News snips

• Well, there will be no pics for this update. Here are some news briefs. Unfortunatley, I have not been able to figure out why blooger will not recognize my separate paragraphs. I will try bullets.
• Saraswoti's father passed away suddenly two weeks ago in the hospital. It was unexpected, as he was just checked in and was talking to people. He had a serious infection, but it all happended so quickly. Within minutes, the body was taken. Cremation is normally within the day or so. So, I did not see Saraswoti for two weeks after that, as that is the standard time for funeral traditions.
• Cholera is here. When we go to Patan Hospital, some halls are lined with the extra patients. It's a bad deal.
• The rains are beginning to lessen in frequency. During monsoon, it can take days and days for laundry to dry. I'd never ironed my socks before now.
• Got another leech (thankfully much smaller, and I interrupted his meal this time).
• There was a snake incident at the lab. I have pics but cannot post them...
• My laptop fan died. Therefore, my laptop will not turn on. A computer repair place (rare find) just let us know 2 & 1/2 weeks after inquiries were made that they may be able to fix it. I am to give them my laptop (on which my clutch is pretty tight), they will take a look, see if they can order parts and then see what they can do. Ho long do you think that may take?
• We sent a -80C freezer to a repair shop in March. They just notified us (August) that they cannot fix it. That is a reputable and good repair shop.
• I like my laptop.
• Anyway, the snake (maybe 4ft long; grayish with slight yellow bands; 2" diameter) was hiding in the overhang above the back door of the lab. I was able to watch as two of the guys used sticks to pop it out. Then Ganesh with a stick and Dil Bahadur with a brick rendered it dead within seconds. I was impressed with Dil Bahadur's aim.
• As we are a lab staffed with scientific thinkers, the bulge in the snake's abdomen incited curiosity.
• Yes, we did. Silwar used a scalpel. It was a baby bird (rather large - a bit bigger than a mockingbird).
• This is the season for drying kursani (chili peppers). The people somehow weave the stems to form long bundled chains of peppers that are hung to dry out second and third story windows. Beautiful. But of course, I cannot show the pics to you now.
• You would not believe the size of the slugs here. Think snickers bar.
• Which brings me to language. The other day, someone was talking about eating "slud."
• Wanna guess?
• Salad.
• "Suviets"
• Australian for napkin (serviettes). :)
• However, I'm probably the only one for some distance that uses the word "ya'll".
• Also, this week for journal club, the clinicians had wanted to have a special talk on "flu therapy". Someone else told us that there would also be discussion of "research station". It turned out to be "Fluid therapy and resuscitation".
• I can almost count to forty in Nepali. This is a big deal, since the number system renders practically every number 1-100 a different word. The second digit is actually hinted at by the first word.
• A baby has been born within the last 24hrs to Abidan and Muna, compound staff. Yes, there is a pic. A really nice one also with Jwala - but you cannot see it.
• In the previous post, I asked what you thought Dil Bahadur was doing. He is mowing the lab lawn. I have other pics to show you the small area that he spent the morning mowing in that position. It is not an easy job, and he was not even half way finished. No envy. If any one I knew from home did that, they would not be walking right for days. It was good thing the next day was Sunday and he was off. I've heard a rumor that someone in KTM has a push blade lawnmower (manpowered). I've yet to see a gasoline run lawn mower.
• I heard a story of a previous patient from a nearby village. She was working a threshing/grinding wheel (rotating stone on stone - probably by water buffalo). Her braided hair got caught up in the wheel. She carried her scalp in a plastic bag while she walked hours to the hospital. Dr. Wim Theuvenet, a plastic surgeon, was med superintendent of Anandaban at that time. He was able perform surgery on her.
• Today we had some new patients come to Patan clinic in KTM. Two of them were women. One wept as she did the preliminary tests to confirm her diagnosis. Another young one was 8m pregnant in reaction. Her husband came with her for this visit.
• But it can be very hard. Husbands can cast them out over this diagnosis.
• Please pray for them.
• Dhanyabad (Thanks)