Report of 26 Feb 2006
Hello from Chennai!
Sunny, bright, happy - that's what the day looks like.
Hope all are well. I just spent an exhausting weekend at a conference for CME (Continuing Medical Education). Forum 2006 was organised by Sundaram Medical Foundation (SMF) Hospital here in Chennai. I attended Forum 2005 and was so impressed I had to return for it in 2006. It is very well-organised, starts on time (a stupefyingly rare occurrence for Indian functions) and runs on time, has very pertinent topics for the primary care provider, and most of the speakers are thunderously effective. It's lovely to try to keep current w/ medicine. All in all, 2 days well-spent, though they were the 2 days my spouse was here from Bangalore. SMF was started in the memory of the scion of one of the big business houses who changed careers to medicine at 30, and died of a brain tumor before he could see his dream of a community hospital realised. The folks at SMF are mostly U.S.- or U.K.-trained, and see the Banyan patients for free, endearing themselves to me even further.
The B is good. I had a patient come to see me w/ the complaint of her heart fluttering, or beating rapidly. As I tried to rip through my head all the causes of a rapid heart beat (the heart doing its own boogie, thyroid excess, drug use, caffeine overuse ...), I waited ("Listen to the patient, he will give you the diagnosis," said a famous MD - Osler?). Then she talked about how these episodes happen when she goes to visit her husband and daughter, and has to experience the taunts of neighbors about her "madness." As she talked of their effect on her, how she has had to give up seeing her grandson, how her daughter and husband try to be supportive but the taunts are ravaging, she had me by the heartstrings. I had to blink rapidly to not start weeping in front of her, but the prospect of being unable to see beloved family members is not something I take lightly. She said she does not want to leave the B, and to the B's credit, no one is forcing her to. I explained in some detail about the gossip factor, how my neighbors gossip about me too ("There goes that weirdo from the U.S., in sleeveless clothes, who brings in servants' kids to our high-class complex to tutor them, and conducts carnivals for them") and how one must just let some things go. I acknowledged the difficulty of this, but reaffirmed to her that absolutely no one wants her to leave the B and her family was welcome to visit her here, as they have since been doing. This appeared to suit my patient well, and I was relieved.
I had to punt rounds at the vegetable market again as I was at the conf, and Scott went. He is rather welcome there, as many Indians have never interacted w/ a white man, and Scott even shakes hands (gasp!), which is stupefying to the vendors. Plus his gentle manner is nice for all. We had our share of patients coming by the flat, including a young unmarried woman w/ belly pain. Asking about sexual history in an unmarried woman in India is playing with fire, but I do it anyhow as I must rule out certain causes such as pregnancy. I have treated her w/ some meds to relax her belly and she is not back yet, but I imagine I'll find out soon if they are effective.
Tutoring went well, and we'd sent out an SOS to the parents of prospective tutors, so we had enough tutors, thank goodness. We gave out M&M's at the end of the session, which were welcomed by all. I continue to be impressed that the kids come to learn.
Naren was one of 4 nominated for School Pupil Leader (SPL - sort of like Student Body President) by his peers in 10th grade, who are leaving school. Elections were last week and he did not win, but was extremely gracious in defeat. He likes the young lady who won, Rega, as do we (Navin included), and considers her competent and capable. In a lot of co-ed schools, girls don't get opps to be in leadership roles and I am also glad Rega won. Navin has been selected to read books (fiction) and review them for the young readers' section of the city's newspaper; he finished one yesterday and wrote the review, which I must send off today. Our complex has parenting workshops run by a beloved neighbor and we discussed mind-mapping; yesterday, the 3 Weiss men and I discussed my mind-map of strategies to stop swearing. The men were very supportive, and this morning's bustle of activities went off swimmingly without one cuss word from my mouth; I expect this will last 2 days, but hope for longer.
I have been most happy to receive emails from Kristi Tough, a very dynamic and intrepid 4th-year student from my med school in San Antonio, who is extremely eager to help the work here. We haven't met except over email. I generally don't receive good news over email, and Kristi's msgs have been a treat as she tries various avenues for assistance. We hope to visit the U.S. this year and San Antonio will be very high on our agenda as it was a fine school to study in, and we still keep in touch w/ lots of folks from there.
"School days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, brutal violations of common sense and common decency." - H. L. Mencken
Unw -
Renu
Sunny, bright, happy - that's what the day looks like.
