December 21, 2011
On our final day scheduled at the hospital, Beth and I joined the TATA cancer team on their mobile screening day. We ended up going to the nearby city of Chiplun among a few apartment complexes. They set up all the equipment on the first floor veranda of an apartment building, where cars and motorcycles are usually parked. The three cancers the team screens for are oral, breast and cervical, these are the three most common cancers in India. There was a little station for oral screening, which included a thorough examination of the mouth, tongue, cheeks and neck and also counseling on tobacco chewing and mouth care. Each person, no matter what age or sex, went through the oral screening. Then there was the breast and cervical screening room. Every woman, aged 35-65 had these screenings. Their breast exams are exactly as they are in the U.S., but for the cervical exams, they do not use PAP smears like we do, they use an acetic acid stain to view any lesions that may be on the cervix, if anything shows up, they do a biopsy right then and there. They take the biopsies back to the hospital to be evaluated, then contact the patient with the results. They have found this is a much more effective method than doing a PAP where the patient must be contacted days later with results. The team found it difficult to contact women to return for a biopsy, or women would not come because there is a stigma about going to the hospital. The disappointing thing for us as students was that we were unable to participate in any of the screenings because it was being used for research. So we basically shadowed and learned about the research.
The other disappointing thing was the turnout. The team goes into the area several for 2 days before the screening to educate and determine the number of people eligible for screening. After the prior 2 days of work they expected about 50 people to come to the screening, but only about half that number showed up. It was explained to us that there was a quarrel going on between the two apartment buildings (the one we were in, and the one next door). Therefore, since we were set up in the one building, the residents of the other would not come. It was very disheartening to think that people would put trivial things like that in front of their health.
Well the occupants of the building we were in were extremely nice to us. We were fed and fed and fed (and of course it’d be rude to say no, so we HAD to eat everything). Chai and coffee and oranges and candy and banana chips… guess not being around for the holidays doesn't mean I won't find those extra pounds!
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On the way home from the screening that afternoon Beth and I jumped off the hospital bus with the CMOs in the nearby market of Savarde. We were finished with our shopping well before the CMOs and decided to walk back to hospital (about 2 miles). Since we felt like all we did was sit and eat and drink all day, the walk would do us some good! About ½ mile from the hospital a rickshaw drives up from behind us, pulls over onto the shoulder and sort of cuts us off. We thought this was odd but just continued to walk around and past it. It wasn’t until we were about 15 ft in front of it that I heard “ma’am, ma’am!” With a sigh, I turned around and walked back to the rickshaw, with Beth looking at me like I’m nuts for going back. But it just so happens to be my cauda equina patient! It was pure coincident that we ran into each other but it just so happens that he’d had a follow up appointment with the surgeon earlier in the day and all went well. He is continuing to improve and said he was glad he ran into me because he was hoping to see me earlier at the hospital so he could wish me a Merry Christmas. It’s having patients and experiences like this that make up for all the less enjoyable experiences.
-On this evening we were invited to the MICU charge nurse’s house for dinner (non-veg!). Apparently her “house” is also a restaurant about 500 feet from the entrance of the hospital. So we had a very nice meal of chicken curry and fried fish. Wish we would have known about this sooner. We would definitely have come there more often had we known there was meat so close by! Oh well, we still survived without it.
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On the way home from the screening that afternoon Beth and I jumped off the hospital bus with the CMOs in the nearby market of Savarde. We were finished with our shopping well before the CMOs and decided to walk back to hospital (about 2 miles). Since we felt like all we did was sit and eat and drink all day, the walk would do us some good! About ½ mile from the hospital a rickshaw drives up from behind us, pulls over onto the shoulder and sort of cuts us off. We thought this was odd but just continued to walk around and past it. It wasn’t until we were about 15 ft in front of it that I heard “ma’am, ma’am!” With a sigh, I turned around and walked back to the rickshaw, with Beth looking at me like I’m nuts for going back. But it just so happens to be my cauda equina patient! It was pure coincident that we ran into each other but it just so happens that he’d had a follow up appointment with the surgeon earlier in the day and all went well. He is continuing to improve and said he was glad he ran into me because he was hoping to see me earlier at the hospital so he could wish me a Merry Christmas. It’s having patients and experiences like this that make up for all the less enjoyable experiences.
-On this evening we were invited to the MICU charge nurse’s house for dinner (non-veg!). Apparently her “house” is also a restaurant about 500 feet from the entrance of the hospital. So we had a very nice meal of chicken curry and fried fish. Wish we would have known about this sooner. We would definitely have come there more often had we known there was meat so close by! Oh well, we still survived without it.
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December 22, 2011
This day was given to us as a free day to do any work we needed to wrap up and to prepare for the presentation we were asked to give to the physicians, nurses and nursing students before leaving. The hospital, staff and all the people in the villages we met during our time at the hospital were all so gracious and open with us so we were hoping to leave a gift for the hospital on our departure. For the last 2 weeks Beth and I had been sending emails to MULTIPLE medical supply companies looking for ANY sort of donation for the hospital, even just a few stethoscopes would have gone a long way, but even up until this last day we were receiving rejection emails. Unfortunately it didn’t pan out for us, but we will certainly pass down the idea to the future classes that they consider organizing a fundraiser for future visits.
