A couple of noteworthy things

There is so much that happens every day...the pace we are keeping is incredible! I'm just going to rattle things off the top of my head in no particular order.

Here goes...

The local people are barefoot or wearing flip flops in the Operating Rooms here.

They also have two patients in the same operating rooms having procedures at the same time. Sterile, what??

The power goes out about once an hour every hour here. That's nice in an OR, isn't it??!!?

One of the ladies on my team is an OLOL and an SV graduate. We had to come all the way to India to discover that.

I watched a surgeon completely recreate 50% of an upper lip from a man's lower lip today. He lost his lip to a staph infection many years ago. He also has a large cleft palate which you can see right up into his sinuses. Sounds gross...but very, very fascinating. He was missing his entire upper left quadrant of his lip all the way up into his nostril and gum line. I'm sure it was hard for him to talk, eat, drink and even breathe. He was also fitted for an obturator (a fitting over the palate similar to an orthodontic retainer) by the dentist on our team. Every patient who comes through our clinic is also seen by a dentist and a speech pathologist. There are so many related complications to cleft lip and cleft palate problems that include speech and dental issues.

We had a spontaneous private audience meeting with the Sri Sri the other day. It was just so incredible to be with someone so holy and revered here in this country. We were served Masala Tea (yummy!) before we were led into the room where he came in to meet us. We had a very interesting 15-20 minute visit with him where he told us all about his recent visit to the US, the history of their work and their monastery, and his own personal choices and when he became a monk. In the middle of the conversation, his cell phone rang. He reached into his saffron robe, answered the phone and told them he would call back! We rank pretty high around these parts!!

After our meeting with the Sri Sri, we were asked to stay for their evening prayer ceremony. OH. MY. GOD. It was phenomenal! There was LOUD drumming, chanting, flames, flower petals, horns and parading from one alter to another around the ground of the monestary. It was really, really something. So much like what I experienced in Varanasi a couple of years ago with the Brahman along the Ganges river. Never in a million years could I ever describe to you what it was like...just like most other things in India...it just needs to be experienced!

On our day off, we went on a long bus ride (private bus...not a public one) to visit a couple of very old temples in this area. But...must more interesting and exciting was the bus ride. It was UNREAL. We drove all over the place in India last time I was here...but for some reason when you are in a car it's not nearly as scary as being in a bus that you think will topple over at any time! Several times we were so close to other buses, trucks, cars, people, animals that I thought the side of the bus was going to peel back like opening a can of sardines. There were some incredibly close calls and I tell you...not one...NOT ONE of the locals ever even flinched. There were three young doctors hosting us that day and they were all smiles at the reactions of us on the bus that day. It was highly entertaining for everyone!

I had a bit of a meltdown this week. I'm missing my creature comforts and feeling like a total ass at wanting something other than Indian food, wanting my own bed (after all, at least I have one!) not wanting to take a shower from a bucket or with shower shoes on anymore, tired of swatting bugs away and tired of surgeons/nurses egos. I'm just tired of all of it and want people to be nice and not bark orders all the time. I feel like a total jerk at wanting all these things to go away while working in an area of true desperation. The meltdown happened...and that's it. I don't want to talk about it any more...but I wanted to be honest. It's part of this trip, part of what I experienced and it is the truth. It's not easy, it's not pleasant at times and I've had a few moments where I am not even sure I'm happy I came. I'm working through it and hope I feel differently by the time I am home again.

Like my mom says...onward and upward...

Tomorrow is our last day of surgeries. It's Day Seven of actual surgery work...then we will have our final clinic day. At final clinic, we will visit each of the patients we operated on this week. All 115+ of them. They will visit with the pediatrician and the surgeon one more time to make sure they are ok to go home and then they will all make the long trek home to their villages and communities again.

Moe updates coming soon!

--Christine