for a few days with Renaud Koechlin, who had an apartment near the Eiffel Tower. We slept on the mattresses on the floor and had breakfast of coffee, fresh croissants or baguettes with cheese and yogurt from a grocery shop on the first floor of this building. During the day, we were visiting Renaud’s laboratory at the University, his friends (Lya and dr. Delamare), Renaud’s mother, who invited us to dinner (elegant, French-style, with servants) at her apartment, and sightseeing in Paris. After a few days in Paris, Lya helped us to claim our car at the Simca factory and drove us to the outskirts of Paris – I did not dare at that time to drive a brand new car in Paris – and we started on our way south. We drove via Orleans, Burges, Clermont-Ferrand, Vienne, Avignon, Marseille and Nice, stopping along the way at the road side for meals, when we got hungry and there was a nice view. We usually had with us the baguettes, salami, cheese, wine and soft drinks – rarely stopping at the restaurants. In France, we spent nights in the very inexpensive “bed-and-breakfast” type roadside inns. We continued along the French Riviera to Cannes, Nice, Monaco, Genoa, Venice and Vienna - in Nice and Vienna we stayed in small hotels. In Nice we were admiring the Negresco hotel – it was famous in Europe before the war for the royalty and Hollywood movie stars frequently staying there. (We stayed there several times later, attending Cardiology Congresses and traveling in Europe with friends – it was always impressive). It was pouring rain, when we arrived in Genoa, we got water in our new car but the suitcases on a rack on the roof were well protected, wrapped in plastic). Then, to Verona (Romeo and Juliet), Cremona (violins by Amati, Guarneri and Stradivarius), Padua (St. Anthony) and to Venice, where we also stopped at a small hotel (full of German tourists, singing and enjoying their beer). From there, we drove north, to Vienna and from there - to Poland. We planned to stop in Bratislava, but after securing the transit visa, (which made us significantly poorer), we were not permitted to stay there overnight, so we continued driving across the mountains and, exhausted, crossed in the early morning the Polish border. The border guards and customs officers were very friendly and welcoming – I was happy that Carmen’s first impressions from Poland were nice. We looked up some friends of my parents in a small town close to the border, slept and rested for a few hours and continued on the road to Warsaw. My parents and sister were waiting.

Intensive preparations for our church wedding started shortly after our arrival. It took place in June in an old church (administered by SS. Wizytki - the Sisters of the Visitation or Salesian Sisters) on the Krakowskie Przedmieście street in Warsaw. (We found out later that a few months earlier, my younger colleague from the Medical School, Ferdinand Prince Radziwiłł married there a Belgian Princess). Reception for the family and a small group of friends followed in a nearby hotel Bristol.

I returned to work. My welcome was – warm, in private and, – rather cool and reserved, officially. Evidently, for the officials, who remained “on alert” (and it was then a rather unpleasant period in the history of Poland), I was “marked” and “contaminated” with the Capitalist West influences. It would not be correct (or advisable) to display too much enthusiasm to my experiences and new qualifications. Some of my colleagues and friends were visiting us at home and Carmen liked their “całuję rączki”* greetings and small gifts of flowers or candies, which they were bringing – she liked the Polish Gentlemen.

* „całuje rączki – (I am) kissing your little hands” - is a (traditional) courtesy expression, as well as an actual greeting act while welcoming a lady - (kissing ladies’ hands is still quite common).

Shortly after my return to Poland, I was called by the Army for a “refresher course” in anti-atomic radiation defense and Carmen was left alone in Warsaw. She was taken care and helped by my sister, Anna in Warsaw and my mother, who traveled often to Warsaw bringing food and other supplies from Siedlce. Carmen started learning Polish on her own and did her own shopping in the nearby stores. The complexities of the language and its grammar became apparent, for instance: egg – jajko, (but jajka, jajek, jajkami, ...), pączek – polish doughnut, (but pączki, pączków, pączkami..., - changing endings with declination) or masło – butter or słoma – straw, etc., … absolutely crazy! Fortunately, the sales ladies in the neighborhood were very understanding, friendly and helpful and got used quickly to Carmen coming to shop there. So were the neighbors in our big apartment building.

Winter came, I was still away and there was a need to start the daily ritual of lighting fire in the large tiled coal burning stoves in the rooms. Coal was stored in cellars under the building and had to be brought up daily in buckets, luckily there was an elevator. The problem was that the stoves occasionally erupted in small explosions which spread smoke,
ashes and soot all over the apartment, they probably resulted from a back draft in the long ducts of the multistory building and from the poor quality coal with a lot of coal dust. On one occasion, we invited some friends for dinner, Carmen wanted to serve a Puerto Rican dish – chicken with rice and beans. We went to a small country market to buy a chicken, they were not available in the government run stores. We bought a nice looking bird and started cooking, friends came but in spite of cooking it for a long time, the chicken was difficult to chew – what an embarrassment, but friends were complementing the cook. It must have been an old hen, which did not lay eggs any more, therefore they sold it – but, what did we know?

