Health Benefits of a break

Did you know that simply taking a break can help relieve stress, help the brain to rewire and help with better concentration when you return to your work? Even something simple as taking a 30 minute lunch break every day can help productivity!

So what do you do to have a break when basically everything you do and all of the people you interact with are your work partners?

You go see a movie of course!



Last Thursday a whole bunch of us went to go see Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

IMAX 3D in the US: $15-20; IMAX 3D in India: $5

We got there and the movie theater was incredible. It wasn't just a theater, it was like a mall!


Super fancy

When walking around, Ale and I noticed this poster and had to take a picture:

oh the Delhi Belly....

So we went into the theater and got great seats and sat back and enjoyed the movie.


Ale and I were super excited

It was so nice to sit back, relax, and forget for two hours that I was in India. And I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the movie. It was such a normal thing to do that I completely forgot where I was. I love India, but doing the work and being sick takes a toll. It was such a boost and helped me get through work the next two days.

Such a great way to improve health. :)

Leia Mais…

Update on health

So... for the past two weeks I have been sick as a dog. The problem with the sickness, was that I would throw up multiple times, be sick for a few days and then seem to get better. I'd even be able to keep down a meal or two. As is evidenced by my posts here, here and even a bit here. Progress seemed to be made! But alas, things were not better, and I kept getting worse.

I went on a trip to visit the site of the Polavaram Dam and see the Koya people (more on them later) and seemed to get somewhat better. I wasn't eating much because it was a lot hotter there and the traveling throws off my schedule. But since coming back last Wednesday (one of the reasons why I'm so behind on my blog) I have gotten progressively worse.

It's generally not a good sign when I've lost 10-15 pounds... in 2 weeks. That's NEVER healthy by any stretch of the imagination. So I kept trying to take care of myself, keep it easy, and limit my diet to juices, vitamins and rice (or chipati). Pretty bland, but safe. Unfortunately this didn't prevent me from getting really sick on Sunday. This proved to be the encouragement I needed to finally go to the doctor.

So, today I had my first-hand experience of the Indian Health-Care System. Or at least the private healthcare system. So I went to the lovely Apollo Hospital in my part of town and spent the day navigating the different aspects of the hospital. First we got checked in and did the usual waiting for a doctor. Then when I actually got in to see a doctor he started asking my symptoms, how long they had been going on, etc. Then he did a blood pressure reading (boo... not normal for me) and started palpating my abdomen which was not fun because whenever I said something hurt he poked it again. :(


Getting my blood pressure taken, ignore the grossness

So after that initial examination he sat down and started writing out a. prescriptions and b. tests to be done..... 5 tests to be exact. And 3 prescriptions. X.X

And he wanted me to go see a specialist. Yeah... no bueno. So I saw the specialist in what was one of the most unpleasant and violating experiences of my life and got another 3 prescriptions, none of which seem pleasant.....

After this I went downstairs to do testing. Only to find out that in order to do the ultrasound testing I need to a. have an empty stomach (check-the whole throwing up thing takes care of that) and b. have a full bladder (not check.....) so instead I went and had my blood drawn (which always makes me freak out) and then go upstairs to wait and get water to fill me up.

That was a fun experience going up and sitting and chatting with Melissa. She's become my pseudo-mom/super good friend since coming here. It's just a bonus that she's my country director. We're kindred spirits. :)

So after waiting, we FINALLY were able to go downstairs and wait in line for the ultrasound.

While waiting we saw this picture:

Did you know that in India it's illegal to ask to know the sex of the baby or to promote finding out the gender because so many female fetuses are aborted? Sad but true....

So... the ultrasound requires a full bladder.... which stinks when someone is SHOVING something hard all over your tummy and organs. That lady was MEAN.

So finally after all of the poking and prodding and stripping of my dignity, I'm finally about ready to leave. I wait for my prescriptions and a friendly family says hello



And because of the violation from today I treated myself to my first Cadbury Chocolate Bar.


Mmmm

So after all of that, I found out that I have to come back tomorrow to get an "official" diagnosis since my lab results weren't going to be back until too late for a doctor to look at them. So we decided to leave and took our printouts that we had and had lunch before going back to the house.

It was funny because on the way back we were stopped at a light and beggars came up to us. But instead of being the normal, I'm lame or a child, it was the third gender beggars. These are the men who dress as women and there's some other connotation to it that I'm not quite sure, I think they're supposed to be a God's consorts or something. Either way, they're pretty interesting. They came up to us and were like, 10 Rupees! And so Melissa starts joking with one going, No! You give ME ten Rupees! And so they're joking back and forth and finally before we leave because the light turns green, he/she puts a rupee in Melissa's hand and blows her a kiss. It was by far the funniest thing all day.

