Gan(dhi) to India: Rainy day.

Biku had said be in the office by 9. It's now 11 and he's still showering and will have to get dressed (another 30 min) and eat breakfast. I'm sitting at the nice table outside the kitchen talking to whoever stops by and trying to learn some more Odia. Baba-G came by and taught me how to say, I like rain & Juanga and today I'll go, (and we'll go, you go, he go) to school (I think that's what he was saying) When I'm alone here I'm reading and listening to the rain and the sound of morning prayers rolling over from the school and drinking chai. It's a good day.

It was also the first day I didn't start sweating until the afternoon. There were few patients in the morning because of the rain and the gynecologist showed up from Bhubaneswar around 2:30. It's amazing watching him walk into a room. Everybody stands up and puts their hands together in front of their chest. He ignores this and goes to sit wherever he wants.

There is always a line of patients waiting and I saw about 30 of them today. The women are always wearing beautiful brightly colored sarees with sequins and complex stitching patterns. They also always have a man with them who does at least some of the talking for them when we're taking a history.

I read about a bunch of the cases we saw and was taught the process for prolapse surgery. One of the nurses is Milan, and she showed me in detail how to give shots IM and IV and how start an IV line. I've seen this through Ems but there are some differences and it's good to be taught the process in detail.

The gynecologist was kind and would sometimes switch to English to explain things as I shadowed him. I ate lunch with him and we talked about differences between US and Indian medical training and practice. I've also been learning that spoken Odia differs from person to person even between nearby villages. So Biku, Manu, Dr. Mohanti and Dr. Putnayak all speak different dialects. He said the only Odia I should learn is "I don't speak Odia". I answered, Doikeba. It seems like he'll be a great medical resource over the next several weeks. As long as we speak slowly, we can understand each other's English. He's here on Fridays and Sunday's and will be doing at least three surgeries this week.

I've started walking through the hospital and shadowing whoever seems the most busy. I met nurses, and the dresser today and maybe tomorrow I will see how they do labs here. I saw a couple nasty foot wounds dressed, and a case of dysentery treated in addition to the gynecology patients. The power was out for most of the day possibly because of the rain.

In the afternoon, Dr. Mohanti found my small anatomy book I brought with me and loves it. He says he wants me to get someone to bring one for him. I told him he should keep this one when I leave. I'm trying to learn all of it before I leave. Biku and I are going to go over 6-10 pages a day and testing each other every day. Biku just wants to refresh and pick up more details. Most of it is new for my but I'm excited about it.

Today felt like the first time I am a real part of hospital life. I know more of the staff and am starting to have extended conversations with people other than Biku. Even the people who don't speak English are happy when I come to sit with them and talk as much as we can or just sit in comfortable silence.

Manu says that tomorrow at 6:30 he will show Connor and I some longer running routes. He says there are some areas with antisocial people (who mine sand) where we shouldn't go.

Connor and Biku are talking about love/hate and friends while I'm writing this.

There's still a few hours before dinner and I may workout (or nap).

... I didn't do either of those things.

-AB

Cool, calm rainy day

Gynecologist is kind

Today, so much thought.