Report of 14 Nov 2013

Good morning!

Hope all are well.

We are fine at the B.  Work is fabulous and continues to occupy me full-time, at home as well.

Earlier at Kovalam, the mother of one of our patients, Ms. X - who is also my patient -, came to see me.  Her BP (blood pressure) was higher than usual and I asked why.  She mentioned that she had had lots of stress, and "manakkavalai" (mind worries).  She stated that her son-in-law had filed for divorce, that he did not want her daughter back and that if he had had mental illness, her daughter would not have abandoned him.  Amen, sister.  She wept in my room as she thought of what sort of future her daughter would have.  "K," I bellowed to my colleague.  K is a remarkable lady, also abandoned by her husband and living at her parents' place with her 2 daughters; she shares her story with all unabashedly.  She told Ms. X of her tale, that her mother too had wept as Ms. X was doing, and that she has shown all that she can work and support herself and her family, that her mother was now very relieved and happy.  Ms. X calmed down and held my hand.  I had done little; K had unleashed her formidable power to everyone's benefit.

What a place, the B.  What an inspirational place.

Adaikalam has been fine, with the challenges being to handle beatings by residents.  I nearly got one the other day and the nurse thwarted the patient, breaking her own bangle in the process.  Violence is de rigeur here, regretfully, and is handled well by all staff and psychiatrists.

Scott and I caught a couple of Tamil movies and enjoyed them.  "Thor" has released and is sold out for days.  I will soon go, however, with a bowl so that my saliva does not drip everywhere.  Scott and I also ate out, which is a joyous event for me here - the raw materials for the food are unrefrigerated, unfrozen, fresh and made very well by expert chefs.  I also got to talk to my Dad and that was fun - a laugh-fest.

Naren and Navin are well and enjoying their independence.  We are happy they are in touch with us.

Unw -

R

Report of 3 Nov 2013:

Good afternoon!
  
It is warm and sunny, a husband is asleep on the other sofa.  We have eaten; the custard apples were not good, however, and we must get more tomorrow - hopefully, better ones.

Work has been good and busy.  I was roundly berated by one of our more famous patients in Kovalam - "Well, abandoned us, didn't you?" and "Don't do that again."  Her blood pressure is high and I am discovering that the meds were not taken as prescribed.  Several of my patients are illiterate and a better way for me to ascertain that is to ask "Can you read Tamil?" instead of "Can you read?"  We then ask if there are family members in the house who can help decipher the medications and usually, there are some.

Our male patient with heart disease came in, a walking testimony to the body healing itself in spite of what we do.  This man has serious heart disease and is to be on meds given by the Government hospital (GH); he does not go and get the meds, expecting to get them at our clinic.  We stock what we can, but since the meds are given for free at GH, we think it is a better use of resources to get them there.  Well, Mr. X will not go there, has not been on the meds for a long time, and yet his heart keeps chugging along.  He has a plethora of excuses for why he won't go, some of them very funny - "Well, I was waiting for you to return so that I could go to the GH," which was simultaneously funny and made no sense at all.

One of our patients in Adaikalam committed suicide at her employer's house.  As I tried to ascertain who the patient was, one of my colleagues said she had a photo of the death scene and I demurred: I wanted to see what the patient looked like when she was alive.

Yesterday was Diwali and we missed the sweet-makers, our sons.  Diwali is the festival of lights and we also exchange sweets (home-made or store-bought) with friends and neighbors.  We got to Skype with the boys, which was great.  Both are doing well and enjoying their respective current endeavors.  Scott and I went to Adaikalam to witness the celebrations and that was nice.  We then stopped at the home of some beloved friends, wished them and returned.

Hope Diwali brings all of you much prosperity!

Unw -

R