Well my week in the ED had to end early. It turns out the sickness I had on Monday night was just a mini preview of what was to come Thurs night. After enjoying The Hungergames for a second time with KJ and Libby, along with intermission dinner of a chicken sandwich and Pepsi, I was propelled into full-fledged gastroenteritis. It was honestly, the sickest I have ever been in my adult life. I will stop nasty descriptions here. My stupidly unprepared self walked the first time, then crawled the next, to KJ’s (who it was revealed to me later was beginning her own GI ordeal) door for Imodium, Pepto-bismol, and then, finally, Azithromycin. Therefore, I was unable to work in the ED Friday and missed Saturday’s excursion to Mysore with the other Minnesotans as I rebuilt my body’s water supply.
Sunday, leaving KJ and her gastro with the Azithromycin I bought from a drug store counter just down the street from the Annexe, Sasha, Libby, Jill, and I adventured to downtown Bangalore. Of course we opted to jam 4 in a tuk-tuk. This included Cubbon Park, MG Road stores, and Commerce Blvd market. The park was beautiful with Bamboo trees (trees?), walking paths, and groups playing Cricket. MG Road hosts many high-end shops selling jewelry, electronics, etc. At Commerce Blvd Market we came away with some good deals on scarves, jewelry, and sandals. Jill successfully talked a clerk down on 2 very beautiful scarves while Sasha and I joined forces to get 2 less nice scarves for a better deal than 1. I bought some sandals for 100 Rupees ($2) that ended up not fitting but my feet were so dirty from walking all afternoon I couldn’t bring myself to try them on in the store. So, it’s my own fault. Oh well.
Overall, the ED was a fun experience with some very interesting patients I was able to see. There were the usual ED complaints like Gastroenteritis, alcohol intoxication/withdrawal, suicidal ideation, cellulitis, and pneumonia. There were the surprising patients including the patient with an acute stroke who was given tPA thrombolysis within the 3 hour time limit and the doctors weren’t even breaking a sweat as they would in the U.S. Very impressive. Also, in this category can be included the precipitous delivery of a healthy baby girl in the ED, which can occasionally be found in U.S. ED’s but is jolting all the same. Finally, there were the many International health-specific patients including the man with abdominal pain, fever, diarrhea, and hepatomegaly on exam who needed to be ruled out for amoebic hepatic abscess (what?) that apparently occurs commonly in alcoholics in India.
Next week I am on to Dermatology where I am excited to see illnesses which are only present in a few nations today, India included.
Everyone send your get well wishes to Katherine!!
Namaste!
-Abby
Sunday, leaving KJ and her gastro with the Azithromycin I bought from a drug store counter just down the street from the Annexe, Sasha, Libby, Jill, and I adventured to downtown Bangalore. Of course we opted to jam 4 in a tuk-tuk. This included Cubbon Park, MG Road stores, and Commerce Blvd market. The park was beautiful with Bamboo trees (trees?), walking paths, and groups playing Cricket. MG Road hosts many high-end shops selling jewelry, electronics, etc. At Commerce Blvd Market we came away with some good deals on scarves, jewelry, and sandals. Jill successfully talked a clerk down on 2 very beautiful scarves while Sasha and I joined forces to get 2 less nice scarves for a better deal than 1. I bought some sandals for 100 Rupees ($2) that ended up not fitting but my feet were so dirty from walking all afternoon I couldn’t bring myself to try them on in the store. So, it’s my own fault. Oh well.
Overall, the ED was a fun experience with some very interesting patients I was able to see. There were the usual ED complaints like Gastroenteritis, alcohol intoxication/withdrawal, suicidal ideation, cellulitis, and pneumonia. There were the surprising patients including the patient with an acute stroke who was given tPA thrombolysis within the 3 hour time limit and the doctors weren’t even breaking a sweat as they would in the U.S. Very impressive. Also, in this category can be included the precipitous delivery of a healthy baby girl in the ED, which can occasionally be found in U.S. ED’s but is jolting all the same. Finally, there were the many International health-specific patients including the man with abdominal pain, fever, diarrhea, and hepatomegaly on exam who needed to be ruled out for amoebic hepatic abscess (what?) that apparently occurs commonly in alcoholics in India.
Next week I am on to Dermatology where I am excited to see illnesses which are only present in a few nations today, India included.
Everyone send your get well wishes to Katherine!!
Namaste!
-Abby
Downtown Bangalore. It is the third most populous city in India and is considered to be cooler as it is at 3,020 ft elevation. But, really the average high temperature is 92F and average low is 70F.
Here is the Annexe III. It is really quite large, this just pictures the front entrance inside the medical college complex.
This is a bamboo bush (bush?) in Cubbon Park. It makes a creaking sounds when it blows in th wind that is so weirdly different from the sound of leaves in the wind.
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