Where is my phone and my hat?

     The days I worked at Trivandrum Cancer Center flashed by. Before I knew it it was the last day and I was so sad. I brought some American chocolates and perfumes for the people I worked with and took pics with them. The pharmacist said that he just wanted me to teach him how to tie a tie, so I brought one of mine and showed him.

    The last day all the social workers demanded that I showed them all the tricks I learned to entertain the kids while I was there otherwise they would be so bored. So I showed them all how to make all kinds of things like dogs,chickens, crow, flapping bird, frog etc. and a couple of magic tricks, not that they were any good :) Then I did my last work routine around the hospital. Some of the kids had received there chemo and left by this point, but there was still about 4 that I saw from the first day. Najila, the girl who I gave a snowflake was very sad that I was leaving and said I had to play the harmonica for her. I did, then when I was about to leave, I realized that my phone, my hat, my harmonica case, and papers were all missing. One of the moms said the kids somehow found my stuff and stashed it around so that I couldn't leave :'( I played along and searched for all my things with the kids giggling and when I finally got the last thing, 3 kids latched onto my legs and literally were hanging on my pants, crying lol. I picked each of them up one by one and promised them that I would see them again and to keep smiling and loving their parents. I smiled and waved at each of them and the rest of the pediatric ward knowing it was very unlikely to actually see those kids again. The main doctor said that she would extend my plane ticket if I stayed. Her name was Dr. Kusamum, which meant flower. I made a giant flower and we all signed it to put in her office.

     Thinking back over this experience, I do not think it was the origami, harmonica, or magic tricks that these kids and their families loved so much. It was the fact that someone was there-- other than nurses and doctors. Someone that did not represent their time at the hospital, someone with who they felt normal. I hope this blog and many of the experiences I have shared lead more volunteers to go where they feel needs help. I cannot explain how much it opens your eyes. I am trying to set up a couple things up to ease the chemotherapy process in RCC Trivandrum and will update on how it goes. 

Chetta

     The first couple of days that I went to the hospital the kids were usually slightly shy or would look towards their mom. By the end of the week, as soon as I walked into the pediatric ward there would be atleast 20 little heads that pop up from their beds and beckon me to come over. Many of them called me Chetta, which means brother.

      I wanted to switch up the activities with the kids so I went out to a local store and bought a Harmonica and deck of cards. I learned a bunch of simple songs like "Jingle Bells, Amazing Grace, Jazz Riffs, Payphone, and Stay With Me." Luckily I had visited one of my cousins and he gave me an awesome grey fedora, which was perfect for the magic tricks and harmonica songs I would play. The nurses wipe the floors three times: morning,afternoon, and night. I went to the ward in the morning while the floor was still wet and slid around playing the harmonica to kids at each bed. They really got a kick out of that. The only song they recognized was Jingle Bells, so that was inevitably a favorite hahah. One boy name Epson would make me teach him magic tricks while his mom was sleeping after lunch so that when she woke up, he could wow her. While vising beds the moms would ask about my life in America and I would show them my Facebook or Instagram. They would point at the phone and comment and smile to all the photos on there. I made friends with all the staff, patients, and doctors. The doctors and nurses would satisfy my medical interests by explaining the drugs and what each case scenario was. Majority of the cases was blood cancer, which unfortunately had very low survival rates. One pharmacist even took me "behind the scenes" and showed me how to dilute and distribute chemo drugs! I took a selfie bc it was awesome. I had a steady routine in the hospital there now.

OutPatient

      Since chemotherapy is a long process I would see a lot of reappearing faces holding a craft that I had given them. Until this time, I had worked in the testing room and IP ( in-patient rooms) seeing about 80 total people a day. Some kids stayed outside the hospital and come back for testing every once and a while, call OP (outpatients). These people wait just outside the pediatric ward, and there are many of them ~100.

      I learned many types of origami to keep the kids minds off their situation as long as possible. The OP was probably the most hectic time of the day for me.  My supervisor said if I could handle all the attention, then I could go there every morning. There was no lack of attention for sure lol. 1) I looked different than everyone else 2) I dressed different 3) People are curious why I have all these craft stuff. The staff set up a table for me and I brought out all these papers crayons and stuff. I beckoned for a couple kids to come over and I started. When I looked up again there were so many smiling faces around my table I could not see the walls. I felt like I had to say something since there were so many people hahah so I spoke my heavily accented Malayalam, explaining why I was there. That brought even more smiling faces bc people were like "He has accent, heheh, keep speaking please, we like it." It was a perfect Panorama moment on my Iphone but there were kids all over me and my phone was deep in my pocket so I got one of my supervisor people to take a photo. Then I took a Panorama after an hour when the crowd died down and there were just kids left. I made flapping birds, pronounced whatever words they wanted me to say, and made huge flowers. They were very happy and so was I. I changed my schedule to go to testing room first thing in morning, then OP, then IP. This meant I was seeing like 130+ people a day, which was awesome!

     One of the most memorable encounters had to be a small boy and his mother. When I arrived to their bed, the mom was very stoic. I tried all kinds of things and they both were still stone-face, understandably. This little boy had been hooked up to every possible medical machine and had nurses always coming to him. I talked with them and asked how everything was. I finished my origami jumping frog and told the boy to put out his hands. I placed the frog in his hands then tapped the back of the frog. It jumped and soared straight onto his nose. The boy cracked a small smile and when I did it again he burst into laughter. It was the most satisfying thing. I looked up to catch the mom moving away quickly to the side of the bed and sob. I felt like it was inappropriate for me to stay any longer so I left. Another mom came up to me and said that the woman was sobbing bc that was the first time her boy had smiled in weeks, literally.
   

   

Origami Crazy

        That night I surfed the super-slow internet thoroughly for how to engage kids in activities. I stumbled upon origami videos and realized this was an easy,cheap way to shift the patients minds from chemo to crafts.
        The next morning, I walked into the hospital equipped with my new-found origami knowledge of making jumping frogs and little bunnies. Every morning parents would bring their children to a room around 15 by 18 ft, but not an inch of that space was seen due to the rush of morning tests. Children would be brought here to receive blood pressure and blood count tests. The little kids would start screaming and crying as soon as they laid eyes on the nurses with needles. I had a small plastic chair near the middle of this room and decided to start making frogs and bunnies out of paper in efforts to distract some of the kids. I would fold the square papers as quick as I could, draw eyes and noses, then turn and give the craft to whoever was near by. At first, the screams were replaced by momentary coos and awes from the young kids seeing the simple jumping frog. However, at this point I had only made about 3 frogs and then there was even more commotion than before! Kids started screaming so loud in Malayalam, "Enikka thavala vanum!"--translation "I want frog!." The nurses looked up surprised that the kids were screaming louder and laughed at my situation. I usually take a moment to appreciate the irony of situations but the clamor forced me to start making frogs at a furious pace in order to stop the second set of screams lol. In the small crammed room, there was now children on my lap, on the table, mothers making sure their kid got one so I just folded fast. Basically just, Smile, Fold,Draw,Give, in like 30 secs, rinse,repeat. In the speed I accidentally folded the wrong way and made a car which made some little boys happy hahah. As the crowd died down, I glanced over to my paper stack and realized it was finished--i went through like 75 papers, not even realizing the time go by. I left the small room to go check up on other patients and I was surprised to see parents and little kids waving the little crafts at me to say thanks. To see that many people smile for such a simple gift warmed by heart.

I got too caught up in the commotion and did not take pics that day, sorry lol.