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We wanted to give our presentation in our saris that afternoon, but unfortunately we could not figure out how those girls whipped and tucked and twisted that fabric to appear as a dress on our bodies. So with jeans on and saris in hand, Beth, Julie and I went to the hospital early looking for someone to dress us. We walked into the large conference hall where we were to give our presentation and all the nursing students were there already. I asked the girls if any of them could help us put on our saris for the presentation, and they all just stared at me. So I held up my sari in its clear, neat little bag and said I need volunteers to put on 3 saris. Then they got it! One girl jumps out of chair and says “me, me, me” and 5 others then follow. Well the girls got us dressed, and the presentation went well. We shared a little bit about Chicago, Rosalind Franklin the person, Rosalind Franklin the University, about the PA profession, some barriers we encountered while working at the hospital, things we learned and experienced and then a slide show of photos. We finished of the presentation with a group picture with the physicians, many thank you’s, well wishes and goodbyes.
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That night we were invited to have dinner with the CMOs Beth and I had worked with at the cancer screening the day before. Unfortunately Jeremy was unable to join us for this dinner since it was in their room at the female hostel, no boys allowed! So we sat and visited while they were cooking and preparing dinner. Once everything was prepared they laid out a mat on floor for us to sit on and some newspapers to place the dishes on and catch the crumbs! We sat down to eat and they were not joining us. Turns out it was a day of fasting for them, so they made all this just for us and it was the most AMAZING veg dinner we’ve had on this entire trip. They did it all their cooking on a gas hot plate and w/o running water to their room. (they normally have running water, but there was a problem with the pump at that time). We felt bad that we were not having dinner with them, but they were just so excited to cook for us and see how much we enjoyed it. They told us they’ll remember that night forever.
This day was given to us as a free day to do any work we needed to wrap up and to prepare for the presentation we were asked to give to the physicians, nurses and nursing students before leaving. The hospital, staff and all the people in the villages we met during our time at the hospital were all so gracious and open with us so we were hoping to leave a gift for the hospital on our departure. For the last 2 weeks Beth and I had been sending emails to MULTIPLE medical supply companies looking for ANY sort of donation for the hospital, even just a few stethoscopes would have gone a long way, but even up until this last day we were receiving rejection emails. Unfortunately it didn’t pan out for us, but we will certainly pass down the idea to the future classes that they consider organizing a fundraiser for future visits.
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We wanted to give our presentation in our saris that afternoon, but unfortunately we could not figure out how those girls whipped and tucked and twisted that fabric to appear as a dress on our bodies. So with jeans on and saris in hand, Beth, Julie and I went to the hospital early looking for someone to dress us. We walked into the large conference hall where we were to give our presentation and all the nursing students were there already. I asked the girls if any of them could help us put on our saris for the presentation, and they all just stared at me. So I held up my sari in its clear, neat little bag and said I need volunteers to put on 3 saris. Then they got it! One girl jumps out of chair and says “me, me, me” and 5 others then follow. Well the girls got us dressed, and the presentation went well. We shared a little bit about Chicago, Rosalind Franklin the person, Rosalind Franklin the University, about the PA profession, some barriers we encountered while working at the hospital, things we learned and experienced and then a slide show of photos. We finished of the presentation with a group picture with the physicians, many thank you’s, well wishes and goodbyes.
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That night we were invited to have dinner with the CMOs Beth and I had worked with at the cancer screening the day before. Unfortunately Jeremy was unable to join us for this dinner since it was in their room at the female hostel, no boys allowed! So we sat and visited while they were cooking and preparing dinner. Once everything was prepared they laid out a mat on floor for us to sit on and some newspapers to place the dishes on and catch the crumbs! We sat down to eat and they were not joining us. Turns out it was a day of fasting for them, so they made all this just for us and it was the most AMAZING veg dinner we’ve had on this entire trip. They did it all their cooking on a gas hot plate and w/o running water to their room. (they normally have running water, but there was a problem with the pump at that time). We felt bad that we were not having dinner with them, but they were just so excited to cook for us and see how much we enjoyed it. They told us they’ll remember that night forever.
During dinner they were having a good time picking on Julie for the way she was eating her dinner. She couldn’t do ANYTHING right! She either had the wrong form of bread with the wrong dish or was doing something in the wrong order. The funniest part was that Beth and I were doing the same things but only Julie was getting in “trouble” for it. We had a good laugh as Beth and I learned what not to do. After dinner we did as girls do and we talked about boys and differences between dating and marriage in the US and India. We had a lot of fun and laughed a ton! After dinner we had to head back to our own apartments so we could finish packing because our train was scheduled to leave at 12:30pm the next day on a train to Goa for a few days in the sun before changing into our tourist hats.
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