Friday Fives

This will be my last Friday Five post from India, which is really crazy. It's still hard to believe that I am leaving Loni today at 4 pm (India time) to start my traveling adventure back home to Iowa and will arrive in Des Moines Saturday at 7:40 pm as long as all of the flights are as scheduled. It's been a wonderful experience and over the next couple days I will post about my last week as well as what I learned from India as well as any other random thoughts that I have as I reflect on the 8 weeks I was here.

1. Spending this week hanging out with all of the wonderful people that I met in India. I spent more time this week talking with the interns from the west coast and so that was fun. I really enjoy talking with all of them. I also spent more time with Tanvi and enjoyed all of that time as well.
2. Getting mehndi done on Monday night and talking about India with the women who did an amazing job doing it for us.
3. Trying out new types of Indian food this week. We went to two new restaurants that we hadn't been before and had some really good food. We were wondering why we hadn't discovered them earlier.
4. Getting to go home. I really enjoyed my time in India, but I am also ready for the comforts of home.
5. The great opportunity that I had to do one of my rotations in India. I have met some amazing people, learned a lot about another culture, and have just enjoyed living in an unfamiliar place and discovering more about myself these past 8 weeks.

Friday Fives

1. Getting a package from my parents. I wasn't sure if it would ever arrive, but it did on Monday so that was a good start to my week
2. Breakfast at the hotel on Sunday. It's the simple things like having waffles for breakfast that can really make your day. I think the meal that I miss most from home is breakfast since it is so different in India.
3. Seeing the taj mahal. It was really amazing and I'm still just in awe that people were able to build that all by hand.
4. Chatting with Tanvi  in Courtney's room on Tuesday night. I just love when you can make friends and can talk about random things for hours on end and not even realize how much time went by. I think it's great that no matter what country I am in I can always find new friends.
5. Seeing the miracle of birth-getting to see 3 natural births and 1 c-section was truly amazing. Even though I was slightly grossed out by it all. It is still something that is very neat to see and so amazing that there is now a tiny baby that I watched come into the world. 

Weekend Trip to New Delhi and Agra

Friday was a holiday in India so we weren't posted anywhere and so we decided to use this extra day to take a trip to New Delhi so we could visit Agra and the taj mahal. Friday we drove to Aurangabad and then flew to New Delhi where our hotel picked us up at the airport and we checked in and went right to bed since we had to get up early to drive to Agra to see the taj mahal. Our hotel was really nice and the beds were soo comfortable that we didn't want to get up the next day, but we did. It was about a 3-4 hour bus ride to Agra where we picked up our tour guide and headed to the taj mahal.

The taj mahal was amazing-all of the intricate details are so awesome to see. I am still amazed that people 400 years ago were able to do all of it by hand. I can't even imagine building something like that today with the technology that we had. Our tour guide was very good and told us the history of the taj mahal and also helped direct us to where we needed to go since there were so many people there. We joked that it would stink to have been the 1st or 2nd wife since he didn't build anything for them. I am very glad that we decided to take a weekend trip to see the taj mahal even if it was a little crammed in because it is truly that amazing and now I can say that I've seen one of the 7 wonders of the world. (Along with being able to say that I've seen one of the 7 natural wonders of the world when I went to Victoria Falls on the Zambia/Zimbabwe border).

After the taj mahal we visited a marble museum shop place where they showed us how they would have inlaid all of the stones into the marble and then had a shop for us to buy things if we wanted. We also went to a couple more touristy shops and bought some souvenirs to take back with us. Most of the shops we went to didn't do too much bartering so that was a little disappointing to us since we were hoping to do more of that.

We visited the Agra Fort where the family lived and also where the king was imprisoned by his son where there is also a view of the taj mahal. The fort was really neat and since it was made of the red marble there were paintings on some of the walls since the stones don't work to inlay on it. After the fort we headed back to New Delhi, which took some time since the roads were really crowded in Agra.

