Lesli Fisher’s Blog

My last week

I should probably start by saying that I am safe.  Vellore is far away from Mumbai and it is a very different culture here.  This is such a tragedy for India and its people.  Last night I found out that four of the Australian guys whom I had met here were in Mumbai at one of the targeted sites.  They had to duck for cover to avoid the gunfire.  Praise God they are all okay.  Please keep Mumbai in your prayers and all the foreigners who are visiting there. 

Sorry it has been so long since my last update!  So much has happened.  I can’t believe today is my last day at CMC.  I will be giving a presentation to some of the pharmacy staff on the Pharmacy’s Role in Infection Control.  I hope it is useful to them and will get them thinking about some of their infection control measures. 

We are in the middle of a cyclone and so it has been downpouring since Tuesday.  Not a pleasant way to finish off my stay here.  Last week I went to all the different offsite pharmacies.  It was great to see how low cost medicine can be given effectively; something to take back to the U.S.   I was also able to go on a village visit where nurses checked up on pregnant women, newborn babies, and a did few blood pressure checks.  It was very interesting to see how they lived in the village and how they can really get by on so little. 

Last weekend, Jyoti (a pediatrician from Ohio) and I went to Pondicherry.  It was nice to get away for a bit.  It is right on the Bay of Bengal and we found a cheap guest house that had a balcony looking out onto it.  We enjoyed all kinds of French food and “real” coffee. 

This week I have been gathering information for my presentation in the manufacturing department and the medical oncology ward.  Yesterday, I was able to go visit the Karigiri Hospital which services leprosy patients.  They really are doing amazing work there.  They gave me a tour showing me all that they do including PT, OT, trade teaching, rubber making, prosthetics, specialized shoe making, and laboratory research.  They are concerned with the patient’s wellbeing and socioeconomic status and so they teach them a trade like printing or weaving, so that they can make money to provide for their family.  They also have a compound where leprosy patients can live if they have been rejected from their village. 

I have also been able to connect with some christian activities on campus.  On Tuesday, one of the physicians I had shadowed invited me to a bible study at his home and tonight I will be giving my testimony at the Graduate Fellowship.  Connecting with fellow christians has been a good way to feel at home and in the presence of Christ’s family. 

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  The two other Americans and I cooked a feast (as best we could) and invited the other international students (4 Sweds, 2 British, 1 Dutch, and 1 Aussie).  It was their first thanksgiving dinner so it was fun to share an American tradition with them. 

I will be flying out of Chennai on Monday.  Please pray for safe travels.  I will see you all soon!  

Lesli 

Vanakkam - Hello

Nalla erukkeya, that is “how are you?” in Tamil.  The pharmacy students that I have been with this week are teaching me Tamil.  It’s a pretty easy language to speak, but it is written all in symbols, so I cannot read it. 

This week I really got to see a lot, and I learned a ton!  On Monday and Thursday, I sat in on outpatient visits.  We saw all kinds of different diseases and the doctor really involved me after I asked a few questions to show him that I was interested.  We had a patient who had been passing worms in his feces for the last 6 years!!  On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday I went on rounds with about 15 doctors, the clinical pharmacist here from the U.K. and two other pharmacy students.  There are about 40 patients on the main ward, plus 8 in semi-private beds (they share a room with one other person), and then about 4 in the medical ICU.  Rounds lasted about 5 hours, but it was a great way to see all kinds of different patients.  The patients had anything from typhoid, malaria, schistosomiasis, to lupus, sepsis, pneumonia, and meningitis.   I am learning a lot about the drugs used to treat those diseases and really feel that it is equipping me for future medical mission trips.  My last week I think I will be going to more remote clinics, so hopefully I will be able to practice what I have learned.  

On Wednesday, I met a girl here from Ohio who came about the same time I did.  She is doing her research year for a pediatric fellowship.  On Friday night, we helped some of the physiotherapy students work on a play they are doing, and today we went to the market to get some fruit.  We then went to the Darling Bakery…oh my gosh…the most wonderful cakes and pastries a girl could ask for.  I think we will be going there a couple of more times before I leave!  A cup of coffee and a piece of chocolate cake was only 50 cents! 

