Report of 24 March 2013
Good evening!
Welcome to paradise - the mangoes are here! The best ones arrive later in the summer, but hey, these will do nicely for now. I am off gluten in an effort to reduce the gut size, and am not seeing any results because of the number of mangoes I am eating.
Kovalam was nice. We saw the usual ton of impoverished patients. A young lady came in complaining of headache at the back of her head, and I asked if her husband had beaten her. Her mother said yes, that he had grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into the wall. I was distressed. Then I noticed a burn mark on her forearm and asked about it, not really wanting to know. The patient said her mother had done it. Apparently, the young lady had gone off with another man in the course of her marriage, and got his name tattooed on her arm, and her mother had burnt it off. There was much more to this saga than met the eye, and I asked for both ladies to see the psychiatrist. When I alerted our psychiatric social worker about this, she said that the mother had also done similar wandering. Hmmm. I wonder how much of philandering is genetic.
Adaikalam was fine. One of our older patients is starting to not recognize me or interact, and this usually signifies an infection. I checked, and she has none of the obvious. The staff stated that she is her usual self with them, bantering and chiding. Thank heavens. I am okay with her not interacting with me, if she is herself with others.
The 3 Weiss men and I got to Skype this morning and that was grand fun. There was lots of chatter and talk about plans, including plans to job-hunt. It was nice to listen to the men and very cool to have adult, open dialogue. Scott's project has gone very well so far and I am delighted. He is an outstanding teacher/trainer.
A young high school student rounded with me last week and that was fun. He is interested in medicine, and so I taught him what I could that morning. He is idealistic and fun and good, and will make a great doctor someday. Now I know why professors would thank me after I rounded with them; it is refreshing to have someone alongside in the course of a day's work.
My father was here this evening, along with a young colleague of his. They had come for a conference on cosmetic surgery, which my Dad had inaugurated, and then stopped here before their train. (My father is not a believer in cosmetic surgery, and prefers to focus on plastic and reconstructive - with birth defects, burn injuries, etc. He agreed to inaugurate and attend this conference because he likes to accommodate and learn whatever he can.) That was fabulous; it is why we live here - that we can see family who transit through. My sister and brother-in-law, Anu and Benji, happened to be in town and they stopped by, too, and it was a merry laugh-fest. Anu and Benji work in Christian Medical College, Vellore, a very prestigious institution (started by an American!) and are brilliant clinicians and fine people. After they left, I had a little professional reading to do on skin diseases and got to ask my Dad some questions on it; it was cool. My father thanked me on leaving and I am always bemused by that: he is a busy man, and I appreciate that he finds time for us.
That I can see family when I want, and that we get along - I will always appreciate that.
Unw -
R
Welcome to paradise - the mangoes are here! The best ones arrive later in the summer, but hey, these will do nicely for now. I am off gluten in an effort to reduce the gut size, and am not seeing any results because of the number of mangoes I am eating.
Kovalam was nice. We saw the usual ton of impoverished patients. A young lady came in complaining of headache at the back of her head, and I asked if her husband had beaten her. Her mother said yes, that he had grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into the wall. I was distressed. Then I noticed a burn mark on her forearm and asked about it, not really wanting to know. The patient said her mother had done it. Apparently, the young lady had gone off with another man in the course of her marriage, and got his name tattooed on her arm, and her mother had burnt it off. There was much more to this saga than met the eye, and I asked for both ladies to see the psychiatrist. When I alerted our psychiatric social worker about this, she said that the mother had also done similar wandering. Hmmm. I wonder how much of philandering is genetic.
Adaikalam was fine. One of our older patients is starting to not recognize me or interact, and this usually signifies an infection. I checked, and she has none of the obvious. The staff stated that she is her usual self with them, bantering and chiding. Thank heavens. I am okay with her not interacting with me, if she is herself with others.
The 3 Weiss men and I got to Skype this morning and that was grand fun. There was lots of chatter and talk about plans, including plans to job-hunt. It was nice to listen to the men and very cool to have adult, open dialogue. Scott's project has gone very well so far and I am delighted. He is an outstanding teacher/trainer.
A young high school student rounded with me last week and that was fun. He is interested in medicine, and so I taught him what I could that morning. He is idealistic and fun and good, and will make a great doctor someday. Now I know why professors would thank me after I rounded with them; it is refreshing to have someone alongside in the course of a day's work.
My father was here this evening, along with a young colleague of his. They had come for a conference on cosmetic surgery, which my Dad had inaugurated, and then stopped here before their train. (My father is not a believer in cosmetic surgery, and prefers to focus on plastic and reconstructive - with birth defects, burn injuries, etc. He agreed to inaugurate and attend this conference because he likes to accommodate and learn whatever he can.) That was fabulous; it is why we live here - that we can see family who transit through. My sister and brother-in-law, Anu and Benji, happened to be in town and they stopped by, too, and it was a merry laugh-fest. Anu and Benji work in Christian Medical College, Vellore, a very prestigious institution (started by an American!) and are brilliant clinicians and fine people. After they left, I had a little professional reading to do on skin diseases and got to ask my Dad some questions on it; it was cool. My father thanked me on leaving and I am always bemused by that: he is a busy man, and I appreciate that he finds time for us.
That I can see family when I want, and that we get along - I will always appreciate that.
Unw -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
8:39 AM
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