Week 2- Saturday

Well, this week hasn't been as nearly as busy as last week.. in fact it was kind of slow. We spent all 5 days at the same hospital. Despite massive frustration all week, and a potentially explosive "meeting" with the Medical Director on Friday, we were able to have some good things happen to us. I think the only beneficial aspect of that hospital were the abilities to stand in on the surgery's. Otherwise our being there was utterly pointless.

Oh yeah, to clarify a few questions…
1) the tops of the trees were cut off to create a fence at the park
2) I threw up the morning BEFORE surgery NOT during because I had food poisoning and not because I was sick at the sight of blood %u263A
3) My cell number is… 976-717-5302. I don't know if that's with the India code or not. Calling cards might be smart if you want to call me
4) Yeah, cockroaches are still really gross.
5) Still having trouble getting used to the food, but it's better
6) Yes, I'm having a great time and I do miss friends and family

Oh yeah, I saw my first (alive) camel!!

I saw a cervical stitch, c-section, dilation and evacuation (abortion), birth, laproscopic hysterectomy, and a surgical procedure to burn away polycystic ovarys. If I had to say the top three most jaw opening procedures it would have to be 1) the c-section, 2) the birth, and 3) the D&E. You could have knocked us over with a feather when we saw the c-section. OH MY GOD! So they make the incision about 6 inches long and then in the blink of an eye all instruments are down and both doctors are rrrriping the skin, fat, and connective tissue apart. Just PULLING and ripping and ripping and pulling.

It was the most shocking thing I had ever seen in surgery! And it didn't just stop with the skin, they did the same to the muscles. He used his finger and just poked through the linea alba (the center line connective tissue between you're ab muscles) and PULLED and pulled and pulled! We were so shocked! And then came the uterus. A small cut and then PULLLLLLL! You could see biceps popping out of the doctors with all the strength they had to use! After that they pulled the baby out (less exciting than it sounds) and flopped the uterus outside of her body onto the sterile field. They pulled out the placenta.. which by the way- GROSS.. and put it in a little kidney dish (in which it overflowed). Seriously though, our eyes were so wide, our jaws completely open. I think I sometimes have really inappropriate responses to stressful situations. Particularly ones like this. All I could do was utter a silent laugh and say "oh my god, oh my god" over and over in my head!

The birth was pretty cool. You know- labor, blood bucket, rubber boots, episiotomy (!!!), vacuum, and baby. I'll just let you put the picture together. Oh yeah, I don't think there was an epidural.

The D & E was a little shocking. Mainly because I didn't understand what it was until I looked it up. The woman had already lost the baby so they were sucking out the "parts created during 10 weeks of conception", which included the fetus and the placenta. It was really bloody so I'm not going to go into details. But it was quick & relatively painless.

Friday was the most frustrating day. We had a little head to head with Mr. Dabak, we feel like he hears what we're saying but not so much listening. During the meeting he cut the subject short because we were getting really angry. He was attacking our approach to the hospital saying that the experience was our fault because we weren't asking enough questions and only observing. EXCEPT (!!) that literally the night before he told us to only observe and not ask questions. We were stunned.

He says he wants to hear what we have to say but at the same time it's like he doesn't believe us. It's so frustrating and draining having to talk to him. Someone from CFHI sent us a mid term check up saying "remember to speak with your medical director and program coordinator because they're there to help". Rachel and I just laughed at it. We kept joking about the most sarcastic email we would send back saying "oh yeah, REALLY helpful".

It makes me some what annoyed too that he doesn't expect much from us intellectually. I mean, most people here are very unfamiliar with the idea of pre-med. Each time we have to explain the school system in America.. you know 12 grades, 4 years of college, and four years for med school.. that sort of thing. Even after explaining what we do in college they still think we have no experience in the medical field and are astonished when we know anatomy or even know what a fricken blood pressure is. My only wish for this is that people could have been informed of our experience. I don't like feeling like I've delved back three years where i couldn't tell you what anything was. I must say, I LOVE it when the doctors quiz us. It feels challenging and purposeful. It's happened a few times, but I wish it would happen more.

He says it's a language thing; he has trouble understanding our English and we have trouble understanding his. I have tried to slow down my speech and use simpler words and less slang, but apparently things still get lost in translation. Anyway, he asks us medical questions, which normally I could answer. But he puts them in such weird structure that it's almost impossible to understand what he means. Then when he says the answer I'm always saying "oh, that's what you meant?!" and then I can finish his answer. But he must think we take rides on the short bus because he spent five minutes the other day asking us if we understood what he said when he was saying "symptom". Even though we said yes he still went on to describe a situation when a patient comes in with a "symptom". He's a smart man with tons of experience under his belt, but something between our communication is getting lost.

It was way more confusing than helpful. Right now I need time to just cool down and breathe because every time I think about him and his speeches I get angry. He is the only reason I don't advocate living with your medical director, especially the late night impromptu meetings. They're not so stress relieving.

I love Mrs. Dabak. She treats us like her children and it's really cute. We were walking to dinner last night and when we came to cross the street at a light (which is much more dangerous than it sounds) she stepped out into traffic and used her arms to shuffle us behind her so that cars wouldn't hit us. It was really sweet. She talks to us about culture, food, politics, anatomy, religion, fashion, and even sports. I've learned more about India from her than anything else in this program, including the pre-departure papers. She took us shopping today for fabric. It's helpful to have her around because people don't bump the price up as much.

Price bumping is ridiculous here! We were driven to a museum yesterday, but didn't go in because the price was 15 Rps for Indians and 200 (!) Rps for anybody else. And they do that everywhere. It's a little crazy. Do we do that in America? Maybe at resorts or something for out of state residents, but I don't remember it being more than 13 times the resident price.

I'm trying not to sound ungreatful or disrespectful, or even immature. This week was just not what I had expected. We had heard from a previous intern that this sight was wonderful. I think part of my distress is that it's difficult to talk about it with the medical director. With only two of us to make our case it's difficult to really get out what we feel. Thankfully Rachel and I have been able to de-stress on eachother and talk it all out. Really all I want is to be able to represent myself, my school, my country, CFHI, and women in a good light. I feel like I might have failed this week but really, a saint would have. Hopefully I'm just coming over a second week hump and things will get better from here. I'm not sick anymore, so that's good. And I've learned to eat some of the food, so that's even better. I guess I'll just have to work on my communication skills.

I feel I should write about something positive now

We celebrated a Hindu holiday this Tuesday. I forget what it's called but it's celebrate to honor the movement of the sun to the Tropic of Capricorn (which means the day that the days start getting longer in India). It's celebrated by giving each other these sesame seed jaquery sweets in order to start sweet talk with each other. Also the women are supposed to exchange gifts. Apparently it lasts a month (which I found out today).

I think Hinduism is one of my favorite things about India. It's always in your face but it's not oppressive. People aren't trying to convert you or yell at you about how Hinduism is the only true religion. It's a peaceful and respectful religion. They have thousands of gods and temples around every corner. Most are simple, but some are just amazing. They're so colorful and bright.

Finally, I would have to say the greatest thing this week was getting earrings from one of the "sisters" (nurses) at the hospital. She said that she was going to miss us and was sorry that we couldn't talk to each other more because of our language barrier. I must say she was the sweetest person at the hospital and the most helpful. She looked so young too, it's crazy how they start medical careers at 19/20 years old.

I've put up some pictures from a few places we walked this week. I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy. Now, don't be jealous Oregonians… but its 78 degrees and sunny every day, without fail %u263A. Love ya'll.