Report of 7 Aug '05
Hello from balmy Chennai -
The clothes are drying on our balcony, a breeze is blowing, my sons are ostensibly studying for their exams and I have just eaten a guava. I've put on weight since I got here 6 days ago - it's the old "Boy, these pants that I've had for years just shrank" event.
The journey back took 22 hours - shorter than it could be. Something had told me there'd be a medical emergency on one of my 2 flights, that it'd be someone in first class. There was indeed such an emergency, but in economy. I was in an exit row, near the loos and I woke up from a nap to find a young Danish man, Mark, lying on the floor near my feet; he assured me he was alright and then grabbed a couple of barf bags. As it turned out, he had some severe food poisoning from a fish sandwich eaten at Frankfurt and could not keep anything down tho' he asked for water repeatedly. I tended to him and another passenger w/ a headache, and Mark ended up occupying the rest of my 3 hours on the flight. I essentially did nothing for him other than reassure and accompany him to the ambulance, but I got a call from him next day stating that I'd saved his life. I had not and stated so, but was pretty grateful he was much better. It is absolutely wonderful to be in this profession, and take care of sick people. The Lufthansa crew gave me a bottle of champagne, some chocolates, a 25 Euro gift cert with which I bought some Milkha chocolates for my family. The Indian flight attendants and I were quite relieved that Mark's food poisoning was not caused in India. :)
It's good to be back. Scott was at the airport, as happy to see me as he was to see the Flonase, generously donated by my former staff physicians and mentors, Dr. Vohra and Dr. Lubitz. The gas station attendant welcomed me home today and the vendors at the veg market, many of whom are my patients - attended to at the market, with histories and physicals done over the mounds of cucumbers, okra and butterbeans - asked where I'd been. One of them discussed her irregular menstrual cycle with me, and as she is attempting to conceive, I told her she needed to be evaluated by an OB. We had just enough money at the end of our rounds for 1 lb of tomatoes and when I asked for them, the tomato lady heaped well more than a pound of her best tomatoes on the scale and charged us for a lot less. It is lovely to be at the receiving end of such gratitude.
The week was tumultous. The morning after I returned, Navin blabbed part of the secret of the murder mystery I am reading and I was furious. On perusing Naren's grades, I discovered that the child had routinely brought home grades like 0, 1 and 4, and I sent a note to the teachers that Naren had been grounded for the foreseeable future. We were summoned to the principal's office to discuss Naren's abysmal performance and then there was a general PTA meeting where we found that quite a few of the ninth grade boys were evidencing peer pressure to underachieve; Naren quite clearly appeared to want to be the Maharaja of Morons. We have had talks w/ him to find out the motive and not been convinced. Several of his teachers rounded on Scott, stating that they had noticed an improvement in Naren's behavior and appearance after my return. This didn't warm the cockles of my heart exactly, as I feel the 3 Weiss men can coexist pretty well without me; however, the boys' unironed clothes gave them the distinct "Beige Trash" look and their conduct apparently affirmed an indifference at home. Scott was stricken and he talked at length to me, stating that he doesn't multi-task very well, that *his* office clothes were ironed, that he thought Naren would yank his grades up on his own, that he had no time to buy fruit (an integral part of our meals). I've left it up to the men to ferret their way out of this one, and Naren has lost his phone, email and long hair privileges.
Scott and I visited my parents in Madurai yesterday and had a great time, full of laughter and swapping patient stories. Today, my brother and sister-in-law, who had kept our kids while we were in Madurai, joined us for a nice breakfast buffet - I tend to crave Western food routinely here and am losing the taste for rice.
Tutoring resumes next week. I miss the U.S. and am glad I got the opp to work there for a bit and drink plenty of Minute Maid OJ. My place, tho', is with the destitute here and someday I may have my own clinic w/ a good lab where I could treat such folks; if one can dream it, one can do it.
