Our group, Nonspec, came to the prosthetic lab first and foremost, to observe what the current process was to create a limb for a patient.  We were honored to be able to observe a pivotal moment in a young man’s life – his first step on a prosthetic leg.  This man, just 19 years old, was in an auto accident which resulted in the amputation of his right foot several months ago.  (As an aside, 2/3 of amputees in India are men, and most of these are the result of trauma, most often road accidents).  He was a mason, living with his family.   However, he has been unemployed as a result of this accident.  The family is poor, and cannot afford the articulating limb that would allow him to return to his profession.   However, this less functional limb will allow him to walk – which is a dream when compared to using a wooden cane to ambulate.  Once his prosthetic leg was finalized, it took him only seconds to rise up and walk in the gait training room with the supports of the railings.  Soon, he was ambulating with just the support of a cane to stabilize him.  He and his brother walked to the bus to take the several hour trip back to their home town.

I will think of this young man often – what could have been done differently, so that he could not only survive his injury, but thrive?  Was the amputation necessary, or were the injuries costly to repair and the less costly amputation chosen?  What if he had an articulated leg – could he be a mason again, far more productive for his family, and more readily able to support a wife and children in the future?  How will his new prosthetic work – will there be pressure ulcers that form, causing pain with each step, or infection?  Without training, how will he learn to navigate the rough Indian terrain without injury?

Even though it was breathtaking to see him take his first steps, I still feel we have fallen short in our care for this man.

Nonspec team at the temple!

This is my tribe, the folks who are working on the prosthetic project in Hubli – Kalyani, Chaitanya, Erin, Jon, Shruti and Brendan.  We’re a combination of a highly bonded core team (Erin, Jon, Brendan) and new additions from UML (me) and BVB (Kalyani, Chaitanya, Shruti).  What has happened is that we’ve quickly coalesced in to an effective team with the goal of having the prosthetic limbs tested on patients.  It’s been a blast watching the BVB students using their technical skills, acquiring tools or supplies to get the prosthetics ready for the patients.  They are also culturally savvy – and can ask the appropriate questions to the patients and professionals involved.  I add the medical/nursing prospective: how does the device affect the patient’s activities of daily living, the stability of the limb and impact on the tissues.  It’s an exciting and nerve wracking time for the core Nonspec team, as this is the big event – with all of the lab testing done, how will the patient with amputation perceive the devices.  These are beautiful, functional, and low cost – a dream product that can impact the lives of thousands of amputees, especially in financially disadvantaged areas of the world.

Tomorrow is our big day – we meet our first patient at 8:30!

The first part of our trip in Delhi, did indeed cause me great despair.  My traveling companions are a delight, the hotel we stayed in comfortable and welcoming.  But the experience in this large city was far from delightful.  The Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, the Taj Mahal, and the Red Fort spoke of times when India was indeed a great and ancient power.  But my contemporary experience was filled with desperate people in the areas we went to.    At every turn people were trying to scam us – sometimes successfully.  When we were in situations that were ‘safe’, I kept waiting to find out how we’d been cheated – not able to relax and enjoy the experience. As a nurse practitioner, I found the acres of deeply poor people living in trash filled lots absolutely devastating. The image below captures this feeling – a creature that was once beautiful, now wretched.

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I was reluctant to write a post that reflected poorly on our host country – until I arrived in Hubli and realized that what I’d seen was not representative of India.  Hubli is an inland city, in the south west.  Here is a city filled with people going to work, school children walking unattended to and from school, and several universities, including BVB, where we are attending class.  The energy is palpable in our work groups – we are generating ideas to improve social issues.  The students are young, optimistic, intelligent – and did I say fun?  We spend time laughing, sharing the quirks of our cultures (did you know that there are no toaster ovens in Hubli?), and enjoying the company of one another.  I feel energized, optimistic, and adventurous!  This image captures the India I will remember – smart, cute, and growing!

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