Friday, November 5, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Update- Great news
The student with Malaria is out of the ICU!
We are all so relieved! Thanks for your contribution.
We are all so relieved! Thanks for your contribution.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Stop for a Moment
Last night at our pre-port lecture for Vietnam, we got a medical update on one of our students from the shipboard community. In India, this student entered the ICU with advanced stages of the severe strain of malaria. It had already affected her brain and her organs were shutting down. With excellent care in India and the grace of the gods, she recovered from dialysis and her kidneys started performing again. We were hoping that she would be able to meet us in Vietnam after recovering.
She got the malaria in either Ghana or South Africa. Everyone asks how she got it. There are two things that may have contributed. She didn't complete the course of her prophelactic malaria pills taken in Ghana. (It is supposed to be taken for 28 days after leaving the country.) Also, she was in a high risk area of South Africa and did not take the malaria pills there. This is the first Semester at Sea student who has ever gotten malaria on a trip (I think). Many students and staff elected not to take the malaria pills at all.
Last night we learned that her lungs are now needing help and that she is on a ventilater at times. She is not out of the woods yet. Archbishop Tutu led us in a unified sending of good thoughts from the MV Explorer. I thought that maybe you all reading this could help add to the energy that is being sent to the Chennai ICU.
She got the malaria in either Ghana or South Africa. Everyone asks how she got it. There are two things that may have contributed. She didn't complete the course of her prophelactic malaria pills taken in Ghana. (It is supposed to be taken for 28 days after leaving the country.) Also, she was in a high risk area of South Africa and did not take the malaria pills there. This is the first Semester at Sea student who has ever gotten malaria on a trip (I think). Many students and staff elected not to take the malaria pills at all.
Last night we learned that her lungs are now needing help and that she is on a ventilater at times. She is not out of the woods yet. Archbishop Tutu led us in a unified sending of good thoughts from the MV Explorer. I thought that maybe you all reading this could help add to the energy that is being sent to the Chennai ICU.
Monday, November 1, 2010
India 2
Traffic in Chennai was crazy and creative. Those lane markers are truly just a general guideline.
We had an adventurous auto-rickshaw drive out of the port that ended in a potentially life-saving evacuation of the vehicle. We then found a more reasonable person to drive us to Mamallapuram, (formally known as Mahabalipuram). There we found a peaceful town with stone carvings and a rural village that we could explore by bicycle.
We had an adventurous auto-rickshaw drive out of the port that ended in a potentially life-saving evacuation of the vehicle. We then found a more reasonable person to drive us to Mamallapuram, (formally known as Mahabalipuram). There we found a peaceful town with stone carvings and a rural village that we could explore by bicycle.
India-1
India – 1
The ship docked in Chennai. I was here 29 years ago when the city was named Madras. It is so fascinating to be back! The tourism bureau has coined the phrase, “Incredible India!” The experience of India is so difficult to articulate that we just keep quoting that phrase to explain that we can’t explain.
India is a still a place that makes you come face to face with humanity. It’s like coming home to the human race.
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