Well... Once again, I have quite a bit to share! So I apologize in advance for the coming length of this post, as well as maybe some of the gory details to come.
Maddie and I were also able to have experiences in the labour room and the operating theatre! We saw a few women being induced in the labour room using a medicine called dinoprostone gel, which takes about 4 hours to induce labor and is also used in the US. The labour room, on the other hand, is very different from anything you would see in the States. There are three metal delivery tables with curtains separating each and today we saw as many as six women in the room at a time. In the operating theaters we first saw the surgeon exploring a woman's uterus trying to determine why she was not reproducing. She had poly cystic ovaries, but I'm not sure if this was the full cause or not.
To jump off of my last post, here is the same sign for the college that I posted in Tamil, but this is the English side!
The rest of Sunday (after my last post) was really great! We had a delicious lunch of rice with some veggies, some sort of egg concoction, a curry sauce, roti (sort of like a tortilla), and a very short and fat banana that was sweeter than most bananas from the US. After lunch we ventured out from the campus into the "real" world of Trichy. We walked about one block to our left to this wonderful little ice cream shop called Ibaco. I bought a delicious scoop of cappuccino ice cream for only 53 Rupees, or 90 cents in USD. The conversion from USD to Rs. is 1USD to 59Rs, so quite the difference in money worth.
After our trip to the ice cream shop, we tried to find the ATM that we were told was near campus... Which it really was, but we somehow missed it when we crossed the street right in front of it. But let me tell you, crossing the street in India is no small feat. I'm honestly surprised I made it out alive. Having cars and two-wheelers flying at me, honking their horns, with no guarantee that they will stop is not my cup of tea. Since then I have crossed the street a few more times, and I've gotten a little bit better. But no one should complain about crossing the streets of New York until they cross the streets of India!
Later in the evening Dr. Relton's niece, Shalini, drove us to the market to pick up some much needed things, like toothpaste (which I somehow lost during the flight over) and tea so we can make some at nighttime. Then we went to a clothing shop to get some salwar kameezes. I ended up buying two tops and one bottom, but I'm sure I will end up buying more during my time here!
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| One of my salwar kameez outfits. I will post the other one soon! |
On our way home we drove through the "slums" and saw that there they don't have concrete houses, but tin, much like what I've seen in international slums before. Morgan also pointed out that not only in the slums, but even on campus, we have only seen little boys playing. I think the tradition and type of dress may have something to do with that, but it seems a shame that little girls are not able to really play the way little boys are.
Anyways, for dinner that nice we had rice, curry pasta, mango/egg soup, fried cauliflower, and hot milk with sugar. Now, hot milk is not something we drink in the US so I was a bit skeptical... But they actually boil their milk here to rid it of any possible bacteria and then just drink it hot. It was surprisingly delicious! In fact, when Morgan and I were unable to sleep for about 3 hours in the middle of the nice we were joking about how we should have "hot milk parties" instead of tea parties when we get back home.
On to today... My first day at the clinics! At first we tried to take me to Stephen nursing home (a nursing home is an ob-gun facility in India), but the doctor's weren't actually in and weren't prepared for me so I just went to Janet nursing home with Maddie instead! The difference between the Stephen and Janet facilities is visible even at first glance. Stephen is much smaller and calmer and the doctors are able to spend more time focusing on the patients; there wasn't even a crowd to come to the clinic.
However, Janet is much different. The minute we walked in we saw probably 100 people, men and women taking every chair in the waiting lobby as well as women crowded around the door of Dr. Victoria, who we worked with for the day. When we walked into her office, that was no different... Still about 5 women in her office at any given time waiting to talk to her or for their exams, in addition to the 5 or so assistants (Jennifer, Saranya, Vijia, Rahilka, and a few others). When I was introducing myself to everyone I realized that it is really hard for them to pronounce my name here and I often have to write it down for them to get it! Dr. Victoria is so busy that she sees her patients in an exam room connected to her office and completes the exams in probably one minute, no matter how pregnant they are. Compared to the half hour to hour we spend with our doctors in the US, I was shocked.
