Hallo again!
Fun fact. Our four lovely ladies took the time to learn Tamil greetings, only to find out they don't use them! They simply use the English version, "Hi, how are you? Good bye, have a nice day!" Things like that. I have simply referred to smiling, clasping my hands together and making a slight bow, as apparently that is a sign of greeting and reverence, even thank you. Its pretty universal I think. I hope. I mean...I haven't offended anyone yet anyway...
Anyhoozer, today was another day full of medical things! I saw a dog bite today with a possibility of rabies, and I was pleased to find that they use the same vaccine and similar schedule of vaccine administration, though they administer the vaccine in the deltoid (the upper arm) for preventative measures if they don't know if the dog had rabies or not. I'm not sure though, what they do here in case the dog had rabies and if the infected site has to be injected with the vaccine as well, as it says here on the WHO website. Regardless, it was all news to me, I still thought rabies vaccines were still injected into your stomach, or more painfully, the butt.
Also, today, I saw a tooth extraction (no I have not switched to pre-dental, and no this clinic does not normally do tooth extractions) for an HIV patient. The reason why it was done at Stephen Nursing home, is because no other dental surgeon in Trichy would operate on this man, due to ignorance and fear. Because the Stephen's have been working with HIV patients for 17 years, they work with the president of the NGO "Trichy District Network of People Living with HIV/ AIDS TDN (no website I could find, sorry guys). The president started this branch, or complete NGO (I will have to ask tomorrow) a little after her husband died and became a widow soon after her arranged marriage. The kicker though, is that she contracted HIV from her husband, as her parents did no pre-health screening on this man and allowed her to marry this "stranger". Because of how she has been treated as a person with HIV, and others who are treated the same, she began this NGO, or at least this branch. So far she has helped many from what I can gather from Dr. Rohini, and she brings many people to Stephen Nursing home if they need any medical help.
Today, a man who fell and smashed all of his front teeth to bits, desperately needed the roots of these teeth removed and antibiotics to keep the infection away. He went to a government hospital, where they inserted a tube, and gave him poor treatment. The president of this NGO found him, and took him to Stephen Nursing Home where they treated him correctly, removed the tube, and called all the dental surgeons in town. Everyone refused to help. So they resorted to calling their cousin, Dr. Ashok, from three hours away, to come and do the extraction. He of course said yes, and the extraction was successful.
Up to this point, I have never actually encountered an HIV positive person in my life, and I admit I was a little wary on the precautions taken during the procedure, so when I got home I looked it up. From what I can gather, you take extra precautions whenever bodily fluids are involved, eye shield, gloves, bib sort of deal, and you wash your hands directly afterward, as well as all tools. HIV only lives for a short while outside of the body though, so once sanitized all tools and surfaces should be good. I then asked someone who worked with HIV patients a long time (Thank you Mrs. Christmas) where she pointed me to all OSHA standards concerning HIV and the precautions we take in the states. It was reasuring that I saw almost all of this today, and I trust the Stephens as they have been working with patients with HIV for so long. Its just one more new thing I learned today!
I also saw a man with a severe hangover today, but he thought he was dying and needed a CT scan, and despite Dr. Ravi's efforts, got permission to do so. It was interesting.
After shadowing, we had dinner and talked about our medical experiences. If I didn't have these four girls with me I might have gone a little nuts by this point. I'm very grateful they are here experiencing this with me :D
After dinner Dawn (our biology/math/biostatistics/computer science guru) showed us some owls she found while owling. We saw two owlets. They are supah cute. Heres a picture
Again, adorable. We also saw some yellow and brown toads that looked Asian. I was not as pleased at the sight of these creatures.
Now I am off to bed and read. Or do something relaxing. More tomorrow!
Fun fact. Our four lovely ladies took the time to learn Tamil greetings, only to find out they don't use them! They simply use the English version, "Hi, how are you? Good bye, have a nice day!" Things like that. I have simply referred to smiling, clasping my hands together and making a slight bow, as apparently that is a sign of greeting and reverence, even thank you. Its pretty universal I think. I hope. I mean...I haven't offended anyone yet anyway...
Anyhoozer, today was another day full of medical things! I saw a dog bite today with a possibility of rabies, and I was pleased to find that they use the same vaccine and similar schedule of vaccine administration, though they administer the vaccine in the deltoid (the upper arm) for preventative measures if they don't know if the dog had rabies or not. I'm not sure though, what they do here in case the dog had rabies and if the infected site has to be injected with the vaccine as well, as it says here on the WHO website. Regardless, it was all news to me, I still thought rabies vaccines were still injected into your stomach, or more painfully, the butt.
Also, today, I saw a tooth extraction (no I have not switched to pre-dental, and no this clinic does not normally do tooth extractions) for an HIV patient. The reason why it was done at Stephen Nursing home, is because no other dental surgeon in Trichy would operate on this man, due to ignorance and fear. Because the Stephen's have been working with HIV patients for 17 years, they work with the president of the NGO "Trichy District Network of People Living with HIV/ AIDS TDN (no website I could find, sorry guys). The president started this branch, or complete NGO (I will have to ask tomorrow) a little after her husband died and became a widow soon after her arranged marriage. The kicker though, is that she contracted HIV from her husband, as her parents did no pre-health screening on this man and allowed her to marry this "stranger". Because of how she has been treated as a person with HIV, and others who are treated the same, she began this NGO, or at least this branch. So far she has helped many from what I can gather from Dr. Rohini, and she brings many people to Stephen Nursing home if they need any medical help.
Today, a man who fell and smashed all of his front teeth to bits, desperately needed the roots of these teeth removed and antibiotics to keep the infection away. He went to a government hospital, where they inserted a tube, and gave him poor treatment. The president of this NGO found him, and took him to Stephen Nursing Home where they treated him correctly, removed the tube, and called all the dental surgeons in town. Everyone refused to help. So they resorted to calling their cousin, Dr. Ashok, from three hours away, to come and do the extraction. He of course said yes, and the extraction was successful.
Up to this point, I have never actually encountered an HIV positive person in my life, and I admit I was a little wary on the precautions taken during the procedure, so when I got home I looked it up. From what I can gather, you take extra precautions whenever bodily fluids are involved, eye shield, gloves, bib sort of deal, and you wash your hands directly afterward, as well as all tools. HIV only lives for a short while outside of the body though, so once sanitized all tools and surfaces should be good. I then asked someone who worked with HIV patients a long time (Thank you Mrs. Christmas) where she pointed me to all OSHA standards concerning HIV and the precautions we take in the states. It was reasuring that I saw almost all of this today, and I trust the Stephens as they have been working with patients with HIV for so long. Its just one more new thing I learned today!
I also saw a man with a severe hangover today, but he thought he was dying and needed a CT scan, and despite Dr. Ravi's efforts, got permission to do so. It was interesting.
After shadowing, we had dinner and talked about our medical experiences. If I didn't have these four girls with me I might have gone a little nuts by this point. I'm very grateful they are here experiencing this with me :D
After dinner Dawn (our biology/math/biostatistics/computer science guru) showed us some owls she found while owling. We saw two owlets. They are supah cute. Heres a picture
Again, adorable. We also saw some yellow and brown toads that looked Asian. I was not as pleased at the sight of these creatures.
Now I am off to bed and read. Or do something relaxing. More tomorrow!
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