Leaving

So yesterday Dr. R told me he will be leaving for Kathmandu today (turns out it will be tomorrow) and a new doctor arrived. Seems like it just happened but it allows Dr. Rajesh to leave Kandbari which I think he is rather happy about. He's been here for almost a year and a half and is the only doctor in the district. The district is pretty big and Khandbari is the "capital" or something. Anyway, it's the biggest town and the district spreads for quite a ways in every direction. People from 16 different regions in the district call him daily to consult on cases. He must round twice a day on the 15 or so patients in the hospital and has an outpatient clinic 6 days a week. Sundays are usually the busiest because Saturday is an off day. We have seen about 60 patients on Sundays. He says the summer is much more busy with around 100 patients a day. This is mostly due to gastroenteritis because the water is not purified and giardia and other bugs are rampant. Also, typhoid fever and malaria are more common in the summer. I'm pretty sure I'll come down the the symptoms of malaria soon as I got a mosquito bite in the middle of the night last night. Figure if it was bad enough to wake me up it probably was a disease ridden mosquito.

A few entertaining things about the hospital. First, it is rather dark and dank (ok, not entertaining more depressing). Only one or two fluorescent lights in each large room that houses 5 beds. I noticed birds flying in and out (more entertaining for me) then a few days later noticed that there is actually a birds nest in a corner of the main corridor. Their are also often dogs wandering in and out. I've gotten used to it but everything here is quite different. There are always dirty children, chickens, dogs, goats, and trash in the streets. One striking difference from other places I've been is that there is barely any begging. When I was in Brazil you couldn't walk 10 ft without someone asking for money. Here I've only seen one beggar. The power continues to be spotty. I am still able to watch professional wrestling and some BBC news so I heard about the shootout in Salt Lake, Anna Nicole Smith's death (definitely world news), and something in Palestine but I haven't really seen enough to get the whole story. Anyway, I think this is a bit random and eclectic as I've been vacillating between writing emails and this. I'll post something more coherent in a minute.