We drove the car to Siedlce to visit my parents for the week-ends and Holidays. “Winter of the Century” arrived with temperatures falling to minus 30F and below. The car survived parked in the yard of the building complex, the only damage was a cracked inside plastic frame in one of the windows, which could be later repaired (no spare parts were available - friends from France were mailing me the spark plugs!). Carmen also survived, but we had to put a double layer of wool lining (wadding) in her artificial fur coat and “wrap” her tightly before going out – her first real winter experience out of Puerto Rico.
 

Siedlce, 1962 – in Waldemar parents’ apartment

I resumed my former duties as a junior instructor in my Department of Cardiology. Routine patient care was combined with research work on vectorcardiography, and in the laboratory trying to adapt the recording method of vectorcardiography to study the spread of electrical activation directly in the animal heart. I was hoping to complete the requirements for a Ph.D. degree in addition to my M.D. degree. I also participated in the experimental team directed by my Professor, but my assignment turned out to be shaving dogs before the experiments, physicians-party members were the official investigators and led the team. I also collaborated with an engineer, Józef (“Junek”) Cywinski in studying the problem of “direct currents” generated in the heart under the influence of various interventions – this work was then continued and was completed after we both met in the USA. Unfortunately, I was not able to complete my Ph.D.

After a short period of adjustment, we started looking for a possibility of employment for Carmen. We found out that the Department of Pathology of the Medical Academy has just installed an electron microscope. They were glad to hire her, because of her previous experience in this area. There was no problem with communication, since most of the physicians knew English and the laboratory personnel was also somehow able to communicate with her and took good care of her, they prepared tea for “coffee brakes” and exchanged sandwiches. My hospital and department was close by and we frequently met for lunch in the hospital cafeteria. Carmen’s favored dish was macaroni and cheese, but cheese was a crumbled white firm farmer’s cheese. Other favorite dish, which we had while on town, was "kotlet pożarski" - a juicy Polish hamburger with refried ground red beets and mashed potatoes. The best were in a self-service bar in a vicinity of the Royal Castle – unfortunately it does not exist any more, replaced by a pizza place. A few months later, Carmen started also working at the National Institute of Hygiene, where an electron microscope has been just installed.

Summer of 1963 – on the way to the Masurian Lake district	… it was a rather cool summer there

Summer of 1963 was spent vacationing in the Mazurian Lakes district in a small camping cabin on the lake – it was sunny but a little cool. Shortly after our return, we took Grandma Herman by car for a visit to her place of birth in Rogatka, near Dubienka and Hrubieszów. Driving south, we arrived to an area adjacent to the then existing USSR border, only a few kilometers from our destination, but the road surface was plowed and inaccessible. We tried to continue, but were forced to turn around. (We went there again after many years – in 2000 – see) - https://www.wajszczuk.pl/wycieczki/dub_e.htm.

2006 – Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw, photograph exhibit - Carmen is recalling
the “Winter of the Century” in Poland

Next winter arrived, it was also cold and frosty. Carmen tolerated poorly the cold climate, material situation deteriorated and there were no realistic hopes for improvement - (we run out of the reserves and supplies brought in with us), similarly, chances for successful progression of my professional and scientific carrier were slim – we decided to apply for permission for me to leave the country. After a few refusals and my appeals, finally I received a permission. We sold the car, I paid back to the government the expenses for my education and using the left over money, we decided to buy some new clothes for Carmen for her return to the USA. We went to the “Salon Mody Polskiej” – a very exclusive institution of fashion producing only for export and supplying the wives of the Party and Government dignitaries’ and ordered a few outfits. While going there for fitting sessions, Carmen encountered on a few occasions Mrs. Zofia Gomułkowa, wife of the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers Party, Władysław Gomułka, who was ruling at that time. This was her contact with the “heights of power” in Poland, in addition to a few encounters with the US consul or ambassador in Poland – the polish officials were trying to convince her to give up the American citizenship and apply for Polish. It is also worthwhile mentioning here that, while working in Prof. Askanas’ Department, I had an opportunity on one occasion to escort and guide the Polish Prime Minister, Józef Cyrankiewicz in his car, from the hospital gate to the Professor’s office in the Department. He was a driver and I was a passenger. I remember, how the elevator was scrubbed for this special occasion. Professor was also employed in the Government Clinic and Hospital, as a consultant and arranged for some of his employees to be on emergency calls staffing a special ambulance, which was dispatched to the Polish VIP’s and foreign embassy workers – this provided an additional income (and I could have my car serviced, privately, in their garage).

We were returning to the USA on board of the “Batory”, without our trunks, heading again for Montreal.

