A Monday for Lowell in India

So yesterday was Monday... what was my Monday like for me?

Amy's alarm is set for 6AM, but Sam woke us at 5:45, so we almost slept till the alarm. Then it was the bustle to get kids up and fed and Nora Grace ready for school, as her bus comes around 7:30. I took her down to the front courtyard at 7:25, but there was no guard to unlock the gate, so we both wandered around the building looking for one. As Jim Likeks says, it is a marvelous thing that this 5 year old girl thinks it is normal and natural to hold her Daddy's hand as they walk down the stairs, with her chattering about the morning. Enjoy it while I can. Found someone with a gate key before the bus came, and saw her off, with the usual advice: "Stay seated on the bus, obey your teachers, be happy, do not sass, be kind to everyone even if they are not kind to you, you will be most happy if you obey, see you this evening."

Then it was back to our apartment, where I sorted laundry, changed diapers, shaved and showered, read the paper, cleaned up from breakfast, talked to one of the neighhbor guy's (No, you cannot borrow our Stove), talked to a couple of patients on the phone ("Yes, fever with no other signs might be Dengue Fever, see me at 2PM", and "Yes, Draining a cup of pus from an abscess on your leg is a bad thing, see me at 3PM").

Amy took off for some errands at 10AM, and both Sam and Miriam chose that time to meltdown, and so I spent the next hour holding two children, and reading "Hippos go Beserk", and "A Picnic with Monet" and "Sheep in a Jeep". All of those are fun the first couple of reads, but I think I have them memorized now. So do the girls.

We had lunch of Rice and Lentils with flat bread at noon, then I got dressed and took off for the Hospitals.

About half a mile from our house, there is a key underpass where the main road goes under the railroad, and it is being repaved at the moment. Since there is no other way under the Railroad for several miles, everyone HAS to go through at this small junction. So it was packed. The advantage to a bicycle is that one can weave ones way, and cut off a few minutes. I dropped off a disc of some pictures at a Photo shop (for some Eid pictures we had taken that friends wanted copies of), and wandered on down to the Heritage Hospital via back alleys, where I saw several patients, and took several phone calls). In between I studied some, read some, chatted with staff some.

The last patient probably did have Dengue, but we will never know for sure. The test for Dengue is over 20 US Dollars, and many Travelers are on extremely short budgets, so won't have the test done. (I am hitting about 75 to 80 % correct when I guess if it is Dengue or some other viral process that hasn't been defined). The patient also couldn't afford the Hospitals fee to see me (ten USD), so we bargained a bit, and eventually agreed 2 US would be fine. OK. The Abscess patient was a delightful Japanese gal who is studying dance at a local University. She has an abscess the size of my fist in her thigh and is has been fairly ill at home. Should do well.

So then I road my bicycle to a local charitable Muslim Hospital where I also see patients for free. Since there are elections tomorrow (local elections for Mayor and such like), there were numerous traffic jams as people demonstrated on behalf of the candidates of their choice. But got through, and maybe arrived on time. It has never been clear to me when I am supposed to arrive. The posted hours are from 4 to 6, but if I arrive at 4, there is no one there and I sit around for awhile. So they told me to sit in the office from 5 to 7, but everyone else leaves at 6:30 (including staff), so if a patient did arrive after 6:30, they wouldn't even know I was there. So I play it by ear each time.

Last night there were some patients to see me, but I did not actually see them (the Orthopaedist and the Dermatologist saw them, though the patients did not have Orthopaedic or Dermatologic problems). Since this was my first day back since Samuel was born, I spent the evening wandering around the Hospital with several of the Administrators, handing out Mitthia (Indian Sweets), and showing pictures of my new baby boy. Eventually got back to clinic at 6:30, but everyone was gone by then, so I made some phone calls and did paper work, and headed home.

In trying to get home, that same railroad crossing mentioned earlier was still incredibly jammed tight, and police with large sticks were beating people to get them to go another way. Didn't think I would try my chances there, so I wandered around awhile and eventually carried my bicycle across the railroad tracks at the Canntonment station, and took the long way home through the tree covered trails of The Cannt, which wasnt too bad, though I still got caught in several traffic jams as I came by some large Mosques just as prayers let out.

Got home, had some leftover chicken pie for supper, and put the girls to bed, giving them each a blessing and then sitting and singing for awhile. I have a collection of hymnals here, so I just randomly pick one and start singing the first song I open up to, and work my way through the book from there. Last night I picked "The Christian Hymnary", a fun little compilation by this Plain Menno fellow named John Overholt. Sang about ten hymns, and got interupted with more visitors. Miriam was asleep by then and Nora Grace was on her way.

So that was my Monday.