Hi all you lovely people, so here is a catch up on what happened to during last month in India, that is to be precise the month of June.
June was when we suddenly all became very soggy in my particular green valley in the Nilgiri hills. It is something that I have never experienced before, the coming of a Monsoon. Everyone spoke about it for the weeks leading up, speculation on which day it would hit. Now for those of you like me who have lived the majority of their lives in Britain may in fact like me feel sceptical about the sudden coming of rains. In my corner of south west England we get at least our fair share of rain but seasons tend to gradually melt into one another. The spring slowly starts to warm your cockles, the summer arrives with its fair and sunny days but still the smattering of rain showers, you notice the nights drawing in and the air getting crisp and its autumn, the first frost of winter can snap and crackle but you will still get the occasional warmer ray of sun. Well in India it is a little different.
One day the skies are startlingly blue and you are sweating in the heat then before you even have a chance to think to yourself "gosh that cloud over there looks a bit ominous" woosh, it is quite literally like a tap being turned on above. I have never in all my time in the UK, even when I lived in Plymouth which is a pretty damp sort of city, found occasion to purchase an umbrella. But within the first day or two of the monsoon I hotfooted it up to town and purchased a rather fetching purple one.
Suddenly the forests are even greener than before, more green than I could have imagined. When the sun shines out from behind the cloud and catches the damp leaves rippling in the stormy winds it takes your breath away. The small stream in the valley which runs along past the hospital has swelled to a river and at night if the rain stops long enough I can lean out of my window and hear it roaring past.
During June as well as enjoying the sudden contrast in weather I also noticed a small change in myself. My Tamil skills are developing, still at a rather slow pace but I feel also that perhaps my clinical confidence has grown. Early in June I was caring for a woman in labour, it was her first child and she was coping well despite a very slow labour and what on palpation seemed to be a rather good size baby. The labour progressed all be it slowly and with an episiotomy and little bit of cheerleading when the time came she delivered a beautiful baby boy at the healthy birth weight of 3kg.
The problem arose after the placenta was delivered. In some ways it was similar to the monsoon, I knew that a few aspects of her case made her high risk for bleeding after delivery, the long labour, a well grown baby and a big placenta but I was still surprised when she started to lose blood. Her uterus didn't contract well and after a small pause, like the calm before the storm, she started to bleed. And I surprised myself to be honest, that with the assistance of the incredibly competent nurses I dealt with it. My first post partum haemorrhage that I have managed without another doctor in the hospital. After a flurry of activity, some medications, some common sense measures the tap was turned off and we controlled the bleeding. Once she was stable I phoned the senior obstetric doctor, this was late in the evening by this point. She was really supportive and it was great to hear that we had done the right stuff, she had a few other pieces of advice but overall we had done a good job.
The final note on the story is that when the time came for the lady and her very adorable baby to be discharged she came to see me at the hospital mess where I was having my 11 o'clock incredibly sweet cup of tea (a daily routine). She gave me this amazing smile and a little palms together greeting as is the tradition and in one way or another through our scrambled languages she told me that she was leaving, but that she was grateful for me being there for her and I hope I managed to convey how glad I was that she was well and that I had been able to help.
Anyway needless to say I was grinning from ear to ear all day. This is the end of my blog for now, leaving on a high. I will write again soon to let you know all the news about my wonderful visit from one of my oldest friends. Oh and I promise it will come with pictures!
Lots of love,
A x
June was when we suddenly all became very soggy in my particular green valley in the Nilgiri hills. It is something that I have never experienced before, the coming of a Monsoon. Everyone spoke about it for the weeks leading up, speculation on which day it would hit. Now for those of you like me who have lived the majority of their lives in Britain may in fact like me feel sceptical about the sudden coming of rains. In my corner of south west England we get at least our fair share of rain but seasons tend to gradually melt into one another. The spring slowly starts to warm your cockles, the summer arrives with its fair and sunny days but still the smattering of rain showers, you notice the nights drawing in and the air getting crisp and its autumn, the first frost of winter can snap and crackle but you will still get the occasional warmer ray of sun. Well in India it is a little different.
One day the skies are startlingly blue and you are sweating in the heat then before you even have a chance to think to yourself "gosh that cloud over there looks a bit ominous" woosh, it is quite literally like a tap being turned on above. I have never in all my time in the UK, even when I lived in Plymouth which is a pretty damp sort of city, found occasion to purchase an umbrella. But within the first day or two of the monsoon I hotfooted it up to town and purchased a rather fetching purple one.
Suddenly the forests are even greener than before, more green than I could have imagined. When the sun shines out from behind the cloud and catches the damp leaves rippling in the stormy winds it takes your breath away. The small stream in the valley which runs along past the hospital has swelled to a river and at night if the rain stops long enough I can lean out of my window and hear it roaring past.
During June as well as enjoying the sudden contrast in weather I also noticed a small change in myself. My Tamil skills are developing, still at a rather slow pace but I feel also that perhaps my clinical confidence has grown. Early in June I was caring for a woman in labour, it was her first child and she was coping well despite a very slow labour and what on palpation seemed to be a rather good size baby. The labour progressed all be it slowly and with an episiotomy and little bit of cheerleading when the time came she delivered a beautiful baby boy at the healthy birth weight of 3kg.
The problem arose after the placenta was delivered. In some ways it was similar to the monsoon, I knew that a few aspects of her case made her high risk for bleeding after delivery, the long labour, a well grown baby and a big placenta but I was still surprised when she started to lose blood. Her uterus didn't contract well and after a small pause, like the calm before the storm, she started to bleed. And I surprised myself to be honest, that with the assistance of the incredibly competent nurses I dealt with it. My first post partum haemorrhage that I have managed without another doctor in the hospital. After a flurry of activity, some medications, some common sense measures the tap was turned off and we controlled the bleeding. Once she was stable I phoned the senior obstetric doctor, this was late in the evening by this point. She was really supportive and it was great to hear that we had done the right stuff, she had a few other pieces of advice but overall we had done a good job.
The final note on the story is that when the time came for the lady and her very adorable baby to be discharged she came to see me at the hospital mess where I was having my 11 o'clock incredibly sweet cup of tea (a daily routine). She gave me this amazing smile and a little palms together greeting as is the tradition and in one way or another through our scrambled languages she told me that she was leaving, but that she was grateful for me being there for her and I hope I managed to convey how glad I was that she was well and that I had been able to help.
Anyway needless to say I was grinning from ear to ear all day. This is the end of my blog for now, leaving on a high. I will write again soon to let you know all the news about my wonderful visit from one of my oldest friends. Oh and I promise it will come with pictures!
Lots of love,
A x
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