Hope all are well. I just spent an exhausting weekend at a conference for CME (Continuing Medical Education). Forum 2006 was organised by Sundaram Medical Foundation (SMF) Hospital here in Chennai. I attended Forum 2005 and was so impressed I had to return for it in 2006. It is very well-organised, starts on time (a stupefyingly rare occurrence for Indian functions) and runs on time, has very pertinent topics for the primary care provider, and most of the speakers are thunderously effective. It's lovely to try to keep current w/ medicine. All in all, 2 days well-spent, though they were the 2 days my spouse was here from Bangalore. SMF was started in the memory of the scion of one of the big business houses who changed careers to medicine at 30, and died of a brain tumor before he could see his dream of a community hospital realised. The folks at SMF are mostly U.S.- or U.K.-trained, and see the Banyan patients for free, endearing themselves to me even further.
The B is good. I had a patient come to see me w/ the complaint of her heart fluttering, or beating rapidly. As I tried to rip through my head all the causes of a rapid heart beat (the heart doing its own boogie, thyroid excess, drug use, caffeine overuse ...), I waited ("Listen to the patient, he will give you the diagnosis," said a famous MD - Osler?). Then she talked about how these episodes happen when she goes to visit her husband and daughter, and has to experience the taunts of neighbors about her "madness." As she talked of their effect on her, how she has had to give up seeing her grandson, how her daughter and husband try to be supportive but the taunts are ravaging, she had me by the heartstrings. I had to blink rapidly to not start weeping in front of her, but the prospect of being unable to see beloved family members is not something I take lightly. She said she does not want to leave the B, and to the B's credit, no one is forcing her to. I explained in some detail about the gossip factor, how my neighbors gossip about me too ("There goes that weirdo from the U.S., in sleeveless clothes, who brings in servants' kids to our high-class complex to tutor them, and conducts carnivals for them") and how one must just let some things go. I acknowledged the difficulty of this, but reaffirmed to her that absolutely no one wants her to leave the B and her family was welcome to visit her here, as they have since been doing. This appeared to suit my patient well, and I was relieved.
I had to punt rounds at the vegetable market again as I was at the conf, and Scott went. He is rather welcome there, as many Indians have never interacted w/ a white man, and Scott even shakes hands (gasp!), which is stupefying to the vendors. Plus his gentle manner is nice for all. We had our share of patients coming by the flat, including a young unmarried woman w/ belly pain. Asking about sexual history in an unmarried woman in India is playing with fire, but I do it anyhow as I must rule out certain causes such as pregnancy. I have treated her w/ some meds to relax her belly and she is not back yet, but I imagine I'll find out soon if they are effective.
Tutoring went well, and we'd sent out an SOS to the parents of prospective tutors, so we had enough tutors, thank goodness. We gave out M&M's at the end of the session, which were welcomed by all. I continue to be impressed that the kids come to learn.
Naren was one of 4 nominated for School Pupil Leader (SPL - sort of like Student Body President) by his peers in 10th grade, who are leaving school. Elections were last week and he did not win, but was extremely gracious in defeat. He likes the young lady who won, Rega, as do we (Navin included), and considers her competent and capable. In a lot of co-ed schools, girls don't get opps to be in leadership roles and I am also glad Rega won. Navin has been selected to read books (fiction) and review them for the young readers' section of the city's newspaper; he finished one yesterday and wrote the review, which I must send off today. Our complex has parenting workshops run by a beloved neighbor and we discussed mind-mapping; yesterday, the 3 Weiss men and I discussed my mind-map of strategies to stop swearing. The men were very supportive, and this morning's bustle of activities went off swimmingly without one cuss word from my mouth; I expect this will last 2 days, but hope for longer.
I have been most happy to receive emails from Kristi Tough, a very dynamic and intrepid 4th-year student from my med school in San Antonio, who is extremely eager to help the work here. We haven't met except over email. I generally don't receive good news over email, and Kristi's msgs have been a treat as she tries various avenues for assistance. We hope to visit the U.S. this year and San Antonio will be very high on our agenda as it was a fine school to study in, and we still keep in touch w/ lots of folks from there.
"School days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, brutal violations of common sense and common decency." - H. L. Mencken
Unw -
Renu
posted by Renu Weiss at
3:17 AM
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