Entry #4
May 5, 2014
This morning I woke up around 5:30 feeling sick again. It eventually passed and I was able to eat an entire egg sandwich with two delicious cups of hot Masala Chai tea. I have officially acquired a taste for tea. Before breakfast, I took a walk around the block. Navigating traffic was exciting, and it is impossible to go three seconds without hearing a horn honking. I went on my walk at about 7:30, so it was even cooler outside than it was inside. During my walk I was able to see all of the school kids making their way to school before it began at 8am. It was interesting to see so many parents taking their children to school via bicycle and motorcycle. There is far less car ownership in India than America and far more motorcycle ownership.
We waited until 10am for Dr. Paul to pick us up. We drove up a narrow, winding mountain path to reach Patti. Patti is a very small village not found on most maps. It has a tiny health clinic that is completely funded and run by CFHI. I enjoy the mountainous views and rustic accommodations. I will only need to become accustomed to cold bucket showers!
After first arriving, we joined Dr. Paul in his OPD, or outpatient department. The OPD consists of two very small rooms, smaller than most American clinic exam rooms. One room is the exam room and the second room, right across the tiny hall, is the pharmacy. We watched Dr. Paul visit with two patients. It was interesting to see that there are no medical forms but rather blank pieces of notebook paper used for patient information and prescriptions. Patients brought the information paper to Dr. Paul themselves after filling it out in the pharmacy. There were no secretaries who file such information away. Patients then tell the attending physician what their symptoms are and receive a diagnosis immediately. This is in stark contrast to America's medical system in which most patients need to describe their symptoms to at least one health care professional before actually seeing the physician whom will ask the same exact questions again. In India, it is a quick, "What's wrong? Here's your medicine. Goodbye." A classic wham-bam-thank you ma'am, if you will. Unfortunately I feel this could become an issue if the patient has a medicinal allergy or is misdiagnosed.
Dr. Paul explained that only sick people go to the OPD because it is a long trek and health individuals need to work. This means there are most likely far less cases of hypochondria or medicinal drug abuse as compared to the United States. With the first patient, Dr. Paul asked us to obtain BP, which I have far too little practice with. I jumped up right away, I suppose because my subconscious assumed he wanted us to remove the cuff and sphygmomanometer from the case. Being a girl, I would of course jump at the chance to do a small chore. Nope. I had to take the woman's BP. I was most likely 100% wrong. I honestly guessed at the numbers. It became easier after practice, and I am now fairly more confident. I was also asked to use a...I don't even know what it's called! The ear tool I guess. I had no idea what I was looking for! "Ummmm....there's some bumps or something?" Yeah, no. Turns out the problem was white pus, which I would have never found. Next a boy with a cough came in. I listened to his lungs with a stethoscope. "They sound a little raspy?" Bingo. Finally I had a satisfactory answer. Although, am I sure his breathing was actually, truly raspy? Heck no! How many lungs do I really listen to in my free time??
It is somewhat difficult to understand drug names with the Indian accents and I can only hope that I am jotting down good information. I had no idea I would be so clinically involved so early in the game. I truly appreciate the opportunity to practice such clinical tasks; I only wish I was given a short debriefing on proper methods of examination. I hadn't realized how much I appreciate grades and tests that numerically value our knowledge and abilities. I understand this is not how the real world works, but maybe I am just completely unprepared to handle the real world at this point in my life.
I dread every meal as I can barely force myself to eat the food that I fear will make me sick or that is too spicy. I feel absolutely terrible when everyone questions why I eat so little or when I leave food on my plate and give it to the cows. I am not sure why I have such a hard time eating more than six bites when my stomach is growling loudly all day. It is embarrassing and I wish my body would make up its mind.
After clinic, which I forgot to mention does not involve the utilization of gloves, we had yoga. It was nothing like I expected and required far greater flexibility than I have available. I was very self-conscious the entire time and was not able to relax. I will have yoga every morning–5:45 am!–and evening. Hopefully with this much practice, I will enhance both my flexibility and enjoyment of yoga. We plan to travel to Rishekesh, the yoga capital of the world, this weekend. Greg is excited to do yoga, but I fear I will have more desire to simply shop all day like the superficial suburban girl I suspect I may be.
I honestly enjoy Patti and everything about its magnificent scenery, but I worry this will be my least favorite week of the trip. I immensely enjoy the people here and am completely okay living in such rustic conditions; however, I feel that I may have severely offended most of the people here and an upset stomach is not suited for these living conditions. I am not happy with the fact that I spent almost this entire entry complaining and it signifies that I am not doing all I can to find silver linings and improve my mental state. Hopefully yoga becomes easier and my lack of food intake does not deplete my energy too much. I am looking very forward to returning to the Dehra Dun homestay. I plan to avoid complaining so much in future entries as it makes me feel weak and shallow–two attributes I'd hoped this trip would dispel. Then again, if I can not complain to myself in a personal journal, then I've probably got bigger issues. I plan for this journal to be an opportunity to be completely honest with myself during my journey.
Tomorrow we will visit the first health camp. I am curious to see how it will affect me.
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