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Hey guys! So we are in Aurangabad at the Ajanta and Ellora caves this weekend. It has been a long day and there is no power in our hotel so we are at the internet wasting time. I think I have been leaving out bits and pieces of Mumbai so I will try and sum it up. The first week we were at Dr. Bhatki's leprosy clinic and leprosy hospital along with Dr. Mehta's clinic in the evening. Dr. Bhatki's clinic consisted of giving out leprosy meds and physical therapy. He also provides these rubber shoes so they don't get foot drop or pressure ulcers since they lose feeling in their nerves. This assistant was packing this man's ulcer on his foot with one glove on just getting blood, iodine and pus everywhere. It was nuts. Dr. Mehta's clinic is one hour away by train (the fastest route) and it is in a part of town called Sewri but you don't need to know that, you just need your nose to smell the dried fish market. It smells SO BAD!! Especially at 5 o'clock after the sun has been beating down on it all day. So on that Thursday we went to the Hard Rock Café to watch a Beatles cover band and it was so fun!!!!!! We spotted the only white people there and it turns out they are the Royal Belgian Air Force! They were just flying the King and Queen of Belgium around India. It was an awesome night. We also met a Bollywood star, but the Belgians were more fun. So I told you about Elephanta Island and all that. So this past week we have been at the BSES government hospital with Dr. Ashtok Mehta an oncological surgeon. The only surgeries I didn't tell you guys about are the bone graft and masectomy/implant surgeries. The bone graft was crazy, there were two surgeries cutting the patients tibia (or fibula?) with a saw and the other 3 surgeons were cutting his whole mandible out (bottom lip and everything). So they took it completely off of his face, tumor and all, again with this saw device. We only stayed for 3 hours of the 10 hour surgery. Then we went saree shopping and I bought a really pretty maroon and gold saree. The next day we saw a masectomy and this time the woman patient opted for an implant also. This surgeon literally stuck a metal bowl under the pectoral muscle to measure the silicon implant size he needed (OUCH!!!!) good thing there is an anesthesiologist there! So that was it with BSES, hopefully we can go back on our 5th week. We left for Aurangabad yesterday afternoon and the train took 9 hours. It was brutal, I'm reading a book called Shantaram it is really good. I recommend that or Holy Cow and then you will know how India feels, if you don't already from this blog. Hopefully I can get up pictures sometime soon, the beautiful Buddhist Ajanta caves are amazing and date all the way back to 7th century AD. It is difficult to enjoy the caves while Indian men are taking pictures of you with their camera phones or recording you with their camcorders. Ahhh I am so homesick! But I only have 20 more days in India- thank GOD!!! I hope this finds everyone doing well and I send all of my love. xoxo
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