I was able to arrange another year of research fellowship with dr. Burch at Tulane University in New Orleans, which allowed me to complete examinations necessary to start hospital training (residency), which was required for recognition of my specialty and to take examinations to obtain full license to practice medicine – each state had different requirements and separate examinations.

New Orleans, 1964 - Wedding of Irma Almodovar and dr. Włodzimierz (Joe) Janczakowski from Gdansk	New Orleans, 1964 – Carmen and Waldemar in a new car – Ford Mercury Comet

As mentioned already above, shortly before our return from Poland, dr Wlodzimierz Janczakowski from Gdansk arrived in New Orleans to work in surgery at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans. We were informed about this, met him and shortly thereafter introduced him to Carmen’s old friend from Puerto Rico, Irma Almodovar, who worked at the adjacent Louisiana State University. The affairs followed their own natural course … and soon we were asked to be witnesses at their wedding. As far as we were concerned, after considering various possibilities, we decided to move to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I obtained and accepted a position for residency training at the Lovelace Clinic and Foundation and Bataan Memorial Methodist Hospital. The Lovelace Clinic was considered a southern equivalent of the Mayo Clinic in the North and its founder trained there. http://www.albuqhistsoc.org/SecondSite/pkfiles/pk133modernmedicin.htm. Irma and Włodek (Joe) moved to Denver, where Joe started specialty training in Anesthesiology.

Shortly before leaving New Orleans, we lived through a hurricane Betsy – luckily it did not cause much damage there or to our belonging, which were at that time already loaded into a small trailer. It was hidden behind a wall on Carmen cousin’s property, (from her mother’s side – a lawyer, Louis Ortiz), who also lived at that time in New Orleans.

We were crossing Texas, on our way to Albuquerque, when they announced on the radio a possibility tornados in the area – not knowing even what to look for, we looked around, but did not see anything, I guess, there were none. After arriving in Albuquerque, we were directed from the hospital office to a cluster of small houses, where the residents and some of the hospital employees were housed. They were boxy-looking, clay-covered, but with small flower gardens and large windows – the sight was initially scary and depressing (bottom of poverty?) – but inside they appeared very comfortable, modern, with air conditioning - at that time we were not familiar with the local Indian adobe-style buildings, copied from the local Indian pueblos. Incidentally, the Hospital and Foundation were built in the same style. We had nice and friendly neighbors, mostly young physicians and their young families, among others - from Buenos Aires in Argentina and Valencia in Spain. Since I did not have yet all documents necessary to start the hospital training, I was temporarily employed in the Department of Physiology of the Foundation. It was headed by dr. Ulrich Luft, a scientist from Germany, who specialized in respiratory and circulation physiology and apparently was also an expert in aviation medicine. I found out later that on the top floor of the Foundation Building, there was a newly created Department of Aerospace Medicine. The access there was limited and closely guarded, only by using magnetic cards, which were quite new and unusual at that time. Apparently the first American astronauts were examined and trained there and dr.Luft was also involved in this activity. It was the beginning of the aerospace medicine specialty in the USA and one of our neighbor physicians, from Argentina, trained there – I found out much later that he became a President of the Canadian Society of Aerospace Medicine. I learned in dr. Luft’s Department, the techniques of arterial punctures for blood sampling and the principles of blood-gas exchange, which became later very useful during heart catheterizations and evaluation of exercise testing. http://ardentnm.icu.ehc.com/CPM/index.html - (1965).

Bataan Memorial Methodist Hospital  In Albuquerque, New Mexico	Group of physicians in training in 1965 - Waldemar is standing third from the right

Hospital training followed according to a general plan, rotating through the subspecialties, including the night duties in the emergency room. One night an ambulance brought a young man after a motorcycle accident – he was not badly hurt, but had a lot of bruises, abrasions and small lacerations on the hands and face and imbedded sand and gravel. We spent with a nurse most of the night “fixing him up”, he required about 100 small stitches with a very small needle and thin suture – a real “cosmetic surgery” – it was a memorable experience - I heard later that he recovered very well, (but the bill from the hospital must have been quite high). During this period of time, I was also completing my examinations for a license to practice medicine – in New Mexico and in Pennsylvania.

The environs of Albuquerque were very interesting and picturesque – mountains and semi-desert with many dry river beds and colorful rock formations. We visited many Indian Pueblos (Apache, Hopi, Navaho, Pueblo and many others) and drove around a lot on the week-ends, to the peak of the Sandia mountain, to Santa Fe, Taos and into Southern Colorado, “Four-Corner” area, most of Arizona, including the Grand Canyon and in New Mexico, including across the border into Mexico. Twenty dollars in the pocket was enough for a week-end excursion. A cardinal rule for traveling was to have two canisters in the trunk, one with gasoline and the other with water – for the car, in case it boiled over!

Localization of Indian Reservations in New Mexico		Indian Pueblos along Rio Grande river