What gives

These last few days have been adventurous to say the least.The whole of last month I have all but killed myself working without counting the hours.By God's grace lot of patients have passed by our hospital healed physically,have heard the gospel and have gone home.We in the medical team have been stretching ourselves to the limit going much beyond our capabilities.I have done three vaginal hysterectomies in the recent past and so now hold the distinction of being the only doctor in the lakhnadon region who actually does it.I might also be the only physician doing it.The last one was tough,with a slightly bulky uterus and lots of adhesions.It teaches us to be extra resilant,never mind the long hours of surgery,uncertainity,lack of stamina...fear of complications...ask me how to pray through difficult situations ,,I am becoming an expert in it. Last week brought along with it a lot of sadness as well.I lost a three year old child to snake-bite. By the time she was brought to us sh...

At a blink of an eye years pass by .My little neice Anhaita was one year old when she used to jump up from any position when she heard any kind of music to do hip-hop.Guests who visited their house, which was most days, because they kept an open house,would be treated to a cute sight of mother and daughter dancing together. This summer she turned sixteen .She gave me several shocks.Firstly,she sweetly broke it to her mother that she wanted to take up bio-science and pursue medicine for her carreer,secondly she actually scored very well in her tenth and last but not the least she frightened everyone by travelling all alone from Siliguri to New Delhi by train alone because her maid had a family emergency.She refused to have an air-ticket bought for her. She has always been an extremely protected child thus far. When I first heard the news that she wanted to become a doctor my first reaction was ,'Why a doctor?'I felt extremely heavy and I wondered to myself if she would be abl...

Palliative care patients come our way because there are no such facilities anywhere else around. They end up staying months on end and they bond well with us. ICP was the first patient to come our way.Transferred from ICU in Nagpur due to brainstem bleed he stayed with us for almost three months before we discharged him for home.Every now and then he collapses and is wheeled into our casualty. We had not seen him for seven months.His sons ,when we met them in the market would politely invite us to their place.They would tell us he is doing well.ICP could not talk ,would not respond to any of the commands when he came in .Our nurses diligently worked around him ,we counseled the sons about including him in conversations.We would take time in our morning prayers to specifically go up to his room ,sing some hymns and would share the gospel and pray.Tears would stream down ICP’s eyes.There was no knowing if we were actually reaching out to him. Yesterday the son came to our hospital a...

It has been a difficult week correcting,tolerating,working,struggling with nagging administrative issues.I was looking forward to the sunday to bounce back.I had a restful day but for the mid--morning when I was caught up controlling the seizures of a one and a half year old child who had been reffered to Jabalpur from the government hospital seizuring.So much for the defensive medicine the health practitioners are at these days.It took sometime getting an intravenous line but by God's grace as we dilantinised her and with the benzodiazepams in,his seizure settled. This evening I had another youngster join us for the evening fellowship. We are studying the book of Mark these days and there are a few themes that keep recurring. 1)We need to really know Jesus of nazereth for who He is.The gospels is like an introduction God gives us ..as the son of God..,Lord over nature,Lord over diseases,Lord over death,Lord over evil spirit and satan,a compassionate God,a generous God,a ...

Somewhere from the inner recesses of my mind recipes pour out as I cook on Sundays for a group of twelve or so.I am not a hoarder,although every now and then I go out shopping and stock my fridge I am learning to use every bit of food that comes in and not waste it as we normally do.I was watching the documentary ,’Just eat it’ and it was quite appalling watching so much of food being wasted in first world countries.In India even scraps are eaten in the street. This Sunday I racked my head to organize a menu that would compliment the hotter than hot weather outside.I had potatoes gallore,mayonnaise ,condiments and herb,flour ,sugar and salt and some fruits. I settled on cold mash with mayonnaise,nuts and herbs,crepe made over the hot stove but served cold ,papayas and a shake with bananas ,mangoes and milk.There was no wastage whatsoever which is actually never there and light on every ones stomach.The Crepe was paper thin and ever so light,it somehow reminded me of royalty,althoug...

A and J were with me for the holidays.Bethsheba spent three days with us amidst the hullabulla of her own demanding and busy life.It was wonderful to have her's and Andy's wise presence in my disorganised life , for a short time.They left their children for a week with me. J and A were a healing presence ,a little surprising for children of their age.They would get up in the morning,have their quiet time,make the chai which J was an expert in,eat their breakfast,go for VBS in the church.The afternoons were spent on their fours on the floor colouring different posters for our wards and we would invariably end the days with stories from my growing up years,a bible reading and prayer together before we would call it a day. Yesterday by the time I reached home ,they had soaked the dal,cut potatoes,onions,tomatoes and were ready to plunge it into the hot oil even as they looked into their note-pad for their mother's recipe. We cooked the meal delicious in it's simplicity ...

Thought would take a break in Panchmarhi which is the only hill-station in MP. Coming from a hill-station and a remarkably beautiful one for that I frankly did not expect much.I had not bargained for the MP admin to have such brains. The most touristy part of Panchmarhi has been preserved well and has been kept clear of the usual hawkers who hijack tourist places and make it almost unbearable. Most facilities are owned by the MP government and all the tourist places mantained by the department of forest and is awe-inspiring. We had a guide alloted who was extremely intelligent and knew how to sell the places according to the sentiments.The gypsy driver was a young guy who seemed innocent enough so we had a good time good naturedly pulling their legs and enjoying the beautiful point s. There is Ridgegarh,Dhoop garh,and even a still ,clean water body in the middle of no-where,yes it is actually clean.The landscape in the movie Ashoka with those fantabulous rocks and water bodies i...