Sorry for the delay in updates here- I've been busy. I'm going to sum up Chennai quickly day by day, then put another post about Delhi (where I was for one day) and Patna, where I am now.
Chennai- Day 1
A city eye camp- saw 174 patients, gave 99 glasses, 36 cataract patients id'ed
went to an indian rock concert (pretty fun), then a nice restaurant called Casa Picolla for dinner, where we met Shahul for the first time
Day 2
Another city eye camp- started learning Thamul so that I could do visual acuity screening and better communicate- saw 196 patients, gave 86 glasses, 25 cataract patients id'ed for surgery
that evening we went to Shahul's beach house- beautiful. he was there when the tsunami hit- was swept 1/2 km away and the house was destroyed but has since been rebuilt
Day 3
Went to the Hande Hospital- saw 2 cataract surgeries- Dr. Varman makes it look incredibly easy
went to Pondi Bazaar, a music shop (got tablaas!!)
ate at a terrible restaurant- most of the volunteers got sick overnight and my room mate Eric got hives- everytime he ate anything with spices (masala) he got hives. he's a big guy too, so eating naan and rice all week was rough- he got some protein shake stuff though, which helped.
Luckily, I haven't had any reactions (besides the typical light diahrea-sorry...too much info, i know) to any of the food here yet, which is great, because I love indian food.
Day 4
Day off
went to Mamalapurum with Senthill (volunteer coordinator) and some other volunteers. indians are charged 10 rupies, and foreigners 250....pretty ridiculous, huh?
anyway, it was some cool ruins and a temple on the sea. I climbed a coconut tree.
Day 5
Village camp (about 1.5 hrs away) saw 126 patients, gave 48 glasses, id'ed 29 cataract patients for surgery
went to a nice chinese restaurant that night called cascade with Shahul and Ajas before dancing at Pasha. fun stuff-ask for more details. the fried ice cream was amazing at cascade!
Day 6
Fishing village on the coast- eye camp- saw 110 patients, gave 44 glasses, 29 cataract surgeries.
beautiful village with cute kids all over asking us to take their photo and then crowding to see it.
went to St. Thomas cathedral downtown Chennai- interesting. went to seashell rest. for dinner right near Hotel Assai.
Day 7
Hande Hospital- 5 cataract surgeries and 1 retinal surgery
afternoon- did a goat's eye cataract surgery- so hard. I can really appreciate the skill and care it takes to do these now, and it makes Dr. Varman's quick and perfect surgeries seem even more amazing.
Casa Picolla again with Shahul and Ajas, then Cafe Mocha.
Day 8
Camp in the outskirts of the city- 106 patients, gave 48 glasses, 19 cataract id'ed
went to Pasha again with Shahul, where we met a girl who is 20- she gets married in 2 weeks to a guy she's never met and she might run away to the US. it was crazy to hear about her life- so different than western girls.
Day 9
Day off- no camps. no clinic, no surgeries.
slept in, then went to fisherman's cove with Shahul, Ajas, Eric, and Abrar. that's the fancy resort where bill gates stays when he's in india. had dinner at the park hotel, then went to hotel assai to drop off eric- his flight left that night. went to cafe mocha, where Senthill and Thanraj met us to say goodbye.
My flight left at 635 am the next day, so i went with Jennifer (who left at 500 am) to the airport at 2. fell asleep waiting for my flight and woke up 5 min after it left -oops! luckily, i was able to get on the next flight to Delhi with no extra charge (i still can't figure out how I managed that) and reached Delhi at about 1100.
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1 comment:
Pop and Mom here - love your news...can't wait for more! How can you see 110+ patients a day? How long do you spend with each one? And how do you communicate? Must be quite a system!
We are so proud of the work you are doing!
In the mean time, there is no one to water ski using your superstructure on my boat. The Damn boat cover doesn't fit over the structure. Should I keep it up for you this summer? After all, how long are you going to be away from the serious business of water skiing!!!!
Also,I need to hire you for a week to sell all my garbage on ebay or craig's list - or at least teach this old goat how to do it.
Maybe a better idea is for me to come visit you and shadow you as you did with Gerry G.
Summer is really slow without you around to stimulate us.Now we get our excitement be reading your blog.
I would have written before, but couldn't figure out how to.
Will do better now that Kimbo has taught me.
Love, Pop and Mom
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