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
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
posted by Renu Weiss at
2:00 AM
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