"The secret of dealing successfully with a child is not to be its parent." - Mell Lazarus
Until next week -
Renu
The clothes are drying on our balcony, a breeze is blowing, my sons are ostensibly studying for their exams and I have just eaten a guava. I've put on weight since I got here 6 days ago - it's the old "Boy, these pants that I've had for years just shrank" event.
The journey back took 22 hours - shorter than it could be. Something had told me there'd be a medical emergency on one of my 2 flights, that it'd be someone in first class. There was indeed such an emergency, but in economy. I was in an exit row, near the loos and I woke up from a nap to find a young Danish man, Mark, lying on the floor near my feet; he assured me he was alright and then grabbed a couple of barf bags. As it turned out, he had some severe food poisoning from a fish sandwich eaten at Frankfurt and could not keep anything down tho' he asked for water repeatedly. I tended to him and another passenger w/ a headache, and Mark ended up occupying the rest of my 3 hours on the flight. I essentially did nothing for him other than reassure and accompany him to the ambulance, but I got a call from him next day stating that I'd saved his life. I had not and stated so, but was pretty grateful he was much better. It is absolutely wonderful to be in this profession, and take care of sick people. The Lufthansa crew gave me a bottle of champagne, some chocolates, a 25 Euro gift cert with which I bought some Milkha chocolates for my family. The Indian flight attendants and I were quite relieved that Mark's food poisoning was not caused in India. :)
It's good to be back. Scott was at the airport, as happy to see me as he was to see the Flonase, generously donated by my former staff physicians and mentors, Dr. Vohra and Dr. Lubitz. The gas station attendant welcomed me home today and the vendors at the veg market, many of whom are my patients - attended to at the market, with histories and physicals done over the mounds of cucumbers, okra and butterbeans - asked where I'd been. One of them discussed her irregular menstrual cycle with me, and as she is attempting to conceive, I told her she needed to be evaluated by an OB. We had just enough money at the end of our rounds for 1 lb of tomatoes and when I asked for them, the tomato lady heaped well more than a pound of her best tomatoes on the scale and charged us for a lot less. It is lovely to be at the receiving end of such gratitude.
The week was tumultous. The morning after I returned, Navin blabbed part of the secret of the murder mystery I am reading and I was furious. On perusing Naren's grades, I discovered that the child had routinely brought home grades like 0, 1 and 4, and I sent a note to the teachers that Naren had been grounded for the foreseeable future. We were summoned to the principal's office to discuss Naren's abysmal performance and then there was a general PTA meeting where we found that quite a few of the ninth grade boys were evidencing peer pressure to underachieve; Naren quite clearly appeared to want to be the Maharaja of Morons. We have had talks w/ him to find out the motive and not been convinced. Several of his teachers rounded on Scott, stating that they had noticed an improvement in Naren's behavior and appearance after my return. This didn't warm the cockles of my heart exactly, as I feel the 3 Weiss men can coexist pretty well without me; however, the boys' unironed clothes gave them the distinct "Beige Trash" look and their conduct apparently affirmed an indifference at home. Scott was stricken and he talked at length to me, stating that he doesn't multi-task very well, that *his* office clothes were ironed, that he thought Naren would yank his grades up on his own, that he had no time to buy fruit (an integral part of our meals). I've left it up to the men to ferret their way out of this one, and Naren has lost his phone, email and long hair privileges.
Scott and I visited my parents in Madurai yesterday and had a great time, full of laughter and swapping patient stories. Today, my brother and sister-in-law, who had kept our kids while we were in Madurai, joined us for a nice breakfast buffet - I tend to crave Western food routinely here and am losing the taste for rice.
Tutoring resumes next week. I miss the U.S. and am glad I got the opp to work there for a bit and drink plenty of Minute Maid OJ. My place, tho', is with the destitute here and someday I may have my own clinic w/ a good lab where I could treat such folks; if one can dream it, one can do it.
"The secret of dealing successfully with a child is not to be its parent." - Mell Lazarus
Until next week -
Renu
posted by Renu Weiss at
8:12 PM
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