The Whiplash Whirlwind Tour

"This here is gonna be a WWT."

"What?"

Larry, my officemate back in 2003, repeated himself in his Fort Worth-Dallas accent, where he pronounced the h's: "A Dubyah Dubyah Tee. WHiplash WHirlwind Tour." At the time, this was in reference to a particularly busy week in our workflow timeline. That's how this past week has been.  A rehash:

CLINIC:

Our clinic has the same ultrasound machine we use at Stanford, but doesn't feel comfortable using it. Since they have someone on call 24/7 for overnight admissions, and since motor vehicle trauma is such a risk here, I showed a couple of the docs how to do FAST exams to help with trauma assessments. Teach a man to fish...

I was also asked to help improve their largest exam room, which is their designated Emergency Room. It originally had 2 beds for the influx of helicopter rescue patients that come through during the high season, but the rest of the time, they wanted to have a more functional room for true resuscitations. So, we rearranged some equipment, took out the second, rickety gurney to improve traffic flow, and voila. It's not much, but it's what they have.

I also wrote up some basic ED protocols (e.g., sepsis, acute MI, etc) for reference and reorganized the pediatric airway kit (there is one stylette in the whole clinic, & it's pedi sized...). Was fun logistics practice for my (hopefully) future days in Space Med Ops, where the flight docs upkeep emergency equipment bags for medical transport flights to Kazkhstan for Soyuz launch & landings.

We also had some great cases, including some rashes (HSP & Erythema Marginatum in the context of a Strep infection, respectively), Dengue fever, and hepatitis.

HOSTEL LIFE:

When I returned from Pokhara, I discovered that my original hostel had flooded due to monsoon issues. Someone on the bus back to KTM recommended another place they really liked, so I moved. This new hostel is awesome. We have a rooftop bar & restaurant with a BBQ every night, communal guitar, and travelers from all over the world. Most people I've met quit their jobs and are trying to find themselves, others are on a gap year, and some are volunteering in orphanages and villages with various nonprofits. It's not uncommon to come "home" at night to something like this (an orphanage fundraiser poster-coloring party...reminds me of Peace Corps):

Also, Naran, the bartender, is hilariously obsessed with Portland, Oregon. I don't think he's actually ever been there, but someday...

NEW FRIENDS!
The day before I left for Nepal, Paul Auerbach told me to look up his Sherpa friend, Wongchu, who owns Peak Promotions, a successful local trekking/climbing guide company. Totally haphazardly, Wongchu showed up in clinic before I had a chance to stop by his office. Later that week, he took us to Rum Doodle's, a bar in town where, if you have summitted Everest, you eat for free...for the rest of your life.

Wongchu is the youngest of a large family. His parents died when he was small, so he didn't get to know them. Because of this, he says, he has spent his days doing what he calls, "testing life." This includes summitting Everest twice (one of the times involved "napping" on the summit for an hour), running from Lukla to Jiri (normally a 3-day walk) in 12 hours when there were no flights out, and giving back to his village by donating funds for a school and electricity. Wongchu reminds me of my dad: a self-made businessman, always looking for the next adventure & making people happy.

I was also supposed to meet up with Neema, the Nepali woman I met on the plane on the way here, but received an email that she got medevac'ed to the US. Instead, I met up with Naila, another friend of a co-resident who had done an international elective here. Naila is originally from Bangladesh but has lived here for 11 years; it was eye-opening to get her inside perspective on Nepal's challenges with development and infrastructure- mostly that exiled Tibetans are doing quite well compared to native Nepalis, who still remain rather fragmented by ethnic subgroups and therefore have difficulty with national identity.

SIGHTSEEING:

There's a lot to see in Kathmandu, including the Monkey Temple (pics self-explanatory), other ancient temples in an area called Durbar Square, and a nearby town called Bhaktapur. A WWT sample:

Monkey Temple (Swayambhunath):

Durbar Square, KTM:

Bhaktapur:

MANGO SEASON:

This pretty much sums it up. No words.

Finally, ROL time:

1) Ideas for a Nepali reality TV show include "Me & My Monk."

2) In a bar fight where Chinese are throwing glasses (China never plays fair), using one's iPhone (assembled in China) to play Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" trumps all.

2a) FREE TIBET.

3) Socrates may be a citizen of the world, but Toyotas are the vehicle of the world.

3a) Suzuki Marutis are the national vehicle of Nepal.

4) Temples in Asia can be classified as a) old, b) really freaking old, or c) old as sh*t.