I thought my second day to do medical would never come.
Today I chose to assist the nurse. I sat while she cleaned the ulcer and removed the dead tissue. Then I would wrap the ulcer. The blood and rotting skin didn't bother me, but I was nervous. I was nervous before I started and I was nevous the whole time that I was helping. I would like to say that I got a little more comfortable after each wrapping but I didn't. Each foot, hand or leg that I wrapped was such a different shape that figuring out the best way to wrap never really happened. It was like starting new each time.
The first patient that I saw was a tiny, frail looking woman. She had lost both of her feet and all of her fingers, and she depended on other people to move her around. As a man sat her in the chair at my station I noticed how uncomfortable she was. We cleaned and wrapped the ulcer on her foot and then we started on her hand. She was crying and I just sat there not knowing what to say. I have heard that leprosy affects the nerves and as a result patients loose feeling in the affected limbs. From that fact it was hard to tell if she was crying from pain or if something else was making her upset. Either way she was suffering, and it was hard to watch when I had no way to comfort her. She didn't speak englsih and I don't speak tamil. So I wrapped the remains of what was once her hand with tears in my eyes wishing that I knew what to do to give her any amount of relief.
I look fowad to the day that I see her again and can hear her story. The day that I can hold her perfect hand as I try to understand what she went through during this life.
On our way home from the colony we stopped at the zoo and rented bikes. We had a blast!
My favorite animal was the white tiger.
This evening we did art classes. I brought finger paints with me for the little kids and they loved it!
We started off somewhat organized and had everything under control. But things quickly took a turn and there was paint everywhere! The kids mixed all of the colors to make brown face paint and one boy was walking across the paintings that were lying on the ground to dry. But the kids had fun and seemed to enjoy every minute of it!
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