We also planned some trips for the next two weekends.  One to Pondicherry a former French colony on the coast, and another to Mamallapuram another coastal town affected by the tsunami and we hope to visit an orphanage there.  I am excited to see some more of India. 

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to upload any pictures.  I will have to prepare a powerpoint when I am home so you can see what I have been describing. 

I was able to speak a little bit to my roommate about Christianity before she left.  I hope that a seed was planted and trust that God will continue to knock on her heart.  I also found out that the pharmacy students I am with are all Christian and we have been going to the chapel to pray every morning.  It’s a wonderful time to be in His presence and commit my daily activities to His purpose. 

Lesli

One week down, three to go!

So much has happened since my last update!  I can’t believe how fast the first week went, and I am sure the next three will fly by as well.   I spent most of last week in the clinical pharmacists in the Endocrinology Department who are working on various clinical trials.  I learned so much about how clinical trials in India are preformed and it was interesting to compare it to how it is run in the USA.  I also spent one day in the Casualty (ER) Pharmacy.  It wasn’t as exciting as I had hoped.  Again, the patient’s family member comes to the pharmacy to get prescriptions for the patient who is being treated in the ER.  Here, pharmacists don’t do any counseling and so they can dispense many more prescriptions than in the US during a days time.  The pharmacy is right next to the entrance of the ER and so it was strange to see everyone gather around to watch patients be taken out of ambulances and into the ER.  People just stand around the ER entrance all day long.  I wasn’t quite sure what they were doing.  There was even a guy lying on a stretcher outside all day. 

This weekend, my mother and I traveled to Madanepalle to visit some friends she made during her trip to India in 2000.  It was about 3 hours away.  We went through many little towns and villages.  It was a good reminder of how some people in the world live.  In America, it seems we have no idea what it really means to be poor and live on the bare minimum for ones entire life.  We arrived to James’ house around 11:00am and they immediately gave me a beautiful sari to wear.  I met his wife and their youngest daughter Sheela who was leaving later that day for an assignment to The Netherlands for work.  We then had breakfast and visited for a bit.  Their house is on a mission campus that has a hospital, lab, pharmacy, secondary school, and the Mother Geegh Nursery School.  We took a tour of the campus and saw all the different buildings.  It was such a shame however, that the hospital was not being used due to a falling out between some people on the mission campus.  They have a beautiful facility but only one doctor and a few nursing students work there to care for an occasional patient.  We then saw the Mother Geegh Nursery school for which my church in Holland raised money to renovate a couple of years back.  Unfortunately, because it was Saturday the kids did not have class so only a handful of children were there playing.  After seeing the old building, I could tell that the new building was such a blessing for them, and that it was meeting their needs much better than before.   After the tour of the mission campus we had lunch then headed back to Vellore. 

This past weekend was graduation for the medical students here at CMC.  On Saturday night, they put on the play “Arsenic and Old Lace” and they also had a dance performance.  On Sunday was Baccalaureate and today they had the graduation ceremonies.  I am so glad I was able to attend all the festivities. 

This week at the hospital I will be with two of the Clinical Pharmacy students and follow them all week.  Today we started in the Medicine 2 Ward and looked at charts then we went to the General Medicine Outpatient Department and saw about 25 patients before lunch!  I think I will learn a lot here because we had a patient with TB and another who was recovering from Malaria, and many others with more common disease like diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma. 

I have uploaded some pictures of my time here to far, so be sure to check them out. 

Thank you for all your prayers.  I have adjusted quite well and can feel God giving me strength each day.  I have also had no health problems or chest pain since I’ve been here!  One thing that has been interesting is that I have never been in a community where a religion other than Christianity is so prominent.  I was surprised at how many people are Hindu, including my roommate here at the hostel.  I hope to have a conversation with her before she leaves for home on Friday.  Please pray that I can be a reflection of Jesus and be bold in sharing my faith. 

