A quick update and a clarification

Starting with the clarification...Some of the three of you that are reading this blog might be a bit confused about the fact that I've been writing about seeing all kinds of cool surgeries, procedures, etc., but at the same time I've written that I'm disappointed in the clinical side of this program. Here's why. Basically, before coming here, I was under the impression that I would be directly involved in patient care. The organization that has set up this program definitely made it sound like we would be playing an integral role in treating patients. I didn't know exactly what form that would take, but I was pretty certain that I was coming to India to help some people. Unfortunately, that hasn't really been the case. We've had great opportunities to go to some amazing hospitals, see some very cool things, and I've certainly learned a lot about healthcare in India. The problem is that my expectation of coming here to help treat patients turned out to be very far off from the reality. We're really just shadowing doctors here. It's more like medical tourism than medical outreach. Of course, what we are doing is certainly valuable, and I've taken a lot away from it. The problem is more that I don't feel like I've had the chance to give much back. So hopefully that explains a bit of my frustration. Check Jesse's blog for a more in-depth (and more eloquent) discussion of some of these issues.

Anyway...enough of that. Clinic in the last 2 days has been pretty cool. Right after leaving the internet cafe following my last post, Jesse and I returned back to the OB clinic and waited downstairs for the doctors to return. No one ended up coming down, and at about 5:05 someone came in and told us that the doctors were upstairs. We were guided into the labor room, and we quickly came to realize that we had just missed a live delivery by 3 minutes! As it turned out, Dr. Ashok had been calling downstairs, but of course we didn't pick up the phone in the clinic, so we missed it. Oh well. We did end up seeing the delivery of the placenta and the suturing of the episiotomy, which was very cool. I guess I'll have to keep waiting a bit for that first live delivery!

After that, Dr. Desai, who had returned from his farm, took us to his home, which is conveniently right next door. We had some pineapples and starfruits from his farm, and he spoke to us a bit about his philosophy and thoughts on medicine. As it turns out, he's a pretty amazing dude, and it was very cool to have the chance to get to know him. He speaks 8 languages, including Hindi, Maharati, Gujurati, Punjabi, English, Latin, and I guess two more that I can't remember. Dr. Desai talked to us for a long time about some of his ideas regarding wound healing and nature, and it was actually quite captivating. He has introduced some new techniques for surgeries, including a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) that uses a 4 cm incision and a different type of episiotomy. Very cool.

This morning we went to Dr. Desai's clinic to watch a hysterectomy surgery, and he was very cool, describing what he was doing each step of the way. The patient was afflicted by adenomyosis, which Joel will know, and I guess the medical therapy had failed and she needed a hysterectomy. After the surgery, we went to Dr. Desai's for breakfast, and it was again very cool to chat with him. Unfortunately, we had to cut breakfast a bit short, though, because we needed to catch the train back to Mumbai. As expected, this was a pretty crazy train ride, and I actually think this was the most insane one we've been on so far. Every stop was like a mosh pit, and we kind of got pushed to the side of the car like cattle. I almost broke my arm a few times just trying to keep myself from getting crushed, but in the end we made it out ok.

In a little over an hour, we're headed to the Ellora Caves (I love being able to embed links in these posts, expect more of that), and we'll be there until Sunday. Should be good times! Namaste!