Report of 5 Mar 2006
Hello!
Clothes on the line, sunshine on my balcony, husband and son just finished studying Physics - welcome to my Sunday.
Trust all is good. I had plenty of opp to question my choice of profession this week. Ms. S, the attention-grabbing lady w/ tuberculosis in her hip joint, returned after surgery to get the infection cleaned out. She refused to cooperate w/ physical therapy and lay in bed yelling of pain. Another pt, also Ms. S (we'll call her S2), came after her cataract operation. She is also pretty demanding but in a different way, and together, S1 and S2 (remind you of Dr. Seuss's Thing 1 and Thing 2?) proceeded to rile the patients in the sick room up to be belligerent and irritable. Aiyaiyaaa - I wrote in S1's file that we needed to get her out of the sick room and our able psychiatrist agreed; the social workers put her on a regular floor and now her cooperation or lack of is only visible to her and a few disinterested roommates. S1 has a crush on the psychiatrist and he even managed to get her to keep her leg straight for 2 minutes, which is more than anyone else had accomplished. S2 also got shifted out to the floor. She is Anglo-Indian, of a community that was started when the British were here and started, uh, interacting w/ locals. The community is rather poor, but very Westernised, wearing Western clothes and having distinctly Western rituals at weddings (dances, cake and wine, etc.). Peace and good moods reign once more in the sick room w/ S1 and S2 where they belong.
The young woman w/ the belly pain (near our flat) is better. Always surprises me (pleasantly) when my patients heal - this is a lovely profession to be in.
Tutoring was good. It rained on Friday and we thought the students would not come; not only did they come, they came early to beat the rain. We were short-staffed again, but did the best we could. Fortunately, some kids worked independently and didn't need us totally; I imagine regular classrooms are also like this. We have a first-grader who does not recognize her alphabet and I tried to work w/ her; as w/ most students here, she can say the alphabet by rote if we start at the beginning and go in order, but not if we go randomly. All suggestions to help are welcome: we really need to get this child to know her letters or she'll flunk this year.
The Banyan's fundraiser was last night. Scott and I went, and listened to some magnificent musicians including the mightily-talented flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, who was so humble when we complimented and thanked him later. We had dinner, hung out w/ like-minded individuals, and returned home at 12.30 AM after a fun evening - to find our sons awake and having a time of their own. No quicker dampener on the evening than that. Food had not been put away, laundry had not been hung up, and these 2 were waiting up for their parents (which they denied). Some words were had all around, including cuss words from you-know-who's mouth, and we are going to try again for law and order.
A cousin I'd run into at the wedding 2 weeks ago, whom I was seeing after about 25 years and whom I'd had a blast sitting and gabbing with, died last week. Mala had gone in for a hysterectomy and complications set in. As Scott and I had headed out of the wedding hall, Mala, her sisters and mother were at the entrance, making a very pretty picture, and Scott touched my aunt Padmini's feet. Mala then introduced herself to Scott and was gracious and exceptionally charming, esp in a place (Coorg) where foreigners are relatively unheard of. That makes a very good memory for me. One minute we were sitting and talking of climbing the nurpannu tree, staining our teeth and hands purple w/ the fruit (and getting reamed on by our mothers), and 2 weeks later, she was not with us. It was hard to take.
I'd better wrap up. See you next week.
"A word uttered from a pure heart never goes in vain." - Mahatma Gandhi
Unw -
Renu
Clothes on the line, sunshine on my balcony, husband and son just finished studying Physics - welcome to my Sunday.
Trust all is good. I had plenty of opp to question my choice of profession this week. Ms. S, the attention-grabbing lady w/ tuberculosis in her hip joint, returned after surgery to get the infection cleaned out. She refused to cooperate w/ physical therapy and lay in bed yelling of pain. Another pt, also Ms. S (we'll call her S2), came after her cataract operation. She is also pretty demanding but in a different way, and together, S1 and S2 (remind you of Dr. Seuss's Thing 1 and Thing 2?) proceeded to rile the patients in the sick room up to be belligerent and irritable. Aiyaiyaaa - I wrote in S1's file that we needed to get her out of the sick room and our able psychiatrist agreed; the social workers put her on a regular floor and now her cooperation or lack of is only visible to her and a few disinterested roommates. S1 has a crush on the psychiatrist and he even managed to get her to keep her leg straight for 2 minutes, which is more than anyone else had accomplished. S2 also got shifted out to the floor. She is Anglo-Indian, of a community that was started when the British were here and started, uh, interacting w/ locals. The community is rather poor, but very Westernised, wearing Western clothes and having distinctly Western rituals at weddings (dances, cake and wine, etc.). Peace and good moods reign once more in the sick room w/ S1 and S2 where they belong.
The young woman w/ the belly pain (near our flat) is better. Always surprises me (pleasantly) when my patients heal - this is a lovely profession to be in.
Tutoring was good. It rained on Friday and we thought the students would not come; not only did they come, they came early to beat the rain. We were short-staffed again, but did the best we could. Fortunately, some kids worked independently and didn't need us totally; I imagine regular classrooms are also like this. We have a first-grader who does not recognize her alphabet and I tried to work w/ her; as w/ most students here, she can say the alphabet by rote if we start at the beginning and go in order, but not if we go randomly. All suggestions to help are welcome: we really need to get this child to know her letters or she'll flunk this year.
The Banyan's fundraiser was last night. Scott and I went, and listened to some magnificent musicians including the mightily-talented flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, who was so humble when we complimented and thanked him later. We had dinner, hung out w/ like-minded individuals, and returned home at 12.30 AM after a fun evening - to find our sons awake and having a time of their own. No quicker dampener on the evening than that. Food had not been put away, laundry had not been hung up, and these 2 were waiting up for their parents (which they denied). Some words were had all around, including cuss words from you-know-who's mouth, and we are going to try again for law and order.
A cousin I'd run into at the wedding 2 weeks ago, whom I was seeing after about 25 years and whom I'd had a blast sitting and gabbing with, died last week. Mala had gone in for a hysterectomy and complications set in. As Scott and I had headed out of the wedding hall, Mala, her sisters and mother were at the entrance, making a very pretty picture, and Scott touched my aunt Padmini's feet. Mala then introduced herself to Scott and was gracious and exceptionally charming, esp in a place (Coorg) where foreigners are relatively unheard of. That makes a very good memory for me. One minute we were sitting and talking of climbing the nurpannu tree, staining our teeth and hands purple w/ the fruit (and getting reamed on by our mothers), and 2 weeks later, she was not with us. It was hard to take.
I'd better wrap up. See you next week.
"A word uttered from a pure heart never goes in vain." - Mahatma Gandhi
Unw -
Renu
posted by Renu Weiss at
3:22 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home