Hope and Laughter

Sorry for my absence, but Sutter St. was internet-less for the past few days.

I have really enjoyed these past couple days of work though! I am getting used to Kalighat - getting to know the massies (Indian women who work at Kalighat), other volunteers, and the patients.

Friday and Saturday are relatively uneventful (although everyday is eventful!), but today was awesome! The pretty girl who I wrote about before started laughing today!! A lot!!  Another volunteer Shannon and I were feeding her and she just could not stop laughing! It brought tears to my eyes to see her so happy with laughter. I tried my hardest for her not to see my cry because I wanted that laughter to last as long as it could. She doesn't speak, so I think she was laughing because food kept falling out of her mouth when we were feeding her and she would try to reach it with her tongue which was never long enough. This girl really just wants someone to hold her hand, stroke her head, and just be with her. She is so young and wants to feel loved and comforted.

Which segues perfectly into our Sunday talk from an MC today. The topic was Hope. Sister gave a great talk about our ability to bring hope to the hopeless. How those with hope have so much more to live for and end up doing so much better in the long run and almost always recover faster than those without hope. She brought up a lot of wonderful points that served as a great reminder to me for my future as a doctor. If I make the patient feel loved and cared for, I can be a channel for God's Hope. A smile and undivided attention to that one person can make a huge difference. She also mentioned the MC emphasis on the one person, rather than numbers.

This talk was a perfect reflection after seeing that girl laugh today. Her laugh just emitted so much hope that I hadn't seen in her this past week. She is so beautiful when she laughs!