Report of 18 Mar 2012
Hello from sunny Chennai!
It is hot. The only cool place is our tile floor, and I have lain on it and read The New England Journal of Medicine, which Dr. Love kindly saves and sends me when he's done reading it. I like this mag: it is well-written and challenges our knowledge base, plus gives us a whole lot of info to build on it.
The B is fine. Kovalam is good. Last week, one of the staff members brought her daughter to be seen. I am unfailingly honored when colleagues bring family members to be seen by me. However, this daughter was 8 years old and I am not a pediatrician. Anyway, I saw her because she had a simple enough stomach ache, likely from eating chicken that was left out for a few hours. I asked the mother to give the child acetaminophen, and asked if the child liked soft drinks; yes, so I recommended them. This is the only time my pedatrician sister allows soft drinks in kids: when they are sick with belly pain or fever or vomiting or diarrhea. My young patient was delightful, and I asked how she was doing in school; I suggested she enter my profession so that we could work together. This little girl was like most Indian little girls, with pretty brown skin, great big expressive black eyes, and jet black hair tied in a braid. Thankfully, I found some Dora stickers in my bag and handed them over - beats candy. I phoned Kovalam the next day and heard that the child was well enough to go to school and after-school tutoring. Halleluia!
Ms. E has taken to hanging out in my room for a bit. She had leg pain, and the xray did not show a fracture, so I prescribed some pain meds. Ms. E also spoke extensively of her life in Mumbai, in the red liglht district, with a great big obese woman as her Madam. Regretfully, I did not have the stomach for those details and changed the topic. Ms. E spoke of her married life, of cooking for her husband, how he would not eat if she did not, how he would slap her if she wasted food (this gesture interpreted as some weird demonstration of love). As the psychologists doubt if Ms. E has been married at all, I simply let Ms. E talk - unknowing if the picture was accurate or not, but seeing that it gave Ms. E some joy to speak of a life that may or may not have existed.
Training goes along swimmingly. We spoke of cancer, and this generated a ton of interest. We spoke of cervical cancer, and that young people became sexually active early in the West. Lest each of us became holier-than-thou and judgemental, I mentioned that our practice of turning a blind eye to adultery could also lead to deadly diseases. We get into philosophical discussions, too; some cancers' risk factor is poverty and we spoke of that.
Mysteriously, I have been exhausted of late. Might be the sapping heat. I am also disappointed with our (the Banyan's) financial state of affairs, that we cannot do all that we want as we are so short of cash. We have outstanding personnel, and perhaps in time, we might be solvent. I am also a little puzzled at the number of people all over the world who ask us favors: if they would help with the same zeal, that would be grand, would it not.
I had a delightful letter from the Bartons. We met in Greenwood, and Scott and Navin had visited them recently. Mrs. B wrote with a lot of affection and I enjoyed the note. The Bartons are very nice folks, and we had had a good visit with them before I left the U.S. It is very therapeutic to make new friends.
A friend and I saw "The Vow" and enjoyed it. I like Rachel McAdams a lot. Naren turned 21 last week and we went to breakfast at the very upmarket Hyatt ("Ek din ka sultan," my mother used to say, "Sultan or king for a day," meaning splurge for a brief moment). We had a great meal - sausages and eggs, very non-Indian, by our choice - and then, when I asked for the bill, the manager said the Public Relations Manager had taken care of it. Que??? Enna?! Naren had done an article on the Hyatt for a magazine and apparently, that merited extra attention. Scott and I laughed and laughed; we've lived here for 9 years, and when was the last time our jobs merited a complimentary meal? Never. We do live off our children. Yesterday, my nephews, Aditya and Vikram, joined us for pizza and that was joyous: I love listening and talking to young people. I also greatly appreciate getting together with family. It was a treat for me to pay for the meal; I like this state of affairs, when I can treat folks. Afterwards, Vikram, Naren and I went to see "This means war," and enjoyed it. The men were kind enough to let me stop at Ethiraj College beforehand and try to see Ms. K, a Banyan patient's daughter. She was not there, having gone to Loyola College for a sports meet for the disabled (K is legally blind). I received a good report on Ms. K, that she was happy and doing well; I had known that, but to have it affirmed by her peers was good.
Scott, Navin, Naren and I skyped today, and again got into a trans-Atlantic argument. I do not tolerate lack of respect at all, whether in person or a phone call, and let everybody know that. The men assured me that it had been inadvertent on one of their parts, and we wound up amicably. I spoke to my Dad today; he had returned from receiving yet another award, this time in Nagercoil. I've mentioned before that these totally float his boat, and we gabbed for a bit, chuckling at his choice of words for some situation. He will visit us on the 31st, which he appears to look forward to, and I was glad to note that.
