Elizabeth Loomis’ Blog

Travel Shinanagans

Once again I had trouble leaving a country.  Violence against the railways (complicated story that i will tell later) this past week made the national railway service cancel all travel in Biharon Friday, including my train ride from Raxaul to Delhi on Saturday.  That meant that I  would miss all time in Delhi and not go to see the taj mahal nor do any of the shopping that I have been dying to do.  

After finding this out, the medical director and one of the administrators at Duncan hospital spent a bunch of time coming up with other suggestions on how to get me out of Bihar safetly.  I heard at least a half dozen plans from several different people, and every time I repeated to most encouraging or newest plan to someone else, the other person was like “Are you sure?  Cause that does not sound right”  It was v. frusterating.  Finally right before dinner it was decided that I would book a ticket to fly out of Patna, the capital of Bihar, to Delhi on Sunday night and still be able to see Agra on Monday.  How I was getting to Patna, umm, not sure.

Then, about 2 hours after I bought the plane ticket I found out that there were no more problems on Friday with the railways so my original train might leave afterall.  Maybe.   Thankfully the plain ticket could be canceled with only the fee of $20.  So yesterday morning I waited with my bags packed for about and hour to find anything out.  Finally-  let’s go, the train is going!   So we hustled to the station and I caught my train after all.  I also ended up in the middle of a large upper-middle class Indian families seat assignments and so hung out with them.  That was nice because they spoke English and there were two Aunts and three early 20 year old daughters so I felt safer and more comfortable with them around and they shared their cookies and tea with me.

I got into Delhi around 11 and caught and auto rickshaw to my hotel- the YMCA tourist hostel.  It is alright and it is ncie because I have my own room with private bath and a little black and white TV.  I have already watched an old episode of Seinfeld.  I went shopping for about 2 hours  and am sure that I have been taken about 5 times, more counting my autorickshaw ride from the train station.  Oh well.  They have me all at my weakest.  Just wait til tomorrow Delhi!!!!

Bottom line:  I am temporarily safe and comfortable and will be ordering room service cause I can : )

In the community

This week has been my week to participate in Duncan hospital’s community programs and oh my do I have many stories to tell.  Since I have just returned from riding side-saddle on a motorcycle all day on roads that are really ideal for motorcross I am a little tired and dusty so will start out with a few highlights and see how far I get.

Apparently when buffalo give birth for the first time, the milk that comes out is rather chunky for about 12 days and then if becomes more liquid.  I did not know this before today.  I also didn’t know that this chunky milk tastes/has the consistency of egg wites fried in bacon fat and floating in sugar water and that it is considered something very special to serve special guests.  Huh.

There are two types of village children.  One type will smile and laugh when a white stranger looks at them.  The other will scream and run in terror.  However, no matter what type of child it is, they will join the large mob of children that surrounds that white person wherever they go.

Goats move for no person, motorcycle, or car.

Any woman who is willing to learn math, how to read and write, and start their own business for the first time at age 50 is truly amazing.  What is even more amazing is seeing groups of 20 or more such women especially in all of their colorful saris (see the blog post about my favorite things).

A few of my favorite things

Things that make me happy in Raxaul:

1. Butter cookies and chai tea
2. Healthy Children
3. The doctors, especially Drs. Rimi and Mini
4. Colorful saris and salwar kameez
5. Female pediatric patients
6. Cold showers on hot days
7. The card game Idiot
8. White teeth
9. Time to read a novel
10. Surviving walking in Raxaul alone
11. Killing mosquitoes
12. Working internet and a free computer
13. Painted goats
14. Devotion in English
15. Extubations
16. Crossward puzzles
17. Finding toilet paper in a shop
18. The Indian head bobble

Boot Camp for Eyes

This week was an eye camp and a Doctor from Karola came to preform the surgeries.  The opthamologist who has been here for 30+ years, Dr. Helen, has severe problems with her neck so she is not longer able to perform much surgery.  Instead she arranges for eye camps like this with visiting colleagues. 

Each day this week, the visiting Doctor, with some very well trained assistants, have performed 50+ cataract surgeries.  The doctor just slides back and forth between the two operating beds where he finds the patient already prepped by the surgical assistants who also take care of the bandaging and other post-op care.  The surgeon takes about 10 minutes per cataract.  I was quite interesting to watch and not as disturbing as I thought making multiple incisions in the eye would be.  The removal of the cataract itself is very satisfying, much like popping a pimple.  The area around the eye clinic is filled with patients with bandages over one of their eyes and their relatives.

Death

One of the patients, an 18 year old boy with tuberculosis meningitis, passed away last night.  He had been here since I started and we managed to get him well enough to come off a ventilator but then he got sick again with a likely pnuemonia.  He was Nepalese and had been in a military training camp when he got sick. 

