Report of 3 Feb 2019
And it's February already.
There are birds either trying to migrate or going for a joyride. We live near backwaters and there are several migratory birds roosting nearby. Very cool. The sea seems tranquil, and we have got to see it clearly for the first time in days.
The Banyan is nice. Clinic on Monday was busy, as usual. One of my favorite patients came to be examined and then said, "You should live to be 100 years." I said, "So should you." And she said, "I have done nothing, you help people." I said, "When you come in here, you make all of us very happy." Indeed, she does - serene, grateful, accepting. She collected her medicines and left.
When pleasant patients come in to the clinic, it truly does make the day better.
Adaikalam is also good. A former patient came to celebrate her birthday with us, paying to feed the Banyan biryani (an expensive dish) and cutting a huge cake. She is HIV +, undergoing treatment. She would like to come to the B to work and we are investigating it.
We are the Banyan family. Several patients elect to stay on with us, instead of going home to their families, as the care at the Banyan is better than something their families might dish out. It is a magnificent organisation and the 2 ladies who founded it, Vandana and Vaishnavi, knew what they were doing when they emphasized dignity of the patient first.
Private practice is also fine. We had a meeting with the leaders of the transgender community - historically ostracised - and that was illuminating and fun. My boss is an endocrinologist and plans to do gender medicine also. This group of folks were men wishing to become women; on Friday, I saw a young woman who has taken active steps to become a man. She has had her breasts, uterus and ovaries removed, and my boss started her on testosterone treatment. The patient and I had an extremely informative conversation; he mentioned being an only child and his mother not yet having fully accepted his decision. I spoke up for mothers everywhere, telling him that her love would always be there, that it was her setting a milieu that helped him be free to voice his gender identity crisis.
Scott and I toodled off to have our eye exams by my former schoolmate and that was good. As I age, new things are happening - dry eye, now. Already the hearing appeared to be on the wane, and then I realised that the men in my life are a foot taller than I am and speak at that altitude. Thus, I am hopeful that the hearing ain't an issue, but the dry eye is. Ostensibly, the distance between my right upper and lower eyelids is vast, and thus, the eye surface is drying out quicker. Big eyes used to be an advantage, but not as we age: eye drops are going in now.
We then went to a beautiful Kathak dance performance. The dancer Kumudini Lakhia is 89 years old and she has a dance troupe, which performed. Ms. KL has experimented with fusion and other maneuvers and the result is most pleasing to the eye. We enjoyed the performance immensely, though we were a wee bit late getting there from the ophthalmologist.
We hung out with both boys individually this weekend and that was fun. Lots of chatter.
Have a very good week, with chatter in it!
Unw -
R
There are birds either trying to migrate or going for a joyride. We live near backwaters and there are several migratory birds roosting nearby. Very cool. The sea seems tranquil, and we have got to see it clearly for the first time in days.
The Banyan is nice. Clinic on Monday was busy, as usual. One of my favorite patients came to be examined and then said, "You should live to be 100 years." I said, "So should you." And she said, "I have done nothing, you help people." I said, "When you come in here, you make all of us very happy." Indeed, she does - serene, grateful, accepting. She collected her medicines and left.
When pleasant patients come in to the clinic, it truly does make the day better.
Adaikalam is also good. A former patient came to celebrate her birthday with us, paying to feed the Banyan biryani (an expensive dish) and cutting a huge cake. She is HIV +, undergoing treatment. She would like to come to the B to work and we are investigating it.
We are the Banyan family. Several patients elect to stay on with us, instead of going home to their families, as the care at the Banyan is better than something their families might dish out. It is a magnificent organisation and the 2 ladies who founded it, Vandana and Vaishnavi, knew what they were doing when they emphasized dignity of the patient first.
Private practice is also fine. We had a meeting with the leaders of the transgender community - historically ostracised - and that was illuminating and fun. My boss is an endocrinologist and plans to do gender medicine also. This group of folks were men wishing to become women; on Friday, I saw a young woman who has taken active steps to become a man. She has had her breasts, uterus and ovaries removed, and my boss started her on testosterone treatment. The patient and I had an extremely informative conversation; he mentioned being an only child and his mother not yet having fully accepted his decision. I spoke up for mothers everywhere, telling him that her love would always be there, that it was her setting a milieu that helped him be free to voice his gender identity crisis.
Scott and I toodled off to have our eye exams by my former schoolmate and that was good. As I age, new things are happening - dry eye, now. Already the hearing appeared to be on the wane, and then I realised that the men in my life are a foot taller than I am and speak at that altitude. Thus, I am hopeful that the hearing ain't an issue, but the dry eye is. Ostensibly, the distance between my right upper and lower eyelids is vast, and thus, the eye surface is drying out quicker. Big eyes used to be an advantage, but not as we age: eye drops are going in now.
We then went to a beautiful Kathak dance performance. The dancer Kumudini Lakhia is 89 years old and she has a dance troupe, which performed. Ms. KL has experimented with fusion and other maneuvers and the result is most pleasing to the eye. We enjoyed the performance immensely, though we were a wee bit late getting there from the ophthalmologist.
We hung out with both boys individually this weekend and that was fun. Lots of chatter.
Have a very good week, with chatter in it!
Unw -
R
posted by Renu at
4:58 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home