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The internet has been temperamental at the house due to the insane amounts of rain we have had lately. I suppose that is why they call it monsoon season! In between bouts of torrential rain, Geoff and I have been spending time at the hospital, shopping and exploring Kathmandu. Today we did all three, first we stopped by the hospital to drop off some baby blankets for a brand new baby boy that arrived last night via vacuum extraction after 17 hours of labour at 7:53pm weighing in at 3kg (see picture!) and then headed to Asan Tole for shopping and Thamel for lunch. First thing in the morning yesterday, I observed a full abdominal hysterectomy at the hospital and was amazed at how quickly it progressed. The surgeon (gynecologist I have been shadowing at the hospital) finished the surgery in an hour, I believe that is half as long as one may take in Canada. The uterus was removed due to fibroids but you can also see the ovaries in the picture (white almond sized masses on sides of uterus). I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to observe surgeries like this and spend time with passionate professionals at Helping Hands Community Hospital. Everyone has been so kind and patient!
Last weekend we went to the Central Zoo in Patan. It was fantastic and there were some amazing creatures I had never heard of. My favourites were an Indian crested porcupine, hippopotamus and sloth bear. The rhino came close to my top three favourites, but was beat out by the sloth bear with his shaggy long hair and sloth feet. Another volunteer paid 200 rupees ($3) to ride the elephant for about 5 minutes around the perimeter of the zoo. Geoff and I plan to ride elephants on our trip to Chitwan, a beautiful nature park that is a six hour bus ride outside of Kathmandu.
Geoff is not as excited about the hospital anymore so I feel that we will be doing a lot more trips outside the city for the next week and a half! On the roster we have Chitwan National Park sunrise in Nagarkot (view of Everest!) , Bhaktapur (ancient Newar town) and The Last Resort (bungy jumping, rappelling down waterfalls and white water rafting). I will continue to shadow at the hospital and hopefully see some more births, but babies come when they want to in Nepal just like everywhere else in the world!
Wow Kelly, it looks like you're getting some valuable experience over there. I'm glad to hear some time is being set aside to tour the area too, those photos you've taken of the temples are really cool (and the lawnchair wheel chair just screams Lantzville). I will look forward to more :D
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