Delhi Belhi

Laxatives: 20 rupees
PDA that tells us the dosage and side effects: $300.22
The look on her face when she found out that she took enough laxatives to clear out her bowels for a colonoscopy: Priceless

Oh man. I was laughing so hard. We were like, Don't worry. You can tell people when you get home, "Oh yea, I got Delhi belly my last week there." "Oh no. What did you eat?" "A bunch of laxatives." Note to self: don't play around with laxatives. It is not a game.

My last night in Dehra Dun was nice. I'm a little sick, so I didn't want to go out to eat or anything. But the rest of the girls bought cake and icecream! It was such a wonderful surprise! They're so sweet. And Laura bought me my own, complete Lonely Planet: India. (I had been carrying around a copy that someone left that had all of South India torn out.) It was a very nice send off.

Now I'm in Delhi and I just love it even more. I don't know why. The minute I stepped out of the train station I just felt like everything fit. I'm meeting up with my friend Heeya tonight, and then I plan on seeing the Lotus Temple, visiting my old apartment, eating at Mocha, and having chai with my old coordinator, Brinda. I'm so excited! I just wish I had some clean laundry to wear.

Where am I?

So the girls on the program just told me the CRAZIEST story. They were in clinic and one couple had a set of triplets. The father, however, decided that he didn't want three more children, so he told the doctor that he didn't want the baby girl with the heart condition. Another couple had a baby girl, but she eventually died. So the doctor took the unwanted triplet and introduced it to the childless couple as their daughter. He told the other mother that only two of her triplets survived. Yea. He did a baby swap.

Isn't that crazy? Very "Midnight's Children"/Days of our Lives. He told the grandparents that their granddaughter wasn't their own, and they'll tell the parents after they've bonded with the child. Apparently, the husband just returned from Iraq and has some kind of trauma. We suspect (but don't know for sure) that the death of his child would be too much for him, so that's why the grandparents were all right with the switch, but we really don't know.

The situation is just so....yea. The doctor is playing God. Literally breaking and making families and lives. I can see the temptation, though. If the little girl had gone to the orphanage, at best she would never be adopted, at worst, she would die. No one wants to adopt a girl, much less a girl with a heart condition. And for the other couple, the trauma of losing a baby... the problem seems so complicated and the solution seems so easy. In a country where human life is so abundant it becomes cheap. During a time when a tsunami or an earthquake can wipe out entire villages and cities. I can see the temptation. But what if the new parents find out and reject her? What if she dies? Wouldn't that be even more traumatizing after bonding with her?

In another case, a little boy had hydrocephaly. Somehow, the nerve to his bladder was damaged so he has to live with a catheter for the rest of his life to drain his bladder. The doctor was saying that his quality of life would be awful and the parents would suffer as well. So the doctor decided it would be best to let the child get menengitis and die. Again, I can see the temptation. How can I judge when I don't really know?

Yea, I'm REALLY glad I don't have to make those decisions and, hopefully, I'll never have to.

I <3 Tibetans

This past weekend I went to McLeod Gange, which is where the exiled Tibetan government is located. It was awesome.

After a 12 hour, overnight bus ride, we finally arrived in McLeod Gange. We would not have made it if it wasn't for a couple travel fairy godmothers and a very nice monk. During breakfast, Laura started bashing Bush with a couple of other tourists and they ended up inviting us to a private audience with the Karmapa. Apparently, there was a Conference of Grandmothers going on that weekend. 13 Grandmothers from different indigenous groups (Native American, Tibetan, Aboriginal...) meet up twice a year and discuss different topics about the world. It was pretty cool. So, we joined the conference of about 100 people and listened to the Karmapa speak about his grandmother who was completely blind. It was awesome. The Karmapa is 4th in line behind the Dalai Lama. He's 26 and at the age of 17 he had to escape from Tibet. After his speech, we got in line and were blessed by him.

Afterwards, we did some sightseeing with two Mexican women who were part of the conference. They were very nice. I bought a very expensive dress as an early birthday/you-never-have-to-take-the MCATS-again(!!!!)-present. We sat in the garden eating momos (tibetan dumplings) and just chatting. It was a lovely day.

The next day, I went on a walk by myself around the main temple/Dalai Lama's residence. It was a very quaint walk. Tons of tibetan prayer flags strewn throughout the forest. I was following a couple of monks when it started raining. Fortunately, I came across a little temple and was able to wait out the storm with a little Tibetan girl. I think she had Down's syndrome and she was extremely sweet. She was practicing her numbers in my journal and she was very good! When she got to 65 she skipped to 100. Eh, those numbers in between were never important anyways.

The next morning we made our way up to the Tibetan Children's Village. It was the 46th anniversary of its founding. I saw the Dalai Lama! Well, it was from across the track and he was sitting up on a balcony. When he was walking up, all the Tibetan children began singing. It was so nice. Technically, I did hear the Dalai Lama speak. It was all in Tibetan, however. I only understood one word, "compassion" because that was the only word in English. I really wish I had understood more.

But yes, it was a great weekend. But the bus ride back was the worst experience ever. I don't want to romanticize all my experiences. We were sitting in the very back and every time we went over any kind of bump, we flew up out of our seats. We were also sitting with a BUNCH of seedy men. Probably not the safest situation for us and I would NEVER do it again. In hour nine of the bus ride, our bus broke down. I thought we never would make it home, but we finally did. Yes, India is harsh when it wants to be. But then again, if I wanted cushy travel I would have gone to Europe. If I had wanted to go to a place where women are treated as equals, well, I would have to go to the moon. Again, the problems of the world are everywhere, they're just more apparent in India. It takes A Fine Balance to deal with all of India.

