First Home Visits!

It is 7:45 PM, and Ryanne and I have just returned from eating dinner at ZamZam.  It is a delicious place that serves mostly contemporary Indian food.  I had the butter chicken masala, while Ryanne had the mushroom masala...we split a side of naan (which is my favorite).  Both were quite spicy and took quite a bit of white rice to get both dishes down.  Luckily for us, this restaurant has a vast selection of unique ice cream treats to cool your palate after dinner.  I enjoyed a mango sorbet sandwich and she had some extravagant contraption of layered ice cream with what looked like graham crackers sticking out of the top (delish!)

We may have been so hungry during dinner because today was our first chance to go out into the community with Palium to meet with patients.  I spent my time with a physician, nurse, and a social worker in an a little rural area about 20 kilometers north of Trivandrum.  The first patient we met suffered a stroke a few months back and was paralyzed on his left side, had uncontrolled diabetes that led to multiple missing toes, and a few other diseases that pretty much left him bed ridden.  We met with him and his family and they chopped up down coconuts off the tree and we had some very delicious coconut with the family.  I brought a  huge bag of candy along and passed it out to some of the village children and you would have though they had just received a bunch of new toys they were so happy!  I forgot to bring my camera on this trip but will be sure to do so on future trips.  The next few patients brought us to a much more densely populated section.  The second home we came to had a man with a few different kinds of cancers and spent his entire day just laying in his bed.  However, the problem is that his bed is made entirely out of WOOD (no cushion/mattress whatsoever).  The Palium Care team brought a soft egg shell type foam and some sheets for his back to make him at least a little more comfortable.  In this home, the family made us freshly squeezed orange juice while we carried out our cares.  Home visits number 3 and 4 were rather short and I wasn't able to help out a whole lot because the home was so small, there was no more room in the area the patient was at.  

One thing stood out to me more than anything today actually getting out into the community.  As very very little as these families had, they always made an effort to find some way to show us gratitude and to make us feel comfortable in our home. I really wish I would have brought my camera just to give these words justice as to how poor these living conditions were....there will be three more home visits and I will be sure to document the rest with pictures!  

Tomorrow is another day of lectures, Saturday we will spend helping out at the hospice clinic, and Sunday we are going on a day long boat trip as a group!  Should be fun!  Hope everything is going great back home!  I think Ryanne and I know are going to alternate days posting to the blog so be sure to expect one new post everyday!