We went to our endearing Chettipunyum colony this morning.
It was a quiet day as far as coloy goes. Every other Monday half the staff
takes any needing children and colony residents to the hospital, which leaves
us those who go to the colony with a little less then normal man power. It is
fine though, sometimes it is nice to have quieter clinics because then you get
to spend more time with the patients and nurses while taking it all in. I was
on eye drop duty today. Ironically, I had never done the eye drops before today.
I have looked into patients eyes while talking with them and completing all
the other stations, and I know that leprosy often affects the eyes as the eyes
are one of the more cooler areas of the body-but it was still a learning
experience to put medication directly in their eyes. The following aren't pictures of patients I saw today, they are just stock photos I found on the internet that show examples of what some of our patient's eyes look like. And female patient's eyes too. :)
Seeing the eye sores/how
the eyes are affect by leprosy so up close and personal made me feel that much
more compassion for my leprosy affected friends. I wonder if losing your sight
after losing your sensation to feel physical stimulus and sometimes even whole appendages and limbs is another twist of the leprosy dagger or something
patients just simply pass through and accept as part of their disease. I guess
that really all depends on the person and how/if they have made peace with
having leprosy, but it was a reoccurring thought I had while working
today. I would imagine that no matter
what peace you make with having this disease, it would still be hard and
incredibly frustrating to see your body slowly deformed and crippled by it. In
that sense, maybe some people find a certain peace in the blindness. And that
gets me to thinking how emotionally strong these people are. Obviously, it is
not easy and isn’t done perfectly by everyone all the time. Our patients are subject to the stress and
burden of the disease and humanistic coping mechanisms just like the rest of
the world-that is why we teach the 12 Step Program within the colonies too. But
when you look at how much they lose to their diagnosis-socially, physically,
financially, personally, etc. and see that the majority of our patients are
generally happy and love to laugh (and sing and dance if they are able) and are
grateful and openly give thanks not only to us but to some form of a higher
power whether that be God or Gods or nature-it is pretty incredible.
Besides those deep thoughts, I was also thinking about how my allergies have kept me well acquainted with eye drops most my life, only I have almost always been on the receiving end of the experience. I thought back to how many times my mom put drops in my eyes when I was little and it made me smile in a nostalgic way. Man look at all the processing-all due to some eye drops. No one ever told me India would become so therapeutic for me. Even though I came to help these people, I swear I am getting the better end of the deal. Which makes me feel very grateful and very guilty—but that therapy session is going to have to wait for another day.
Besides those deep thoughts, I was also thinking about how my allergies have kept me well acquainted with eye drops most my life, only I have almost always been on the receiving end of the experience. I thought back to how many times my mom put drops in my eyes when I was little and it made me smile in a nostalgic way. Man look at all the processing-all due to some eye drops. No one ever told me India would become so therapeutic for me. Even though I came to help these people, I swear I am getting the better end of the deal. Which makes me feel very grateful and very guilty—but that therapy session is going to have to wait for another day.