Sunday morning we slept in a little and had breakfast at our hotel which was amazing. I ate a waffle, omelet, and had some yogurt. It was so nice to have a waffle since I've been craving one for awhile. After checking out of our hotel we road a rickshaw to a downtown area of New Delhi and walked around a bit looking for some shops. Then we had some locals help us out and tell us where to go to buy handicrafts and also insisted that it wasn't safe for us to walk there, but that we needed to take a rickshaw so we did as we were told. We were glad that we listened to their advice since it would have been a long walk and we probably wouldn't have found the shop. We bought some more souvenirs here and then headed back to Cannaught Place and walked around and went into a few stores before we ate lunch at McDonalds. I had fries, a mcchicken, and a mcflurry and it was wonderful to have that little taste of America. Then we headed on the metro and went to the airport where we flew back.

It was a quick little trip to the city, but I really enjoyed it and am glad that we decided to go. It was really nice to be in a city again and have so much happening around. I think I could have spent at least a week in New Delhi looking at all of the sites to see and wandering around. Maybe someday I'll go back and really enjoy more of the city. I took quite a few pictures while there and have posted some of them to facebook, but I'll post a few more here. If you'd like to see even more let me know sometime and I can show them to you!

Eating out before we got on the plane

Riding the bus from the plane to the airport

Entrance to the taj mahal

Taj mahal

Our tour guide Raj

Agra Fort

Riding the metro back to the airport

Friday Fives

1. Going to Suguna's house and hanging out. It was so nice to look at wedding pictures, chat, try on sarees, and have a home cooked meal. 
2. Getting to skype with Erin. I sometimes forget how much I love to talk with her and so it was so nice to catch up on life with her and Courtney. The only thing that was missing was some nachos and juju juice from Jethros and it would have been perfect.
3. Great conversations after our time in Nashik. Talking with my mom after the first day really helped me process some things and then on Tuesday night Courtney and I had a really great conversation about the things that we saw as well as other issues. I like having real conversations with people that help me figure out my beliefs as well as how I'm feeling.
4. Shopping-going to Nashik on Sunday and buying some more clothes and food as well as going to the market on Wednesday and buying some stuff. Getting to go shopping always brightens my day.
5. Receiving packages. On Saturday I got a movie in the mail that Chris ordered for me. Then on Wednesday I got a call that Courtney and I had a package at the post office so to go ride a rickshaw there. We got there and had a character for a driver-he spoke really good English and then just said some crazy things so we laughed most of the way there. Once I got to the post office we found out that there was a package for Courtney and one for Wing Lee (sounds very similar to Emily) so we picked them both up. Courtney's parents sent tons of food so we won't be going hungry.
6. Bonus since last weeks Friday Fives were a little on the slacking side. Making collages with Courtney. I love cutting up random things from magazines and gluing them together. Courtney's not as much a fan so I appreciate that she did it with me and we made a collage for the other person.

Pharmacology Department and Weekend

Friday and Monday I was posted in the pharmacology department. Since pharmacy is different in India the pharmacology department is more research based. It would be similar to a pharmaceutical science department or another type of pharmaceutical research degree in the United States. They teach pharmacology to the undergraduate students, have post graduate students who are doing research work, and also help run the research cell at Pravara. Overall, the pharmacology department is a pretty busy place.

The staff in this department were very kind to us and kept us pretty busy, which was nice. We started out by observing them give oral examinations to a batch of MBBS students. They were learning about the nervous systems as well as other body systems and getting quizzed on these drugs, how they work and their adverse effects. It reminded me of the things that we learned in our PDA (Principles of Drug Action) classes. I knew some of the information and also realized that I still need to do some refreshing on my drug mechanisms and adverse effects. I am also glad that I never had to take oral exams because sitting there being asked questions by my professors would have been very intimidating and I don't think that I would have done very well.

We had the opportunity to learn about a PhD students research project with genetics and warfarin. It was very interesting to see how she does the testing and also to see how passionate she was about her research. She really wanted to improve the way warfarin is dosed in different patients to better improve their outcomes and decrease the number of adverse effects. She also talked with us about her wedding and showed us pictures that she had on her computer. It was very interesting to learn more about the customs in India and how marriage works here.

Monday we spent time watching an experiment. They used a guinea pig ilium tissue to run their experiment. They were seeing what affects different concentrations of a drug had on the tissue contraction and using this information to determine what the concentration of an unknown is. It was very interesting to see this type of experiment in person because we did some similar things in school, but we were just given the data and had to figure out the unknown concentration. They also took us to the animal house and we got to see the rabbits, mice, rats, and guinea pigs that they use for experiments and research purposes.