We get back and Melissa needs to get ready to pick up Mindy from the airport (one of our Help International board members) and I get to catch up with everyone from the day. It was funny because I had THREE different people go, "so, are you pregnant?" And the answer is NO. I am 100% not pregnant. But it took a few minutes of teasing to convince them otherwise. After looking through my test results and the ultrasound tech's write-up, I looked up the condition she put up and it was Cholelithiasis which means gallstones. Woohoo! An answer!

And what did my mom ask about this morning? "Make sure to ask about your Gallbladder!"... Moms always know.

So yeah, I'm on a ton of pills right now and I've still got another round of doctor's visits, but the end is near. There is a diagnosis!


Yay pills....

So I'll make sure to definitely update on the outcome of this saga and the next step from here tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Leia Mais…

Progress

So... today was the first day that I really felt human. Yay stomach sickness!

So remember how I ate beef the other night? Yeah... I spoke too soon when I said I kept it down.
Which was a shame, it was quite tasty... if a bit chewy.

So I FINALLY had a morning where I didn't throw up and I was able to eat something!

Huzzah!

So what did I eat?

This:

Glorious, wonderful naan...

And what are those chunks in it? Garlic. Mmmmm.... There seriously must have been at least 2 cloves of garlic in the bread. So. Unbelievably. Yummy.

And the sad thing is that those two pieces of naan are the biggest meal I've had all week... combined. Don't you love sickness? I've felt like a zombie.

And for the record, no it is not related to the E. Coli breakout in Germany *coughMOMcough* I don't even think we get anything imported from Europe besides Nutella. And if there's something wrong with the Nutella, well, them's fightin' words!

So anywho, it's just run of the mill, I'm-in-a-foreign-country-getting-used-to-the-minerals-and-strange-bacteria-sickness. That and lack of sanitation. It's mostly clean right?

Anyways, so today was also the first day I've been out of the house since sunday. (Wohoo!) I went to get stuff to make spaghetti for sunday dinner. (Why are you making sunday's dinner on Thursday?) Well, since spaghetti from scratch takes a bit, I needed to have at least 4 hours to work on it (darn chopping veggies). I won't be at the house that long for the next few days with the exception of sleeping. Tomorrow we're going to Kowdipally to look at the site for CARPED's Quarter Acre Project.

I'm actually really excited to go for a few reasons. a. I'm in charge of this project and need to see the layout of the land before I can go further b. it's getting out of the city c. it's getting out of the house which given the past week is fantastic.

In addition to that, my other project, the Polavaram Dam project, is having a huge meeting on sunday. The guy in charge of it would like me to be there for that and also on monday to see some of the villages. It'll really help to solidify the project and see what we can do to help. Also it's an 8 hour journey, so once again getting out of the house. It's also neat because this is really getting out into the countryside. I'm super excited for it. :)

So today was fun and I felt human again. It was also kinda special because today was Brandon's birthday (Hurray!) and he got to see his (soon-to-be-within-the-week) fiance Sirisha. It was cute. We got him a cake and sang to him and then he went off to hang out with her after he had done all of his meetings and he's going to be with her family all this weekend. They're so adorable. And it was nice to see Sirisha. When I came into the living room she was like CASEY! and jumped up and gave me a big hug. It was much appreciated. :)


Brandon eating the rose


Cutting up the cake for everyone... it wasn't that good. Cakes here are SUPER watery and this one was soggy. :( But cake is still cake and Brandon was happy for the birthday surprise.

I hope tomorrow continues to be better as I recover. One bonus though is that all of my clothes are looser now! I guess that's one way to lose weight? Oh well, off to Kowdipally tomorrow!

p.s. If you are into gardening/sustainable living whatsoever, get this book. It is AWESOME. I've read it cover to cover and it's inspiring. And it's the basis for the CARPED project. :)



Oh, and look it's on sale at Amazon!

Leia Mais…

The Delhi Belly

So.. for the past 48 hours I have been sick as a dog.

Why? Because apparently I got the Delhi Belly.

Ugh. I do not wish it upon ANYONE. I have been MISERABLE for the past two days.

Word to the wise: Chinese food is not safe anywhere. Especially in India...

Ashlee got sick last week and then I got sick Sunday night. What did we both have? The Chinese food from the place down at the corner...


Melanie took a picture of me curled up hiding under the pillow

Boo...

But now I have learned to be more careful about eating hot foods.

So random fact: Whenever I get sick and can't eat for a few meals or throw up, for some reason if I eat beef, I won't have a problem with it. I don't know why or how it works (especially since it should be hard on my stomach) but it always helps me feel better.

So tonight was awesome when Sister Shailajan (Sister Alice) decided to make beef for us tonight! Yes, we had beef in India. :)

And for my first meal in 48 hours... it was delicious. And I kept it down. Hallelujah!


The wonderful beef gravy as she calls it


Sister Shailajan told us to sit this way so that we could learn how to eat the "Indian" way. It was fun! :)

I still feel horrible but I've learned to be a wee bit more careful with the local street food. I hope the week gets a little better. We'll see. :)

Leia Mais…