Lesli

India so far

I have arrived safely in India.  After a very long flight, we arrived at 1:20am on Saturday. We were then taken by autorickshaw (three wheeled buggy) with all our luggage to the YWCA.  That was quite an experience as it was very late and we were not sure where he was going.  We just had to trust that he would get us there safely.

We spent 2 days in Chennai.  The city is huge and there are people, animals, and motorcycles everywhere!  The traffic in India is definitely unique!  They honk the horn at everyone they pass.  We were able to see the Indian ocean and get our feet wet.  We then visited the Church of St Thomas. St Thomas was actually buried where the church stands today.  Our driver, not by our request, then took us to a huge Hindu temple.  It was very colorful, but weird. I had a bad feeling the whole time I was walking around there.  After that, we finally arrived to a shopping mall, and shopped for a couple of hours.  Sunday, we went to a market in the morning, then proceeded on to Vellore.

I was dropped off at the Modale International Student Hostel on the CMC campus.  I have met so many people from all over the world.  It has been quite fun hearing about their programs and how they differ from the States.  So far I have met people from Australia, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.

On Monday, I started work at CMC.  The pharmacy is gigantic.  I had no idea how large and advanced it would be.  I was in the Main Pharmacy which provides drugs and surgical supplies for all inpatients.  A relative of the patient has to first pay for the drugs, then pick up the drugs from the pharmacy to bring back to the Ward.  On average they dispense 6300 articles a day!!!  That blows my mind!  It was quite busy and I tried to help pull meds for them, but all the drug names are different and quite hard to find as they have their own system of organizing.  Maybe after a couple of days the drug names will become more familiar.

Today I am in the Endocrinology Clinical Trials department.  I am learning about all the different clinical trials going on here.  This department alone has 18 clinical pharmacist working on 13 different trials.  Again, it is much more advanced than I expected.  Everything is online including CT scans, X-rays, and physician notes.  They are working on some really interesting research.  I will be here the rest of the week.  The nice thing about this department is that I can use the internet and it is air conditioned.

I have experienced quite a bit of culture shock!  Yesterday during lunch all I wanted was to go home, but by the end of the day, things were looking up.  Please pray that I will adjust and for strength.

I hope to get internet at the hostel sometime this week and will write again then.

Lesli

It’s a go!!

Hello all,

I want to thank you all for the prayers regarding my health!  God answered those prayers!  I went to the cardiologist yesterday morning and discussed the recent events.  He ordered a repeat Echocardiogram for yesterday afternoon to rule out any lingering concerns about my heart structure and function.  At 4:00pm I received a call from him telling me the good news that my heart is completely normal!!  He has no concerns regarding me going to India as long as I keep hydrated!  This experience has taught me a lot about physical healing and the power of God and prayer.  I will take this to India with me as an example of God’s love and healing as I work with the sick people in Vellore. 

Matthew 10:8
“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

Lesli

India in 1 week!

Welcome to my blog!

 I can’t believe I leave for India in 1 week from today.  It has been almost a year in planning and I am so excited to finally embark on this adventure.  I am really curious what God will reveal to me on this trip and how He will use me to serve the people in Vellore. 

 For the details, I leave next Thursday (October 30th) out of Grand Rapids, MI.  My mom will be traveling with me and will be staying for 10 days to get me settled and to visit some friends she has made during her past trips to India.  From there, we will travel to Chicago, then London, and then on to Chennai.  We arrive in Chennai at 1:00am Saturday morning.  We will spend all day Saturday and part of Sunday in Chennai.  We hope to go to the  Indian Ocean, and do some shopping.  On Sunday afternoon, we will take the 3 hour drive to Vellore.  I will be staying in a student hostile with an international roommate on the medical college campus.  My mom will be in a hotel close by.  I will hopefully have internet access and will be writing updates periodically. 

 As for my health, I will be seeing a Cardiologist in Holland on Monday who will make the final decision on whether I am able to go on the trip.  We sent my medical records to the office on Tuesday, and after review the preliminary decision was that I would be able to go.  :-)  Definitely answered prayers!!  I trust that after more review and my office visit on Monday I will get the final okay.  Please continue to pray for wisdom in this decision.   

Thanks for reading and stay tuned…

Lesli

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