Report of 4 Dec 2005
How time flies -
The end of the year is already on us. Scott is taking an early train back to B'lore, the boys are re-reading some of our favorite comics (Bloom County and the Far Side), and I am emailing.
The week has been good. Actually, any week that one can work is a good week - the money be darned. The rains continue relentlessly, and water-borne illnesses continue to rise. We had a young woman, Ms. A, in the sick room who is routinely in her own world and joins everyone else for meals, etc., but doesn't say very much. When she does, it's in Telugu and we have to yell for Telugu-speaking colleagues to interpret. She ended up with nausea, and the suspicion that the level of her seizure meds was too high (thus causing the side effect of puking) existed; however, I also tested her for leptospirosis and lo and behold, there it was. She is getting treated for it, is improving, can now stomach food, and I am pleased. I cannot make light of any symptom at the Banyan.
We'd had older pts who'd become very ill from diarrhea - really, it can wipe out frail little bodies quickly. One of them, Ms. Ak, had been hospitalised for the same, and is now improving. When I looked over her file, as I do when I have a little time between rounds, I noticed that she'd given birth to a child years ago and had sacrificed the child to appease a God. I was shaken, but cannot stop to dwell too much on these unusual beliefs and shocking courses of action - just as I could not when the impoverished man threw each of his 5 daughters off a bridge into the river and then jumped in himself. That story made page 7 of our paper. I remember the lady in Houston (in our old neighborhood, in fact!) who killed her 5 kids and it making national news. We do not have the luxury of brooding here, life must just go on.
The vegetable market continues well. The tomato lady is to bring her husband's blood test reports ("I want a doctor I trust to look over them," she said, moving me enormously) and I can see what his ailments, in addition to diabetes, are. She said she had no one else in the world - the couple has no children, which is considered a disability here - and said she had to take care of her husband, and then got teary. I patted her arm - I love human touch - and said diabetes was a very treatable condition and not to get so frightened by it. She heaped me w/ a bunch of extra tomatoes, making me the envy of my neighbor as all of us are reeling under high vegetable prices due to rain.
We were very fortunate to run into some former tutoring students who had stopped coming for various reasons. One of them, M, is a ninth grader, again from a desperately poor family, who studies her eyeballs out and wants to become a doctor. It is not for her professional goal that I like her, but that she is keen on educating herself, improving her lot in life and will not take the blows that life has dealt her lying down; I discovered 3 days ago that her father had left them and they had moved in w/ an aunt. I think this situation does not gladden anyone, and I urged her to return to tutoring; she did, bringing her sibs and a neighbor w/ her. M tends to memorise her English lesson w/o understanding a word, and I urged Naren to translate it for her; he flailed w/ the Tamil, and so I helped out. It must be awful to not understand what you are reading, and then get tested on it. These kids had not experienced Maya's markers, w/ the pattern on the end, and had a whale of a time at the end of the session w/ the art work.
We have decided to hold a party during the holidays and Naren can invite all the boys and girls he wants. Actually, he is very sensible in his choice of friends and I look forward to hosting the young 'uns, most of whom I like a lot; this affords him the chance to have girls over as well, and I imagine the young ladies are equally nice. Speaking of parties, Scott and I were invited to one last night given by one of his former employers; it was very high society (I guess) and had film actresses galore in the crowd. As it turns out, 2 of 'em were seated right by us; one of them (Kushbu) had stated publicly that Indian men should not insist on chastity in their brides any more, that everyone experimenting w/ premarital sex should use a condom. Radical Tamilian factions are up in arms, accusing her of demeaning Tamilian women and filing lawsuits aplenty. We told her we supported her viewpoint, and her right to say it. I imagine some in the crowd were awed by the actress brigade; as they were sitting by us (and even otherwise), we tended to view them as human - just as we will always view Richard Gere as David Gere's brother.
We had breakfast w/ my brother, Vinu, today and it was fun. Being able to see my extended fam is something I'll always appreciate. His daughter has been named Ahana ("Dawn") and will have a naming ceremony in 2 weeks, which we'll attend along w/ lots of relatives.
Life and work go on, and I am never sure how to aggressively market my cause to any one, figuring that if anyone is that interested in funding this work, they will so state. However, this we crave - our great wish is to visit the U.S. next year. It was mighty therapeutic and spiritually rejuvenating to hang out there, not to mention enlightening (in attending a great medical conference). If any of you knows of speaking opps, pls let us know. I am getting less and less adept at selling myself (indeed, what am I selling - improved health for impoverished Indians, many miles away, which is not a product or service anyone would jump at) and ramming my work down people's throats. I simply work, plough through the patients, get paid in tomatoes and plenty of goodwill (including blessings for the 3 Weiss men), tutor abysmally poor little kids - it's good work. Folks have wished good wives (no time soon, tho') and lives for Naren and Navin - that is a lovely thing.
"The main difference for the history of the world if I had been shot rather than Kennedy is that Onassis probably wouldn't have married Mrs. Khrushchev." - Nikita Khrushchev
Unw -
Renu
The end of the year is already on us. Scott is taking an early train back to B'lore, the boys are re-reading some of our favorite comics (Bloom County and the Far Side), and I am emailing.
