"That's a damn good uterus!"

I love my new clinic posting! It is in Sutika Seva Hospital- which is a private clinic mainly for lower class pregnant woman. The OPD (outpatient department) is general a couple hours in the morning, and last Wednesday we saw 50 patients. It was NUTS. I was taking BP, weight, and FHS (fetal heart sound) with a Doppler like mad (with the help of the resident). the doctor is a character, so knowledgeable, approachable, and funny!
some of my favorite quotes....
-"that's a DAMN good uterus!"
-slapping a woman's postpartum loose abdomen and replying to her complaints of the appearance... "i told her to do abdominal exercises" (sounds harsh but we were all laughing, including the woman!)
-she ends many, many statements that she wants us to be in check with.... "isn't it"
-after nurses showed up to work 2 hours late, "today i came in such a good mood but now im pissed, if i see them i might start fuming again!" (she is so dedicated and loyal to her work that she can't stand people wasting her time, not being efficient, and being LATE!)

Also, the first day while waiting in the OT with a women needing suturing from a medio-lateral episiotomy, the resident comes rushing in and asks- 'which one of you is going to assist me?' I immediately have red flags- out of my scope of practice and voice my concern that we are NOT trained, to which she replies- I'll show you! So nicole steps up, scrubbed in and helped by holding the speculum and cutting the suture thread. Later that day we talking about the ethics of that scenario and decided, she wasn't doing any skill persay and felt like it was safe. The next day, while watching the same resident about to give an intramuscular injection in the gluteus region (bum) that she turned and said 'do you want to give?' I pipped up right away- no we don't know how, so she says 'watch this one, i'll show you, and you can give the next one'. sure enough not more than 5 minutes later, a woman comes in for a tetanus injection and I prepare the syringe and as confidently as i can, slowly inject the fluid into the specific area pointed out from the resident who is holding the skin taunt. it went well! I don't plan on making a habit of preforming the tasks, but it was a pretty cool experience!

So... low of the day yesterday...
There I am using the Indian style toilet before ~2 hours of watching surgeries and while i'm awkwardly balancing, trying to squat and hold my purse from the wet concrete smelly ground at the same time as turning on the facet. Not a good idea. I turn the facet and am immediately shot in the face with a stream of water spraying straight up. I try and turn it off, but it's very clearly malfunctioning and the normal righty tighty is backfiring right into my face. I final twist it every which way to find a position that slows and eventually stops the stream. I managed to keep my mouth closed and stay out of most of the spray. I shake off what water I can and step out of the bathroom half laughing half crying. Later Nicole had a fitting insight... "in India... if you're not laughing you're probably crying!"

Now I'm off to Goa, land of sun, sand, and coconuts! After a 10 hour bus ride, we arrive in the morning and take a bus ~30 minutes north a smaller town, Anjuna, and get a room in one of the many guest houses there. I can't wait for a relaxing weekend on the beach!

More soon on my thanksgiving meal mishap, weekend in mumbai, and daily happenings!