My first week here I unfortunately got an infection that lead me to a few nights stay at Grande, an international hospital close to  Dhapasi. My first experiences at the hospital were unimaginably overwhelming. The emergency rooms (2 of them) had beds lined up next to each other with no separation. The staff included many male doctors and female nurses that were extremely friendly and helpful. Something I noticed right off the bat was how little privacy mattered. I would be in a room full of other patients and my symptoms and results were expressed outloud for everyone to hear. Personal questions asked by many different people and there was a bit of a language barrier. Being a foreigner in the hospital felt like I was in the spotlight in the most uncomfortable way. Having everyone staring at me and asking my nurses what was wrong with me was something I had to learn how to be ok with.

The staff were constantly working. Getting admitted and discharged took hours alone. Everything is so quick back in the states. To get discharged from the hospital took mounts of paper work that then had to be scanned into a computer. Then we waited for the bill and had to run upstairs to pay, then back down for documentation. Getting admitted into the hospital was scary and overwhelming. All of the single rooms were taken so I shared a small, warm room with 3 other patients, who were all elderly men.  The only thing separating us wear these small thin yellow curtains, they were constantly getting moved. I was so dependent on these curtains , they were the only thing that allowed me to feel remotely comfortable. Everyone’s family members all stayed in this room with us. I stayed 2 nights in this room hooked to an IV. Oh how time completely stopped on the 6th floor. There was one bathroom that all four of us shared, and I was the only one that used toilet paper. My IV was through my hand and I was on various types of medication, some I didn’t even know the reason why they were giving it to me. Getting information was something I found the most difficult. Only the main doctor could tell me my test results and answer any discharge questions. He only came around for about 10 minutes a day. All the nurses were extremely young but had the biggest hearts. I made some really amazing connections with these hard working women despite the language barrier.

I had a button to ring a nurse anytime I needed anything like ordering food, having the IV taken out so I could go to the bathroom or if I had any questions (although they went unanswered most of the time). In America, if I ring for a nurse, one comes flying in. In Nepal, I ring for a nurse and one might come eventually. They were all so busy taking care of so many different patients. I had a nice conversation with one that had a dream of moving to California for school. She was so fascinated by my tattoos and kept calling me beautiful even when I was so sweaty and claustrophobic. Looking back on the days I spent there makes me happy to be out. This small, overcrowded, muggy room was all that I saw for days and it had felt as if I had all my cards out on a table for a bunch of stangers to see. It was very hard for me to have any control over my situation or even have any clue of what was going on. The nights were the hardest part for me, the fluorescent lights kept me up among constant vital checking and pain killer injections. Each of my roommates had a different diagnosis with different procedures to take during the night. Overall, this experience taught me how to be patient, when to speak up and how to deal with not having any privacy whatsoever. Stay healthy folks.