Into the Deep End

For those of you who may be following, I apologize for the delay in writing. These last few days have been very busy to say the least.

I don't think that it is possible to become completely inured to the level of poverty here. India has made great strides in recent years, and, ostensibly, Mumbai is an already vibrant city now growing exponentially. Skyscrapers are being built everywhere you look. But, next to these skyscrapers are slums. Despite India's enormous economic development over the last few years, this hasn't changed. I'll have to describe these in detail in a later blog. Onto the burn mission for now:

Saturday was out screening day. We saw approximately 70 patients, which took up most of the day. Its hard to describe the morbidity of their contractures. The severity seen in India is so much more than I expected based on my experienced in Burn rotations in the US. The majority of the patients were women. Many of them had necks with necks fused to their shoulders. Wrists were fused to shoulders, ankles to thighs. I can't imagine how people get through their day. I wish I could post some pictures, because I don't think that words can do justice to their level of deformity.

Operations have just started. But, it's time to start another day, so I'll have to write more later...

Thanks for reading,

Indranil