We don’t see probably half of the deaths that our patients will experience as many family members want to take their sick relatives home if it is very likely they will pass soon.  Unfortunatley I think the ability to pay a large hospital bill plays an equal part to the dignity of dying at home. 

Broken Sink!

So I broke my sink last night.  I was showering and the electricity went out so it was pitch black in the bathroom.  There is no actual shower, just a head in the wall of the bathroom, so I started stumbling towards the door to find a flashlight.  I grabbed the sink for support and pushed down a bit and that cause the not-very-well-attached-to-the-wall basin to slide off of the bars that supported it and smash all over the ground.  Thankfully I did not fall and have to be found naked (I think that might be my biggest fear ever!). 

I do have pictures of the sink, it was quite impressive.  Apparently no-one else has ever done that in the guest house, which isn’t very suprising so I don’t know why they bothered to tell me that.  In any event, the sink was replaced this morning and all is well.

A schedule of sorts cont.

Once the rounding is done it is usually near to 1 pm and I head to the guest house for lunch.  Lunch consists of chapatas (small circular flat bread similiar to tortillas), a curried vegetable, rice, and dahl (lentil soup).  And apples which everyone seems to have a fun time cutting up.  Lunch time tends to last until about 3.

Afterwards there is generally a short time spent in the outpatient side and then rounding again on the inpatients.  Dinner is at 7 and that tends to be the time we finish.  Dinner is more variable but generally has curried vegetables, boiled potatoes, a meat of some sort, and some sort of dessert such as a sweet porridge.  Last night we had a delicious coconut frozen milk thing.  Night-times kind of depend on which day it is but if nothing is happening we may hang out til about nine.  Then I tend to go to my room and read for a bit.  I also fit in washing one of my outfits somewhere during the day.

Weekly fluctuations include Bible study Friday night from 7:30 until about 10.  I hear that on Tues and Thurs at 6 we have some medical conference of sorts.  Sat might be a half day.  Sunday we have two chruch services; one in Hindi at 9 and the other in English at 5:30.

And that is it!

A schedule of sorts

I thought I might comment on what my schedule has been looking like.

Every morning I wake up  a little before 7 and take a cold but running shower (it almost wakes me up).  I then put on my salway kameez (which ever one turns up next in the cycle) and stumble out to the common dining area.  Breakfast awaits along with the other students.  It always consists of tea with milk and sugar, a spongy toast, cornflakes, porridge,  a boiled egg, and bananas.  Today I tried to mis it up and put the porridge in with the cornflakes and banana and skipped the egg cause I felt like living on the edge.  I then grab my dupatta and head to devotion.

Daily devotion is from 8-8:45 and half the time is singing.  The songs are all in Hindi and we have a phonetic song book.  The rest is a message that is also in Hindi but has occasional english bits thrown in so I can get the general idea of what is happening.

After devotion all of the doctors meet briefly in case there are any pressing issues with the patients.  Then, on medicine, we start rounding.  We start in the 6 bed ICU that has 3 ventilators.  If anyone else needs to be ventilated then a relative has to bag them by hand the entire time until a ventilator clears up.  Then it is on to the general wards where there are about 40 patients to round on.  Then private room patients and occasionally one of the two old ladies that the hospital takes care of nursing home style.  Paper work is done for discharges.

(posting now just in case the connection is fickle)

In Raxaul

I arrived in Raxaul last night after the very long 24.5 hours train ride which I hear can sometime stretch to 30 so I am only complaining a little.   Today was a holiday (Ghandi’s birthday) so no one was working.  Instead I had a tour around the very maze-like hospital (not unsimiliar to Strong but minus Strong’s grid-like numbering and with a few dogs lying around). 

 After the tour, a PTist who hsa been here 7 years took us on an outing to the neighboring lepor colony.  Yes that’s right, I faced my fears.  The clinic there was clean and bright and hopefully even if a few of those bacilli did manage to stick in my nose my immune system shouldn’t be too compromised by the heat and the curry that it can’t fight it off.

 In other events my blue salwar kameez (fun new Indian outfit) is making my hands nice and blue and I can’t even imagine what it is doing to my perspiring back.

In Delhi

I am in Delhi at Zarema’s house (she is the INMED contact in Delhi).   I arrived last night without any problems and am looking forward to a short orientation to the program today and then maybe a walk in the park.  Tomorrow is shopping for the appropriate clothing (I was checking out a few color options on the women on the flight, I think I like blues and reds and definately sparkles) and then the train ride forever to Raxaul.

Zarema told me that there are two other female students at Raxual, a medical student from Germany who will be there for another week and a Canadian civil engineer who will be there for several months.  I was very excited by that news as I should now have peers to hang out with assuming that they feel the same way as me.

It is nice and warm here, but not terrible at all (I turned the AC off while I was sleeping last night).  I am enjoying bucket bathing again and am being well taken care of.