February 2, 2006

I thought I would freak out. Situations like this would harrow my imagination with all the agonizing outcomes possible. To my surprise the anxiety never came. Fear was only allowed an instant in my mind so that it could induce concern and then it was forced out. It’s not an easy thing to watch a child attacked with seizures. His face would spasm into involuntary flashes of the same incoherent expression. The legs and arms would twitch in chorus. The boy was suffering from febrile seizures cuased by typhoid. After the doctor succeeded in placeing an IV line they stopped the siezures and put him on antibiotics.

For the last week we my roommate and I have been stationed out in Virar. This is the small town at the end of the train tracks to the north. Because it’s a small community full of commuters the city is calm and peaceful during the day. The clean air in this sleepy town allows you a view of the countryside with vegetation and distant hills. Between five and eight in the morning, and the evening counterparts, the town pops off with trucks and cars and motorcycles and rickshaws all dodging the pedestrians in the narrow streets. There is a tranquility that permeates the town and makes it a perfect break from the bustle of Bombay.

The hospital here is a private clinic owned and ran by a doctor here that specializes in pediatric surgery. While here I’ve seen a variety of operations that have been quite interesting. A diabetic had his toe amputated without anesthesia due to gangrene. He couldn’t feel a thing because the nerves had died well beforehand, but it was a bit distressing at first.