Another part of our time in the pharmacology department was to visit the research department and learn about the proposal and approval process at PIMS for research to be conducted. As I don't have a lot of experience with research in the United States it was interesting to hear how it is done in India and to see the emphasis they try and put on research projects.

The people in the pharmacology department were also just wonderful to talk with. They told us places that we should go eat and things that we should eat at each place. They even wrote down the names so it will be easier for us to find them (hopefully). They also talked with us about tv shows, books, and movies and what they have been watching. They have seen way more American tv shows then I have I think.

This weekend we stayed in Loni and did a few activities. We met with Center for Social Medicine and discussed how things were going and got to see our tentative schedule for the rest of our time here. It was really nice to see what departments we would be going to as well as the rural health centers and mobile clinics that we would be going on. It makes me more excited for the time that I have left in India.

We rode a rickshaw to the post office and mailed some postcards to people at home. Hopefully the postcards will make it to people eventually, but only time will tell ;) We also tried out a couple of different restaurants in Loni. One is called the London Twist and has pizza and french fries (along with other things) but we ate that for dinner on Saturday night.

Sunday we went to the ophthalmology department's CME on cataract surgery in the morning. They had a nice program to open the day and then we listened to a couple of lectures on cataract surgery techniques. As I do not know too much about the eye I wasn't totally sure what was going on, but it seemed to me that they are doing some great things in the advancement of cataract surgery in India. I also decided that I would never be able to do surgery on the eye after watching some of the videos.

I'm really starting to enjoy my time in India and am enjoying all of the people that I am getting to interact with. Everyone here has been very gracious hosts and for that I am very thankful.

Riding in the rickshaw

post office sign

I'm pretty much an expert on ultrasounds now....

We spent the past 2 days in the radiology department and I would have to say it was one of the best experiences that I've had in a department (besides watching the surgery). We started out with one of the doctors showing us an overview of the department. He showed us the CT, MRI, X-ray, and ultrasound machines and told us about how they all worked.

Once patients started arriving we observed each of the machines and the residents in those areas explained a little how they worked. If there was an interesting case in another area a resident would come get us and bring us there. They did the best job I think of really explaining what was happening and making us feel somewhat involved and not just in the way.

I really enjoyed seeing how each of these machines worked since I’ve never had any of the tests done nor actually see them performed in real life. Some of the interesting things we saw were: a young man with a brain tumor so they mapped it out on the CT scan so they knew where to target the radiation, a CT assisted biopsy of the lung, a ultrasound assisted biopsy of the abdomen, and some MRI scans of cancer that had spread to the brain and had multiple malignancies.

We learned that most of the time patients don’t come to the doctor especially the radiology department until something is really wrong. They said that for the most part they don’t have to use a lot of contrast because the scans show up pretty clear when there is a problem since the growths are usually rather large. They said that in the US it is more common to need to contrast to pick up the problems since they are typically smaller masses.

We spent quite a bit of time in the ultrasound part and watched as mother after mother had an ultrasound done on her baby. It was really amazing to see all of the body parts and we were able to identify them as time went on. I wasn’t quite as good as Courtney, but was still able to pick out the body parts. We really aren’t experts, but now if the ultrasound is in position I can pick out quite a few body parts. We also learned how they measure the femur, head circumference, and abdomen circumference to determine gestational age and if the fetus is growing at a proper rate. We also discussed more about how it is illegal to tell the patients the sex of the baby and the professor/doctor we talked with showed us a powerpoint on this and really explained more about it.

They also were very concerned about what we did for fun, if we liked the food, and if we were enjoying our stay. They gave us some tips on places that we should visit and also some restaurants that we should try out. They were all really surprised that we ate in the mess hall because many of them said that they didn’t even eat there. These types of conversations have been common in most of the departments that we’ve visited, but they just seemed to be more interested in our answers and really gave us suggestions on things to do.

I've been slacking on my picture taking so I don't have any to add to this post so I apologize for that and will try to do a little better next time ;)