"Parents should conduct their arguments in quiet, respectful tones, but in a foreign language. You'd be surprised what an inducement that is to the education of children." - Judith Martin
Unw -
R
It is hot. The only cool place is our tile floor, and I have lain on it and read The New England Journal of Medicine, which Dr. Love kindly saves and sends me when he's done reading it. I like this mag: it is well-written and challenges our knowledge base, plus gives us a whole lot of info to build on it.
The B is fine. Kovalam is good. Last week, one of the staff members brought her daughter to be seen. I am unfailingly honored when colleagues bring family members to be seen by me. However, this daughter was 8 years old and I am not a pediatrician. Anyway, I saw her because she had a simple enough stomach ache, likely from eating chicken that was left out for a few hours. I asked the mother to give the child acetaminophen, and asked if the child liked soft drinks; yes, so I recommended them. This is the only time my pedatrician sister allows soft drinks in kids: when they are sick with belly pain or fever or vomiting or diarrhea. My young patient was delightful, and I asked how she was doing in school; I suggested she enter my profession so that we could work together. This little girl was like most Indian little girls, with pretty brown skin, great big expressive black eyes, and jet black hair tied in a braid. Thankfully, I found some Dora stickers in my bag and handed them over - beats candy. I phoned Kovalam the next day and heard that the child was well enough to go to school and after-school tutoring. Halleluia!
Ms. E has taken to hanging out in my room for a bit. She had leg pain, and the xray did not show a fracture, so I prescribed some pain meds. Ms. E also spoke extensively of her life in Mumbai, in the red liglht district, with a great big obese woman as her Madam. Regretfully, I did not have the stomach for those details and changed the topic. Ms. E spoke of her married life, of cooking for her husband, how he would not eat if she did not, how he would slap her if she wasted food (this gesture interpreted as some weird demonstration of love). As the psychologists doubt if Ms. E has been married at all, I simply let Ms. E talk - unknowing if the picture was accurate or not, but seeing that it gave Ms. E some joy to speak of a life that may or may not have existed.
Training goes along swimmingly. We spoke of cancer, and this generated a ton of interest. We spoke of cervical cancer, and that young people became sexually active early in the West. Lest each of us became holier-than-thou and judgemental, I mentioned that our practice of turning a blind eye to adultery could also lead to deadly diseases. We get into philosophical discussions, too; some cancers' risk factor is poverty and we spoke of that.
Mysteriously, I have been exhausted of late. Might be the sapping heat. I am also disappointed with our (the Banyan's) financial state of affairs, that we cannot do all that we want as we are so short of cash. We have outstanding personnel, and perhaps in time, we might be solvent. I am also a little puzzled at the number of people all over the world who ask us favors: if they would help with the same zeal, that would be grand, would it not.
I had a delightful letter from the Bartons. We met in Greenwood, and Scott and Navin had visited them recently. Mrs. B wrote with a lot of affection and I enjoyed the note. The Bartons are very nice folks, and we had had a good visit with them before I left the U.S. It is very therapeutic to make new friends.
A friend and I saw "The Vow" and enjoyed it. I like Rachel McAdams a lot. Naren turned 21 last week and we went to breakfast at the very upmarket Hyatt ("Ek din ka sultan," my mother used to say, "Sultan or king for a day," meaning splurge for a brief moment). We had a great meal - sausages and eggs, very non-Indian, by our choice - and then, when I asked for the bill, the manager said the Public Relations Manager had taken care of it. Que??? Enna?! Naren had done an article on the Hyatt for a magazine and apparently, that merited extra attention. Scott and I laughed and laughed; we've lived here for 9 years, and when was the last time our jobs merited a complimentary meal? Never. We do live off our children. Yesterday, my nephews, Aditya and Vikram, joined us for pizza and that was joyous: I love listening and talking to young people. I also greatly appreciate getting together with family. It was a treat for me to pay for the meal; I like this state of affairs, when I can treat folks. Afterwards, Vikram, Naren and I went to see "This means war," and enjoyed it. The men were kind enough to let me stop at Ethiraj College beforehand and try to see Ms. K, a Banyan patient's daughter. She was not there, having gone to Loyola College for a sports meet for the disabled (K is legally blind). I received a good report on Ms. K, that she was happy and doing well; I had known that, but to have it affirmed by her peers was good.
Scott, Navin, Naren and I skyped today, and again got into a trans-Atlantic argument. I do not tolerate lack of respect at all, whether in person or a phone call, and let everybody know that. The men assured me that it had been inadvertent on one of their parts, and we wound up amicably. I spoke to my Dad today; he had returned from receiving yet another award, this time in Nagercoil. I've mentioned before that these totally float his boat, and we gabbed for a bit, chuckling at his choice of words for some situation. He will visit us on the 31st, which he appears to look forward to, and I was glad to note that.
"Parents should conduct their arguments in quiet, respectful tones, but in a foreign language. You'd be surprised what an inducement that is to the education of children." - Judith Martin
Unw -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
5:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home