The week has been good. Actually, any week that one can work is a good week - the money be darned. The rains continue relentlessly, and water-borne illnesses continue to rise. We had a young woman, Ms. A, in the sick room who is routinely in her own world and joins everyone else for meals, etc., but doesn't say very much. When she does, it's in Telugu and we have to yell for Telugu-speaking colleagues to interpret. She ended up with nausea, and the suspicion that the level of her seizure meds was too high (thus causing the side effect of puking) existed; however, I also tested her for leptospirosis and lo and behold, there it was. She is getting treated for it, is improving, can now stomach food, and I am pleased. I cannot make light of any symptom at the Banyan.
We'd had older pts who'd become very ill from diarrhea - really, it can wipe out frail little bodies quickly. One of them, Ms. Ak, had been hospitalised for the same, and is now improving. When I looked over her file, as I do when I have a little time between rounds, I noticed that she'd given birth to a child years ago and had sacrificed the child to appease a God. I was shaken, but cannot stop to dwell too much on these unusual beliefs and shocking courses of action - just as I could not when the impoverished man threw each of his 5 daughters off a bridge into the river and then jumped in himself. That story made page 7 of our paper. I remember the lady in Houston (in our old neighborhood, in fact!) who killed her 5 kids and it making national news. We do not have the luxury of brooding here, life must just go on.
The vegetable market continues well. The tomato lady is to bring her husband's blood test reports ("I want a doctor I trust to look over them," she said, moving me enormously) and I can see what his ailments, in addition to diabetes, are. She said she had no one else in the world - the couple has no children, which is considered a disability here - and said she had to take care of her husband, and then got teary. I patted her arm - I love human touch - and said diabetes was a very treatable condition and not to get so frightened by it. She heaped me w/ a bunch of extra tomatoes, making me the envy of my neighbor as all of us are reeling under high vegetable prices due to rain.
We were very fortunate to run into some former tutoring students who had stopped coming for various reasons. One of them, M, is a ninth grader, again from a desperately poor family, who studies her eyeballs out and wants to become a doctor. It is not for her professional goal that I like her, but that she is keen on educating herself, improving her lot in life and will not take the blows that life has dealt her lying down; I discovered 3 days ago that her father had left them and they had moved in w/ an aunt. I think this situation does not gladden anyone, and I urged her to return to tutoring; she did, bringing her sibs and a neighbor w/ her. M tends to memorise her English lesson w/o understanding a word, and I urged Naren to translate it for her; he flailed w/ the Tamil, and so I helped out. It must be awful to not understand what you are reading, and then get tested on it. These kids had not experienced Maya's markers, w/ the pattern on the end, and had a whale of a time at the end of the session w/ the art work.
We have decided to hold a party during the holidays and Naren can invite all the boys and girls he wants. Actually, he is very sensible in his choice of friends and I look forward to hosting the young 'uns, most of whom I like a lot; this affords him the chance to have girls over as well, and I imagine the young ladies are equally nice. Speaking of parties, Scott and I were invited to one last night given by one of his former employers; it was very high society (I guess) and had film actresses galore in the crowd. As it turns out, 2 of 'em were seated right by us; one of them (Kushbu) had stated publicly that Indian men should not insist on chastity in their brides any more, that everyone experimenting w/ premarital sex should use a condom. Radical Tamilian factions are up in arms, accusing her of demeaning Tamilian women and filing lawsuits aplenty. We told her we supported her viewpoint, and her right to say it. I imagine some in the crowd were awed by the actress brigade; as they were sitting by us (and even otherwise), we tended to view them as human - just as we will always view Richard Gere as David Gere's brother.
We had breakfast w/ my brother, Vinu, today and it was fun. Being able to see my extended fam is something I'll always appreciate. His daughter has been named Ahana ("Dawn") and will have a naming ceremony in 2 weeks, which we'll attend along w/ lots of relatives.
Life and work go on, and I am never sure how to aggressively market my cause to any one, figuring that if anyone is that interested in funding this work, they will so state. However, this we crave - our great wish is to visit the U.S. next year. It was mighty therapeutic and spiritually rejuvenating to hang out there, not to mention enlightening (in attending a great medical conference). If any of you knows of speaking opps, pls let us know. I am getting less and less adept at selling myself (indeed, what am I selling - improved health for impoverished Indians, many miles away, which is not a product or service anyone would jump at) and ramming my work down people's throats. I simply work, plough through the patients, get paid in tomatoes and plenty of goodwill (including blessings for the 3 Weiss men), tutor abysmally poor little kids - it's good work. Folks have wished good wives (no time soon, tho') and lives for Naren and Navin - that is a lovely thing.
"The main difference for the history of the world if I had been shot rather than Kennedy is that Onassis probably wouldn't have married Mrs. Khrushchev." - Nikita Khrushchev
Unw -
Renu
posted by Renu Weiss at
9:12 PM
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