Today was another busy day. Eleven more patients showed up for surgery; one patient did not show up, which probably could have been predicted. He was scheduled for a two-finger amputation.
The story on this young man of 17 is that he did poorly on an exam. He was so ashamed of himself that he threw himself into the fire. He has burn scars all over his face and body. Apparently a couple of the finger healed badly and the only way to render the rest of the hand operable is to remove the two. As he is Muslim, the thought of this brought a lot of concern during his exams. In Muslim culture, one can have fingers and other parts amputated when they do something shameful like stealing. Of course missing some fingers would bring shame upon him and his family for something he didn’t do so as it turns out he did not show up for the scheduled surgery. It’s hard for us to understand these things, but for them these are very basic values and the views of society on the patients and their families are always in high consideration. I remember hearing about some of these stories while in the Philippines last year.
We’ve had some challenges today on the medical front. We are finding that the language barrier is creating problems in patient care. When you speak to an Indian, he/she does this head bob (side to side ear-to-shoulder), which means “yes” or “I am listening.” That does not mean they understand. We arrived this morning to discover that patients are in pain and were not receiving their medication from the hospital nurses and that IVs that we needed had been removed. We’re working through it, but it’s frustrating. No one wants a patient to be in pain.
Beyond the 11 surgeries, today was also busy because we started to discharge a few patients who had successful surgeries yesterday. The plan is to send them home with medications and instructions and then have them come back on the day of the post-operative clinic, which is held the day after the last day of surgery (next Friday).
The highlight of the day for me was that the items I bought from the Dollar Store along with the coloring sheets I prepared have been a big hit with the patients. The patients enjoy having something to do while they are waiting for their surgeries to start; the parents have been getting in on the action so coloring is not an age-limited activity. We have some beautiful artistic contributions that have been a day brightener.
The story on this young man of 17 is that he did poorly on an exam. He was so ashamed of himself that he threw himself into the fire. He has burn scars all over his face and body. Apparently a couple of the finger healed badly and the only way to render the rest of the hand operable is to remove the two. As he is Muslim, the thought of this brought a lot of concern during his exams. In Muslim culture, one can have fingers and other parts amputated when they do something shameful like stealing. Of course missing some fingers would bring shame upon him and his family for something he didn’t do so as it turns out he did not show up for the scheduled surgery. It’s hard for us to understand these things, but for them these are very basic values and the views of society on the patients and their families are always in high consideration. I remember hearing about some of these stories while in the Philippines last year.
We’ve had some challenges today on the medical front. We are finding that the language barrier is creating problems in patient care. When you speak to an Indian, he/she does this head bob (side to side ear-to-shoulder), which means “yes” or “I am listening.” That does not mean they understand. We arrived this morning to discover that patients are in pain and were not receiving their medication from the hospital nurses and that IVs that we needed had been removed. We’re working through it, but it’s frustrating. No one wants a patient to be in pain.
Beyond the 11 surgeries, today was also busy because we started to discharge a few patients who had successful surgeries yesterday. The plan is to send them home with medications and instructions and then have them come back on the day of the post-operative clinic, which is held the day after the last day of surgery (next Friday).
The highlight of the day for me was that the items I bought from the Dollar Store along with the coloring sheets I prepared have been a big hit with the patients. The patients enjoy having something to do while they are waiting for their surgeries to start; the parents have been getting in on the action so coloring is not an age-limited activity. We have some beautiful artistic contributions that have been a day brightener.
Progress is good. But we need some relief from the heat and the long hours. We're ready for a day off on Sunday!
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| One of our prolific artists is 6-year-old Nethaji. He colored his little heart out and his mother added little notes at the top like this one: "Please continue your mercy service." |
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| This one is by 12-year-old Belciya, whose surgery I watched the next day. |
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| Another one from Nethaji. |
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| This one really showcased Nethaji's abilities. Notice all of the shading on the tiger. His mother's note: Please service this good effort in all the world. |
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