The Doctor Makes a Housecall
Hi Everyone,
Its been hectic this last week as our group has been on the road. Internet access has been hard to find.
Back on the 23rd, we wound up in the little village of Bandarej. After being on the road all day and looking forward to arriving at our hotel, we were a little perplexed when our bus stopped in the middle of the village and we were asked to offload. It seems that our great white whale of a bus couldn't negotiate the twisty little streets of the village. But we were delighted when we realized that the camel carts which were hanging around were there to haul us up to our hotel on the the top of the hill.
Half the village turned out for the event and we proceeded, parade-like through the village. There must have been 50 men, women and children all laughing, clapping and waving us along!
The folks here in India are the warmest, most kind hearted people you could ever hope to meet.
After getting settled in, we had dinner and then we were entertained by a group of local musicians and dancers and a marionette show.
After dinner, I celebrated by jamming a splinter up under the fingernail of my right middle finger. It went almost all the way to the cuticle. And then it broke off far enough in so I couldn't get at it with tweezers. How, you may be asking, did I do something as dumb as that. It was real easy. I was tucking the bed sheets in between the thing they call a mattress and the ancient plywood platform it laid on. I expressed my appreciation for the furnishings and, realizing there was nothing that could be done about it, went to bed.
Next day we pulled into Agra and after checking into our hotel, some of us went to see the Red Fort, which was cool.
By now, I was getting attached to my splinter, which I came to realize, was a great device for getting attention and sympathy. But, all good things must come to an end and upon returning to the hotel, Dilip, our tour guide call a doctor. The doctor offered to come to my hotel room and in a few minutes, he showed up with an assistant in tow.
I knew I was in for a real treat when the doctor's eyes got kinda large when he saw what he was up against. He held my finger and a flashlight and gave instructions to the assistant, who did all the work. He had steady hands, thank God.
They decided to give the ol' tweezers a shot, to no avail. Then my eyes got kinda big when they pulled a good sized scalpel out of the bag! Well, they got to whittling away on my fingernail and still no joy. BTW, they didn't use a local anesthetic because they were concerned I might have an adverse reaction to it. But I had the moral support of my friends and so we forged on.
By now, they had carved a sort of vee shape deep into the nail to try and get at the sucker from the end. That strategy was unsuccessful, so they decided to bisect the nail down the middle and attack it from the top. After several minutes of that, the Doc felt that there was no splinter; it must have remained with the plywood when I pulled my hand away. But, just to make sure, he was going to go a little further. Delighted to hear that, was I.
But, in just another minute, voila, he produced a respectable hunk of lumber from my digit.
Noting Rod's bottle of Jack Daniels nearby and my palid complection, the good doctor prescribed a couple fingers of Jack. Now, thats what I call doctoring! He also gave me some antibiotics and pain killers which I fortunately didn't need.
So, what do you suppose it costs for two doctors, a housecall and drugs? Would you believe 1000 rupees ($20)?! Our guides couldn't believe it when I told them it would have cost around $2000 for an emergency room visit in the States.
It is now several days later and my finger is healing nicely with no sign of infection. But this bandaid makes it hard to eat with the fingers of my right hand, in accordance with local custom. I probably wasn't fooling anyone, anyway.
So, bye for now. I uploaded lots of good pictures so check em out.
Later.
Its been hectic this last week as our group has been on the road. Internet access has been hard to find.
Back on the 23rd, we wound up in the little village of Bandarej. After being on the road all day and looking forward to arriving at our hotel, we were a little perplexed when our bus stopped in the middle of the village and we were asked to offload. It seems that our great white whale of a bus couldn't negotiate the twisty little streets of the village. But we were delighted when we realized that the camel carts which were hanging around were there to haul us up to our hotel on the the top of the hill.
Half the village turned out for the event and we proceeded, parade-like through the village. There must have been 50 men, women and children all laughing, clapping and waving us along!
The folks here in India are the warmest, most kind hearted people you could ever hope to meet.
After getting settled in, we had dinner and then we were entertained by a group of local musicians and dancers and a marionette show.
After dinner, I celebrated by jamming a splinter up under the fingernail of my right middle finger. It went almost all the way to the cuticle. And then it broke off far enough in so I couldn't get at it with tweezers. How, you may be asking, did I do something as dumb as that. It was real easy. I was tucking the bed sheets in between the thing they call a mattress and the ancient plywood platform it laid on. I expressed my appreciation for the furnishings and, realizing there was nothing that could be done about it, went to bed.
Next day we pulled into Agra and after checking into our hotel, some of us went to see the Red Fort, which was cool.
By now, I was getting attached to my splinter, which I came to realize, was a great device for getting attention and sympathy. But, all good things must come to an end and upon returning to the hotel, Dilip, our tour guide call a doctor. The doctor offered to come to my hotel room and in a few minutes, he showed up with an assistant in tow.
I knew I was in for a real treat when the doctor's eyes got kinda large when he saw what he was up against. He held my finger and a flashlight and gave instructions to the assistant, who did all the work. He had steady hands, thank God.
They decided to give the ol' tweezers a shot, to no avail. Then my eyes got kinda big when they pulled a good sized scalpel out of the bag! Well, they got to whittling away on my fingernail and still no joy. BTW, they didn't use a local anesthetic because they were concerned I might have an adverse reaction to it. But I had the moral support of my friends and so we forged on.
By now, they had carved a sort of vee shape deep into the nail to try and get at the sucker from the end. That strategy was unsuccessful, so they decided to bisect the nail down the middle and attack it from the top. After several minutes of that, the Doc felt that there was no splinter; it must have remained with the plywood when I pulled my hand away. But, just to make sure, he was going to go a little further. Delighted to hear that, was I.
But, in just another minute, voila, he produced a respectable hunk of lumber from my digit.
Noting Rod's bottle of Jack Daniels nearby and my palid complection, the good doctor prescribed a couple fingers of Jack. Now, thats what I call doctoring! He also gave me some antibiotics and pain killers which I fortunately didn't need.
So, what do you suppose it costs for two doctors, a housecall and drugs? Would you believe 1000 rupees ($20)?! Our guides couldn't believe it when I told them it would have cost around $2000 for an emergency room visit in the States.
It is now several days later and my finger is healing nicely with no sign of infection. But this bandaid makes it hard to eat with the fingers of my right hand, in accordance with local custom. I probably wasn't fooling anyone, anyway.
So, bye for now. I uploaded lots of good pictures so check em out.
Later.
posted by Rick | 5:48 AM
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