Kathmandu 10/01/2013

OR day, but no cases until late and no Dr. Shankar.  Another wild ride into the hospital, with traffic jams of water buffalo and bananas this morning.

I can't believe the loads we see people hauling like this with their heads and a strap.  One guy was walking down the street carrying a refrigerator in this fashion.  Literally back-breaking work!

One of our favorite little guys was quite a screamer when it came time to leave mom and go to surgery.  But today all is forgiven and he is everyone's perfect child again.

This young man needed work on his hand, and was very quiet but hung around everyone and made us smile.

Everyone is very respectful about taking off their shoes.  It does make me nervous to see people walking about the ward in their bare feet.

Ajeeta, our dear nursing leader, arrives from her motorbike in full regalia.

I worked on sorting machines and equipment to try to see what was needed, finished working on the policies, and made a list of things needed for a crash cart.

A couple more patient photos, and t-shirt...

This was Hien's patient she sat with during surgery.  Her leg was fused in a bent position and she had a release.  She looks happy and well.

Day of surgery.  Our German medical student got to scrub in, and then had a party as today was her last day.

Cute baby.  One shoe off; fascinated with nose.

At lunch with team leader Nancy Chee, and another dedicated Nepali.  The people here are beautiful.

Same baby; different fascination.

Back to the hotel to ready our talks for tomorrow.

Four of the team members stayed at the hotel to either recuperate and /or work on lectures for the rest of the week.  When we all got home, we went out to dinner at the Stupa View; near the Boudha Stupa.  It was our chance to say good bye to Joe and happy birthday to Sandy.  Good vegetarian food and pizza.

Garbage and plastic everywhere.  Effort to get clean containers and bottled water has backfired in that regard.

But non-polluting transporting of items is a help.

The streets are packed.

Bamboo scaffolding; what would OSHA say?

Building efforts with rebar; most of the work is by hand or with simple tools.

Spices.  The smells are wonderful.

The eyes of Buddha.  Clockwise around the Stupa, and everyone walks clockwise around the shops on the street too.

This old man climbed up and was rearranging the marigolds on the wood screen.  No idea what the significance was, but the candles and chanting were mesmerising.

Piles of incense.

Marketing effort, "Dear Human.  Jest feel me ones."  Sounds like a pick-up line gone wrong.

Prayer wheel.  Spin clockwise; the outside has blessings, you say some, and they all float up above to the heavens.

Kathmandu 9/30/2013

Back at our Hotel Tibet, but today is our last day at this hotel.  Trekking season is in full swing, so we are being moved to the original Hotel Tibet International, where we started.  So everyone packed and got ready to have our things relocated, and then to make our way to work.  We have two persons not feeling great who are staying home; the hotel has promised to arrange for their comfortable transfer.

Today is not an operating day, so we did some teaching.  I talked about policies in the OR, and positioning for a spinal.  The nurses talked about more peri-operative care issues.  We did see some of our patients roaming the halls, looking very happy and healthy.

Because we were being moved and a couple of our lecturers were home recuperating, we finished early and made our way home to our new hotel, Tibet International.  Once we got back to the hotel and had some delicious Tibetan and Nepali food, we took a walk to the Boudha Stupa across the street.  It was like a large Buddha Disneyland. 


Someone said the Buddha ashes are here, so it is a very holy site, and a circular structure which must be walked in a clockwise direction.  Across the circular street that surrounds the temple are shops of all varieties.  A bit oxymoronic to indulge in material pleasures next to a monument that honors the ways of the Buddha, but so goes our modern world.

On the way from and to the hotel, we were surrounded by tiny women with their tiny underfed babies, both mom and baby always looking wistful, hollowed, and fatigued.  They didn’t want money, but milk for the babies.  Probably the worst food for a malnourished gut, and often these are a scam – not even a baby belonging to the woman.  It is a very difficult and uncomfortable situation however, and if one gives money or food, the street fills with other takers and one realizes the effort made was so miniscule and brief.

Our burn specialist Len made a walk and had a first hand experience with a woman and her baby.  He visited their “home” and took some photos.  Sobering tale.

Everyone met for dinner, but as we had such a late lunch and I was trying to upload photos and get questions answered for the machine issues, I stayed in my room and tapped on my computer.  Internet did not work well and eventually went out, so I didn’t upload photos.