After my experience, I really, really want to go to Tibet. Apparently, the best place to get a visa is good, old Hong Kong(!) and the best time to visit is May to June (!!). I think the fates are telling me I should go....Anyone up for a trip to Lhasa?

Eid Mubarak!

So much to say...

So much has gone on since the last time I updated. Let's see...

Right now I'm back in the city of Dehra Dun and staying at my homestay. This past week I've been shadowing a neurologist and a pediatician. The neurologist is cool because I actually sorta know what he's talking about. And when he points to a CT scan I can pick out ventricles and such. I just wish I remembered more.

The pediatrician is very impressive. His name is Dr. Vaish and he has like his own hospital. Really, he's got like twenty patients admitted, ten more pre term babies in the pediatric intensive care unit, and then anyone who comes into the clinic and emergency cases. He's the only doctor and he's on call 24 hours a day. I don't know how he does it. And he doesn't just look after kids. He looks after babies, kids, teenagers, and adults. In one room there is a man admitted for pesticide poisoning and in the bed next to him there is a two year old child with a long term fever and seizures of unknown origin. Dr. Vaish does abcess drainage, spinal taps, bone marrow taps and can do c sections in an emergency.

And the pre term babies! They are the tiniest things I have ever seen! So cute. Just lying there, squirming around every now and then. It's sad sometimes, because they can be very sick. Dr. Vaish has the only accredited pediatric ICU in the state, so all the very complicated cases are referred to him. Yesterday, a baby died. The mother was diabetic and the baby was very sick when it was born. It was very sad. But it's also very encouraging when they bounce back. A one year old came in with respiratory failure and stopped breathing. They tried to put a mask on him, but then he started vomitting from all the sedatives, so Dr. Vaish had to intubate him very quickly and put him on a respirator. The next day, however, he was off the ventilator and crying quite loudly everytime we got near him. (I don't really blame him.)

After working with a pediatrician, I am amazed that humans can live past the age of five. Seriously, there are a lot of things out there than can kill you or at the very least make you very, very sick. I don't know if I can ever have kids. I'm going to be constantly worried that they'll get fungal infections or scabies. Do they have tuberculosis? Menengitis? Tubercular menengitis? Viral pneumonia? Bacterial? All these things could happen and that's not including the stuff we do to ourselves. Drugs, smoking, alcohol. An alcoholic came to Dr. Vaish in the middle of a seizure. I really don't understand how our bodies put up with its environment and then with ourselves. It's pretty amazing.

Happy Diwale!

LCH

So my aunt says I don't update enough. Right now I'm back at the Landour Community Hospital. It's been pretty cool. Today I got to play around with the ultrasound machine and find the heart beats of a pair of twins. The mother asked me if I could tell what sex the fetuses were. I was so glad that I could honestly tell her that I couldn't tell. It's illegal here to determine the sex of the fetus. There have been cases of doctors being arrested for telling parents the sex of the fetus and then performing abortions if the fetus is female. It is sad that people go to such great lengths to have a boy. In the villages one family has seven girls and just had their first boy and the parents want to continue having children in hopes that they'll have more boys.

Right now is the festival when women fast for a month and they can only eat when their husbands feed them after the sun goes down. They are fasting for the health and longevity of their husbands. One woman came in with conjunctivitis and she could not administer the drops until after sundown. Apparently, the women cannot even swallow their own saliva much less administer eye drops. The most serious cases are when pregnant women fast when the height of the uterus is already low, meaning the fetus is already malnutritioned. I am all for festivals and traditions, but not at the cost of health. Patriarchy at its worst (or best depending on your view).

Rabies?

The past two weeks have been pretty chill. I spent a week in the city of Dehra Dun and stayed at my homestay. The Mehtas are such a nice family and it was nice to be in a home for a change. One of the doctors that I shadowed was Dr. Prem Nath. He specializes in Reiki, accupressure, and Ayurvedic medicine. The best part is that he is 94 years old! He's pretty incredible because he acts like he's 60 and is very wise. When I told him I had lower back issues he performed reiki on me. I don't know if I really believe in Reiki, but if anyone could channel energy from the universe into my lower back and heal it, it would be Dr. Prem Nath. And my back did feel better the next day! Ironically, I think it was the yoga that hurt it in the first place. So no more yoga for me.

When I told my mom on the phone about reiki, she was like, "Rabies!? Did you get rabies?!" "No, mom, reiki! Reiki! It's a type of alternative medicine" Dad picks up the phone, "Did I hear your mom say rabies? Because you didn't get the rabies vaccination..." "No, dad, not rabies. Reiki. It's when you channel energy from the universe to heal your chakras....not rabies." "So you don't have rabies?" "No, I don't have rabies." "Good, try and stay that way."

Right now is festival season. The weather is perfect so there are a lot of celebrations going on. There are all these processions for weddings and such on the main roads. They don't block off traffic and there are marching bands, tractors, electric generators, and elephants and camels. On Saturday I went to Dhandia, which is for Navratri. When we got to the field where everyone was celebrating there was this HUGE long line to get in. We would've waited for hours if we had stayed there. So, true to Indian style, we went to the front of the line, and when the gates opened, we just pushed our way in. It was so much fun! At Dhandia, you dance with sticks in your hand and you hit them together and then hit them against other people's sticks and it's very rythmical and takes a lot of coordination. I was terrible at it. I almost poked Arshana's eye out a couple times and we were doing really simple stuff.

This weekend we are off to ride the toy train up to Shimla which is a hillstation. I don't know what the toy train will be like, but I always fall for gimmicky stuff like that. "It's a TOY train and not a regular train? Let's go!"

I also gave my first injection. My mom laughed when I told her that.
Happy Birthday Mom, Moe Moe and Katherine!