Day 40

Grandpa came to pick me up from work so I could spend the weekend with him in Pondicherry. He said hello to some old friends and enjoyed the old memories. I'm so comfortable and familiar with him that it was really strange to see all of the people I work with everyday act so formal and respectful towards him. 

Thatha, the orthopedic surgeon, and Piet. 

All the dudes. This is such a male dominated hospital. 

Went to Piet's house to say hello to his mother, who's a quadriplegic. She used to work as a nurse with my grandpa and knows my dad's family well. 

Three hour road trip crew to Pondicherry (Minus Charles in the pink shirt)!! Quite entertaining. 

Day 39

Went to an Indian restaurant called "Forest." It was a complete knock off of the rainforest cafe, but with more awesome food. 

Day 38

Hand surgery! Here's a pic of them snapping out this tendon-like tissue from the middle of the palm. If you press on your wrist with your thumb in the right spot, your middle finger will move. This tendon is what they are removing in the picture. 

No, the thumb isn't the reason for surgery. That's just a birth defect. They split the tendon into four symmetrical pieces and weave it back up through the four fingers so that the finger regains the ability to grasp. Prior to surgery, he was unable to bend is fingers properly. 

Who's thinking of spaghetti with marinara? I found this so gross/fascinating while watching but seeing it in the photos isn't so bad as being there. 

Day 37

Went to my first surgeries this week! Almost fainted in the first one. They were pulling the nerve pictures below from this patients leg and he started wailing in pain. I started to get light headed and head-rushy so I left the room. I'm in the picture above...see if you can spot me. I look petrified. 

Mm nerves. They look like rice noodles. 

Ramanamma came back for a checkup and brought her husband! Strange to see the breakfast clubs' significant others since they've divulged so much information to me about them. Her husband works as a traveling floor mat salesman, and comes home every two months to give her money. 

Nazarene aunty came back with her daughter Fazzi. They arrived at the clinic at 830am just to see me and talk with me, but I didn't run unto them until 1pm and only got to talk to them for about 10 minutes! I felt awful. It was nice to see them and also a humbling reminder about how fascinating I am to some patients because they live in very rural, secluded places and don't have much exposure to the outside world. They said they missed hearing my strange accent and wanted to hear it once more. 

Day 36

This woman got leprosy when she was 15 years old. She and her older sister were orphans, so her sister took her to the hospital and left, without ever coming back. She lived at the hospital for five years, until one of her fellow friends at the hospital went to Hyderabad and invited her along. They both ended up getting married there, and finally settling back in Nellore at the Seva Jyothi Leprosy Colony. Her husband died a couple of years ago from pneumonia, so she lives alone at the colony and supports herself and her daughter through begging from time to time. 

This man got leprosy when he was 13 years old. He was jealous of his friends happily going to school and continuing on with their lives, and he claims he couldn't handle being in their presence. He says his parents didn't kick him out, but instead he left his house on his own volition. I can't help but wonder how true this is. Through begging and odd jobs, he meandered around Nellore and eventually settled in Hyderabad. Some friends of his told him about another lady who had leprosy, and they arranged for a marriage between the two of them. They eventually settled down in Seva Jyothi, where they lived for 25 years. Three years ago, his wife was hit by a motorcycle and was killed on impact. He now lives with the lady above in a sort of cooperative life style, since they are both single and struggling to support their children. This man says he often didn't eat and worked very hard begging, and with the financial help of a local catholic convent, he was able to send his children to nursing school. 

Day 34

Thatha went to the hospital and got a biopsy on his foot. It's gotten worse! I had a dream (more like nightmare) where I ate some of his infected foot. Something about it being called "cauliflower" must've caused some neurons to misfire in my sleep. 

Day 33

Jyothi is the housekeeper/school maid who lives behind the school building with her husband and son. I always assumed she was much older than me but she's the exact same age as me. It's crazy thinking about how different our lives our. I am luxuriously deciding what career path I want to follow in life, while her career path was determined by the socioeconomic status she was born into. I can't imagine being married and having a 2 year old child to care for at this age. 

Today all of the staff members participated in a leprosy reaction seminar. Pieter brought in about six leprosy reaction patients for us to examine and learn about the different types of leprosy reaction. This is one of the patients with a leprosy reaction, caused by an overstimulated immune system that doesn't respond to the standard medication. If reactions aren't taken care of and steroids aren't given to reduce inflammation in the joints, patients will suffer sever life long disabilities. 

This is Thathaya's daughter who came to the clinic to take him home. She's the one whose husband left her since her father had leprosy. She was very friendly, and Thathaya was very happy to see her. I told her I would look into organizations that would allow her to pursue another vocation besides tailoring, since tailoring still limits a person's socioeconomic growth. The government provides free tailoring training for women who have completed high school, which is a great system in my opinion. But it's still frustrating that this is her only option. I haven't been able to find any other skill-based vocations for women in India, but I'll keep searching. 

This is Nikita! She's a 23 year old Belgian student who is doing field research at Damien for three months in order to help her with her master's thesis in Anthropology. It's nice to have someone else to talk to, and I'm learning a lot from her. She's also the first white person I've seen in over a month! What a strange notion. 

This is Jyothi's son, Teja. He's quite fond of sweeping the floors. 

When I walk outside the front door and look down the balcony in the evenings, this is what I see. The students' parents force them to stay at the school to study until about 7pm, and they all sit outside quietly doing their homework. It's super hot and they're all restless. They're constantly on the look out for "sir!" (pronounced "SAR"), who will yell at them if they are talking.