LUNCH WITH DR. HARISH

The next morning I left from Ruben's home early to get back to the hotel. Dr. Harish was planning on being in Kathmandu for the day and wanted to get together to discuss the mobile surgical unit. After a nice long cold shower, and a change of clothes. I ventured out to buy a few things to take home with me, and to meet for tea with a guy from the UN who I had talked with a few days earlier. When he found out that I worked in the medical profession, he said he wanted to talk with me about a few job opportunities that the UN had in Nepal.

After a quick informative meeting with him, I was off to meet with Dr. Harish, the Tophams and Ramesh for lunch. We were meeting at an Australian restaurant called the Red Dingo. It was a great place with amazing food. It is now on my list of favorite places to eat in Nepal.

It was during lunch that Dr. Harish informed us that there are 600,000 women walking around Nepal with prolapsed uteri(plural for uterus...looked weird to me too). Sometimes-because of childbirth or difficult labor and delivery-these muscles weaken. As a woman ages and with a natural loss of the hormone estrogen, the uterus can collapse into the vaginal canal, causing this condition. He told us that often times the women will just wrap the exposed part of the uterus with a certain type of leaf to keep it moist. Most Nepali women don't know that there is a surgical solution for the condition. We went on to discuss the other surgeries that could be performed in the mobile unit including gall bladder surgery, hernia repair, skin cancers etc.

I was totally convinced about the need for this mobile unit before the lunch conversation, now I am committed to try and figure out a way of getting him the money needed to make this a reality. If anyone has any ideas on where and how to come up with that kind of money....let me know.