246: Nepal Day 13

Still doing 30-45 minute vaginal hysterectomies (in the pic I'm the primary surgeon) then assisting complicated 1-2 hour vaginal suspensions for the same patient—bent over, holding a retracter, no opportunity to stretch or change position, operating room at least 75-80 degrees—inside my impermeable gown probably 80-85. Plus my headlight is pressing into my forehead—okay for a few hours but after that it just adds to the general discomfort. Not what I signed up for I think until it's over and I can take the headlamp off (as an assist, I don't really need it but it would be awkward to remove it during the transition from primary to assistant surgeon).

Walking home, a guy came up and initiated a conversation.  He first encouraged us to change sides of the street, walking on the left following
English-pattern driving (I didn't point out the safety of walking facing oncoming traffic). He's a math teacher with a son who wants to be a doctor because doctors earn more than the $200/month teacher's salary of his father, which “isn't enough to live on” (current minimal monthly income is $92)). The son wants to study medicine in India, which offers medical school scholarships to Nepalese students. (I met one of the recipients of these scholarships who is spending a government-required two years practice in Lahan before returning to Kathmandu). He also commenting on the tug of war between China and India over Nepal.  City people, he said, usually have Indian connections but “hill people” favor China.