CAPS LOCK

By tomorrow, I will be officially approved to go to Kauvery Hospital!  While I love the family-feel of Siva Sakthi Nursing Home, there is not ever enough for me to do, and they are limited to endocrinology unlike Kauvery, which is multi-specialty. The one nice thing about Siva Sakthi is the staff.  They are unbelievably friendly, try to teach me Tamil everyday, and often bring me pastries, tea, and coffee.  Today, they brought me Kolukkatai with tea. 

The most interesting case I saw today was a girl with Mosaic Turner Syndrome.  This is a chromosomal disorder in women, and the consequence is that this girl will probably not enter puberty and will remain short and possibly barren for life unless she receives hormone treatment.  The family said they cannot afford hormone therapy because growth hormone is too expensive for most families.  The doctor called several hospitals to find a sponsor for the girl and was only able to give these names to the mother for her to do more research.  This was very sad, and the mother was holding back tears.  Even though I cannot understand Tamil, the doctor’s usual quick and cheerful nature changed almost as soon as he looked over the girl’s charts.  I am sure doctors must deal with this everywhere, but I feel it is intensified here.  As soon as this family left, another was through the door in seconds.   He had to switch his demeanor so quickly that I am sure he did not have time to process anything emotionally.  Because this is a family-style hospital, he most likely knew this family for years while having to maintain his cheerfulness for the next patient. 

I have heard of people going in for check-ups and physicals before starting a new sport, workout routine, a demanding job, and other things such as these.  Apparently, many people here come in for a general checkup before getting married.  It was sad today that one man came in for a checkup and was diagnosed with early Type II diabetes.  While this is dreadful, at least I finally got to observe some diet counseling.  Doctors here frequently give diet advice and prescriptions, but the dietitian was much more thorough.  It was hectic, though, while I was observing, so the dietitian had little time to explain to me what was going on.  This dietitian, whose name is Gayathiri, is the one who has opened the lines of communication between Bishop Heber College and Kauvery Hospital, and she has promised to guide me through Kauvery once the formalities and papers have been taken care of, as she says. 

One thing I saw today which I cannot imagine happening in the US, though I suppose it is not impossible, is that a politician came in and interrupted the doctor because his relatives were being seen, and he came to ensure they were receiving the best treatment.  Dr. Sakthi did not even know who this man was, only that he wore the colors of the party in opposition to the one currently in power.  Even so, after barging in, he sat and listened to the doctor.  Talk about pressure.  I suppose if Pat McCrory waltzed in and demanded great treatment, it would be given (depending on the doctor), but if Walter Dalton came in, I would not even know who he was (I had to Google the candidates of the last election).  People barge into the doctors’ offices frequently at Siva Sakthi, but seeing as the staff treats all of their patients so kindly, I thought it rude of that politician to interfere. 

One last thing I learned about were goitrogens.  These are compounds that aggravate the thyroid gland.  Given enough of these with low iodine intake and a genetic predisposition, goiters and thyroid disorders result.  Many of these are present from pollution here in India, but many are found in foods as well.  One common source of goitrogens are cruciferous vegetables (things like broccoli, cabbage, etc.), millet, soybeans, spinach, strawberries, and turnips.  Cooking removes these products, so I am unsure why they would ever make it into an Indians' mouth.  It is customary to cook all foods here; salad is rare.  This is because cooking destroys pathogens, which run rampant here.  In the US, with sufficient iodine supplementation, we never really learn about these because goiters are not common whatsoever. 

That is all for today, it was not busy enough to report much.  I also did not get many pictures.  I promise you some pics of the markets, temples, and the WEDDING this weekend!!

P.S. Everyone here types with caps lock on.  I do not know why.  When I use their computers and turn caps lock off, the first thing they do is turn it back on when they take the computer back.  Even the doctors do it.  Who knows.