Hi Everyone! This post is most likely going to be one of my shorter ones - lucky for you all! I had a pretty bad headache all morning and decided it was best if I didn't go to Janet for my 2-4 afternoon shift and instead rested. But I was there from 10-12:30 per usual and am happy to share the tales of my time there! And my head is feeling much better now, so I will be feeling great for tomorrow's full day!
When I walked into the clinic this morning, I sat at the front desk with some of the girls there until Dr. Victoria was back in her office. I was offered vada by one of the girls and I'm not one to turn down food! It was pretty good, something along the lines of fried bread and veggies. After my post-breakfast snack, I went on rounds with Dr. Victoria. I really enjoyed getting to see some of the patients that I saw previous days who were getting ready to head home with their new little ones! Unfortunately, not all of the patients were doing much better. The woman that I mentioned yesterday with depression in the ICU was no longer in ICU, but her depression was definitely more visible to me than it was yesterday. The woman with anemia was also not doing much better. She was still not lactating and was actually running a high fever. Dr. Victoria said that could all be due to her anemia; I didn't know anemia could be so harmful! I also saw a baby who was aspirating and was being given oxygen, and that was very scary to see... Sorry for all the bad stories! There were good things too, I promise. One woman was getting ready to head home and I saw her bill which was a total of 21,000 Rs for the stay and the delivery. This is only $347 USD... for her entire stay! Amazing. But to put this in perspective, the minimum wage in America $15,000, while in India it is $689 USD, so that stay is potentially half of a person's annual income.
Something that is really strange here that I've noticed is people don't touch their water bottles to their mouth. When I have asked people why they do that, I've never gotten a straight answer. I'm sure it has something to do with germs on the bottle, but if it's your bottle I'm not sure why it matters. Anyways, they all pour the water into their mouths from the bottle. My problem is I can't drink it even when I do touch my lips to my bottle! I was sitting in the office today and spilled my water all over myself. Luckily no one saw, but I was just thinking, I can't even do this the easy way, how would I ever be able to pour it!?!
Speaking of pouring, as always we had coffee break around 11:15 and I was given a cup as usual. I'm not sure if I've yet mentioned this, but the paper cups here are not like cups I have seen at home. Yes, they look like cups, and yes, they are paper. But they are very short and wider than I have seen previously! I thought I was share a picture of them since I think they are strange, but people here use them for everything! I've never seen more paper cups in my life.
Dr. Victoria keeps a book of all of the expected delivery dates of her patients and when one delivers, she checks her off. Today she told me that she only had four deliveries left for the month of June, but that some of the early July patients should be coming in soon. I'm excited to see more deliveries!
When I walked into the clinic this morning, I sat at the front desk with some of the girls there until Dr. Victoria was back in her office. I was offered vada by one of the girls and I'm not one to turn down food! It was pretty good, something along the lines of fried bread and veggies. After my post-breakfast snack, I went on rounds with Dr. Victoria. I really enjoyed getting to see some of the patients that I saw previous days who were getting ready to head home with their new little ones! Unfortunately, not all of the patients were doing much better. The woman that I mentioned yesterday with depression in the ICU was no longer in ICU, but her depression was definitely more visible to me than it was yesterday. The woman with anemia was also not doing much better. She was still not lactating and was actually running a high fever. Dr. Victoria said that could all be due to her anemia; I didn't know anemia could be so harmful! I also saw a baby who was aspirating and was being given oxygen, and that was very scary to see... Sorry for all the bad stories! There were good things too, I promise. One woman was getting ready to head home and I saw her bill which was a total of 21,000 Rs for the stay and the delivery. This is only $347 USD... for her entire stay! Amazing. But to put this in perspective, the minimum wage in America $15,000, while in India it is $689 USD, so that stay is potentially half of a person's annual income.
Something that is really strange here that I've noticed is people don't touch their water bottles to their mouth. When I have asked people why they do that, I've never gotten a straight answer. I'm sure it has something to do with germs on the bottle, but if it's your bottle I'm not sure why it matters. Anyways, they all pour the water into their mouths from the bottle. My problem is I can't drink it even when I do touch my lips to my bottle! I was sitting in the office today and spilled my water all over myself. Luckily no one saw, but I was just thinking, I can't even do this the easy way, how would I ever be able to pour it!?!
Speaking of pouring, as always we had coffee break around 11:15 and I was given a cup as usual. I'm not sure if I've yet mentioned this, but the paper cups here are not like cups I have seen at home. Yes, they look like cups, and yes, they are paper. But they are very short and wider than I have seen previously! I thought I was share a picture of them since I think they are strange, but people here use them for everything! I've never seen more paper cups in my life.
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| I'm not sure if you can tell, but I think they are very strange |
Also, most of you probably know that I am a HUGE lover of babies and children in general. And today was baby galore! It was vaccination day in the clinic so lots of mothers brought their babies to get their BCG (Bacillus Calmette–Guérin) vaccination and Polio drops. The Polio drops, obvious, protect against Polio, which is no eradicated in India, and the BCG vaccine protects against tuberculosis. This meant that I saw lots and lots of babies and wanted to hold each and every one of them. However, no matter how much I smile at the mother or the little kids, none of them really talk to me. Occasionally I get a smile back, but babies are definitely not passed around here like they are in the U.S. Really, all I want to do is hold one baby or play with one little kid!
Anyways, that was basically my entire day since I just rested this evening! So hopefully tomorrow will be more exciting for you! On Friday we will be visiting two schools and I'm very, very excited!
See ya later alligator!
-Marissa
P.S. There was a chipmunk (also called a squirrel in India) in the hostel today! I really think it's still in here, but it scared me a lot when I saw it! I think it was equally scared of me because I was running up the stairs and then it went jumping everywhere. I had no idea what to do and then it run up the stairs and disappeared! It came through an open window and their were no open windows upstairs, so I hope the little guy is okay! I will let you know if we have any updates by tomorrow on his or her whereabouts.
P.S. There was a chipmunk (also called a squirrel in India) in the hostel today! I really think it's still in here, but it scared me a lot when I saw it! I think it was equally scared of me because I was running up the stairs and then it went jumping everywhere. I had no idea what to do and then it run up the stairs and disappeared! It came through an open window and their were no open windows upstairs, so I hope the little guy is okay! I will let you know if we have any updates by tomorrow on his or her whereabouts.
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