Bound to happen...

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Well, I've gotten a stomach bug. Bound to happen at some point when you're traveling in India, right? =P Only no one else in my group got as affected and we've all been eating the same things, so the only thing I can think that could have made me sicker is because I'm a little short on blood.

A young woman came in a couple of days ago, maybe 17 years old, who was the encyclopedia picture of extreme anemia. Her tongue was *white*, there were pretty much no blood vessels visible under her lower eyelids, and her fingernails were white too. It turns out she has no mother and she's been to shy to tell her father that she's been bleeding for an entire *month.* When we did a Hb on her, it was ***3***! (Normally 12) Apparently in India, people are extremely afraid of giving blood. We weren't sure if her family would give (some are actually afraid of *dying* from giving blood...) and there was no way to store blood there, so we quickly typed her and I offered to donate since I'm a match. I felt surprisingly ok afterwards, despite being at 6,000 ft up and then going for a small hike down and then up the mountain afterwards (the only way to get into or out of the town), but since it's the only thing I did differently than the others, I think that's probably why I'm stuck in my home stay while everyone else is in Agra seeing the Taj Majal. =( Oh well, I was thinking of going anyway because I was feeling a little better (nausea, waves of stomach pains, headache, general weakness from eating next to nothing) but our local coordinator convinced me (not that it took a lot of convincing) that I'd better stay behind. Oh well. I'll just get Zara to wait and go with me instead. =) Plus I'd rather not take any more prophylactic (sp?) meds at this point. I'm already on Malarone for the malaria, Rifamycin for Meningitis (since I was in close contact with the boy who died) - which, by the way, turns your urine a lovely orange-red - and an alfalfa pill for nausea. I'd rather not be taking anything else if I could help it just so I could sit on a 10 hour bus ride...

Anyway, this week is back in DehraDun. I'm doing an OB/GYN rotation (should be interesting, especially after the one I did in Mussorie - I can now recognize gallbladders, livers, bladders, uteruses, and baby parts on ultrasound! Plus different parts of the heart and mitral stenosis, but that was because of cardiology 2 weeks ago) and an ER rotation, which people have told me is more like a night clinic than a real ER, but we'll see!

If anyone wants anything particular (that's not too heavy) from India, please let me know! Otherwise, please pray for my stomach... the last thing you really want when you're feeling nauseous is Indian food and... well... I think you could say I'm out of luck. =P

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