Sorry All

So…it has been a few days since I have written anything, because I have not really been doing very much. We only went to school one day last week. That day we went to the developmental disability ward and pediatric casualty. The developmental ward was actually a very nice unit. They had many things that can be used to assess a child and help them catch up. There are 6 inpatient beds and they do several outpatient treatments as well. Casualty is what they call their emergency department. It was just full of a bunch of kids with fevers and diarrhea. We did see one child that was having a lupus flare up and her legs were three times the size that they should be. We also watched a spinal tap with no anesthetic. It was a little brutal. Then this weekend we had to say goodbye to 6 of our friends. Saturday night we had a great night though. We went out to dinner and then over to one of the med student’s houses for cocktails on the roof and played some games. We didn’t find our way home until 3AM. It was quite fun. Then Sunday when we got out of bed we went and found the pool. It was quite lovely! It was scattered with palm trees and bamboo lounge chairs. It was hard to think that just on the other side of the wall there are streets lined with goats eating trash. We laid there all day and it was just like we were not in India, but in a luxury resort. It cost 150 rupees so there are really only travelers there. So we are free to wear our suits and everything. It was grand!

Today we went up to the nursery. It is nice too. It is a 60 bed unit that has three tiers. They only have 5 ventilators and 8 incubators, but they can manage. Another difference is that there are no bottles or breast pumps. Moms have to extract their milk and then they use cups to pour it into the kid’s mouths. It was also EXTREMLY hot there. About 40 degrees hotter than our NICU and they cover the infants with bubble wrap for insulation. They have to get them used to being hot if they have a chance of surviving India. All of the children walk around in fleeces and hats as well, when we want to be wearing shorts. Their babies are so tiny as well, even when they are healthy. I have heard many people say that "Women have natural births all over the world, so we should do it too." Well today I thought a lot about that because it is probably a lot easier to squeeze a baby out when they weigh under 5lbs then the 12lbs kids people are having in the states. We are also going to a beauty pageant across the street for PT girls. I will keep you posted about how that goes… Leslie is being a judge and I have to give a speech about skin care. It should be fun.