The reason why I'm doing Vipassana instead

OMG what a day.  I asked god for many experiences, but this one takes the cake so far.  It started off kind of bad, I had to skip the first yoga class because i wrenched my back in the plow pose last night. Here is the photo of the pose:

So... you can understand why I pushed myself too hard and couldnt feel my left hand suddenly, and then I knew I was in trouble.  Every time I tossed in bed last night I felt like I was being shot in the upper back.  I took it easy today but am sure it was meant to happen when i was blessed with a conversation over msn with my girl Thao...I'll take that over "Yogocop"or "The Punisher" as we call him so lovingly any day.

Then, I went to philosophy and watched that movie "The Secret", and i'll tell you that was inspiring. Happy thoughts...Happy thoughts....we went out for lunch at this place called the Buddha cafe before Blagica had an appointment with the astrologer:

And check out what I had for lunch:  That which i wished for in my gratitutdes which I did receive (minus the pint)! It's all about positive thoughts: that drink is a pure pineapple and banana juice.  YUM.

We went after to the astrologer, who is a celebrity in Rishikesh, he's on TV once a week and stuff, and he, like always was over an hour late. We just shopped instead. 

Then I get home to the ashram and find out afternoon class is cancelled too. Bonus. So I chill and start studying my asanas for my 1 hour class I have to teach. One of the women suddenly gets very ill, enough to go to the hospital. They call an ambulance. I offer to go.  And here starts the adventure up the mountain to  where we find this "Hospital".  Here is a pic of the ambulance:

Five of us packed into this little jeep and the ride from Delhi to Rishikesh is similar in horror and near misses: We actually hit a motorcycle on the way to the hospital, and the guy on it just gave us a few curses and we plowed through and went on to the ER: Listen to this freakin siren!

Here is yet another clip:

So we get to the hospital and park in the parking lot.. the people come running over with a "gurney":

Yes, it came just like that, no sheet, no nothing. At least they came over. The patient, well she just said screw it i'll take the wheelchair.  Take a look at this entrance:

It took three people to push her up the damn ramp! As if they designed it like that!  Now, I do have to stop here and say something really good here. We were in a hospital bed in less than 2 minutes. Straight through. I mean straight into the one room with three beds in it:

Really take some time here to notice the unbeleivableness of this. This hopsital has a 3 bed emergency room, and there is one 'zohl' cardiac monitor that is a zillion years old on the top shelf, an oxygen tank on the floor in the middle (the middle bed is for respiratory emergencies (!) and we took the one closest to the only bathroom (3), which has a sink that looks like this: Are those mentos in the drain? Good god. Also imagine the looks on their faces as I snapped about 50 photos of this surreal experience:

Check out the floor beside the bed:

That blue bucket there? Well that was our barf bucket, and guess where that came from??? The ashram we came from..that is my washroom garbage can!  We had to bring our own toilet paper and wet wipes...they dont give you any.  Not even one k basin..they thought I was an asshole for bringing in this woman with what they thought was simple gastro, but my spidey senses were right on this one. I can't tell you what it was, but we needed medical help. We were in the general surgeon's office in less than 20 minutes. The surgeon, who looked like he came right out of a bollywood movie took one look at me and her, told me they wanted to keep her for a few days to investigate and wrote a page of orders.  The man did not even touch her. He had no white coat, no stethoscope, nothing.   i asked how much that was, and you know what he told me? 250 rupees a day! Thats five dollars. Then, we had to take the orders to the window on the other side of the compound and wait until they dispensed the supplies: Thank god there were so many of us there!

You can't read it, but it says 750 rupees. Thats 15 dollars. For Metronidazole, Pantoloc, Gentamycin, ceftriaxone, three doses of Diclofenac (as if thats all they would give for pain) four 500cc IV bottles, IV tubing, diarrhea salts, probiotics, saline and syringes. They even charged us for the medical tape they used to secure the IV!

Then we take the paper bag full of supplies back to the nurse, who tries many many times to get in an IV and draw bloods with NO turniquet and she has crappy veins. I swear I would even have had trouble. I was pulling my hair out. I had to go call Thao and my mother to freak out that they were torturing this woman. They finally got in a 20 gauge in the top of her hand: The nurses told me to leave when I suggested I give it a try. I had to take a walk: I go out the parking lot and call my mother and Thao to vent:

next I go out to the main waiting room and find this list of Vaccination prices on the wall:

Yes, that's 70 rupees for Hep B. 50 rupees is 1 dollar. So, up till now, the ambulance has cost us 800 rupees which is 16 dollars, the registration deposit is 2000 rupees (40 bucks) and the supplies have cost us 15 dollars. Can you beleive it?   I walk out and check out the then I have to pee. Get a load of this:

So I go in this door because it's huge, I find urinals and nice american toilets inside. Once in there a man comes in and starts yelling at me in hindi to get out, I am not in the right place. There is a little tiny door about 2 feet to the right of this washroom, which i mistakenly thought was the handicapped washroom or something, it was about the size of a broom closet: it's the women's washroom! Check out the filth:

And get a freakin load of the toilet in the floor:

Anyone want to guess wether there was toilet paper or not?

Finally finally, we end up on the third floor in a private room. Check out the luxury:

Just as I suspected and have read about, it is expected that someone stays to take care of the patient overnight. There is even a second 'bed'in the room: a bench with a two inch cushion and you have to supply your own blankets! Can you believe it? I'm telling you, we have no idea how good we have it in Canada. After I made such an ass of myself in the ER, I just kept my trap shut the rest of the night. I got a ride home on the back of a motorcycle..that was exciting. What a major day.

You know what? The guys from the ashram stayed with us the whole time, and they brought us food to eat while we waited.  Even though this was the most unbelievable experience ever, they took care of us and talked us through every step.  There are some really great souls here in Rishikesh, and even though the health care is different, they still got us the ambulance and arranged help... and we all gave up our days to pull together for this poor sick soul.  I have a renewed faith in humanity.

I discovered something about myself while I sat there all stressed out because they couldnt get the line and bloodwork and she was in so much pain: it totally sucks being powerless on the other side of the bed.  I was the person who I hate to see: the anxiety filled freak who is dying to intervene.  I will take so much from this experience and I have learned that I need to observe much more closely how people are reacting to me when I am the nurse and how I perceive my patients and their family members when they are upset and concerned... My compassion is coming back in an avalanche of emotions...I feel like I'm kind of glad I'm skipping out on the hospital part...I'm not ready to come back to all that just yet.

I truly believe more and more that the stars are aligning...I am learning so much, realizing things I need to work on, attitudes I need to change.  Just another gratitude to send out to the cosmos in this powerful powerful journey.

xoxoxoxoxo