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| The Stephen Nursing Home sign, left is Tamil |
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| The entrance to Stephen Nursing Home; you can see some shoes on the left. |
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| The sign for Janet Nursing Home, you can already tell it's much bigger and the sign is almost like the movies! |
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| The entrance to Janet Nursing Home! |
Afterwards, we went into the other operating theatre and were able to watch a cesarean section, which she was having since her first child was born via C-section. I had never seen a childbirth, much less a C-section, so it was certainly eye-opening! There was so much blood involved that I definitely solidified my thinking that blood doesn't make me queasy! But aside from to blood, and I'm not really sure how to word this... But it was amazing to see the baby's head come out and to hear him cry for the first time! The family had also decided to have the "family planning" surgery (having her Fallopian tubes tied) since she already had a 6-year-old girl and now a little boy, so at one point the entire uterus was outside the body, which was very strange to see.
Lastly, we were able to see a traditional birth of a little girl. Once again, the actual birth was definitely not sunshine and rainbows. I think the mother was having a hard time pushing for some reason so the midwife had to give her a little push... Which was not really a little push. I'm not sure if it's common protocol in the US, but the midwife was practically jumping on the mother's stomach which seemed to be extremely painful... But regardless, the little girl was brought into the world healthy and purple as any other newborn! We went with the baby to get cleaned up so she could be brought to her mom and the rest of the family and she was beautiful as soon as the nurses got her all cleaned up!
By the time the baby was all cleaned up I was getting ready to leave but I was able to see the joy on the family's face when they got to meet their new daughter/granddaughter/niece/sister. And I have to say, it was probably the best ending to my first day I could have possibly asked for!
It reminded me of when I got to catch you coming into this world! Now you watching other people's babies being brought into this world. Hard to believe I am reading my babies words from the other side of the world!
ReplyDeleteAm enjoying your writing, Marissa, as you discover India. My first time in India was 1977 and I've been many times since then. I just spent almost all winter in Goa (the State beneath Bombay ~ now called a new name). Yes, I love the life on the streets in these other cultures. Hardly anyone stays home alone watching TV and petting a pet in any of the countries where I usually find myself spending a lot of time. I love this about ancient cultures. I hope you get to try Durian, which is my favorite tropical fruit. One of the blessings of the heat and pre-monsoon India is that there should be loads of various kinds of mangoes around. The more expensive ones are the best. They have countless varieties and you should avail yourself of them (as the USA prohibits the import of their mangoes to the USA ~ I think because of a trade agreement with Mexico). Therefore, no person in the USA will ever be able to even try the delicious Indian mango varieties. Also, South India is famous for their black grape juice.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you are enjoying and learning.
Regarding Staph infections, I discovered long ago (in the 70's) that I could buy a tiny tube of staph medicine made by Pfizer in India for pennies and that this tiny tube would last me 'forever' and kill staph almost immediately. Luckily, I still have a stockpile as I discovered this winter that it was no longer made and sold and was unavailable in India. Perhaps because it worked so well? That would be a shame but things like this DO happen where there is a lot of money involved ~ like in pharmaceuticals, unfortunately. The name was changed over the decades to Oxytetracycline Hydrochloride Skin Ointment. I always called it my wonder drug, as there is so much possibility for staph infection in the tropics as soon as one cuts skin.
Yes, I still find India fascinating, even after all these decades. Did you know that they 'recognize' over 1,600 languages there? Amazing!
Be well! Enjoy! And, always be careful!
p.s. Even though it may SEEM that you are going to get into a run in with another vehicle coming towards you, the customary way to drive in that country (since the roads are so narrow) is that you DO head 'into each other' and swerve at the last second around each other's vehicles. This is standard and something I had to learn when a boyfriend and I drove through South India and Sri Lanka in his huge Mercedez Benz converted postal truck! It drove me crazy at first as it was so frightening!
Hugs,
Sky