Post #1

I’m in Taksindu, Nepal, as a participant in a three-day medical clinic at the local monastery. The clinic, a repeat of one done a year ago, is the brainchild of my friend Karma Sherpa and Gary Botstein of Atlanta, Georgia. Karma had led Gary on a trek in 1999 and following the Spring, 2015 earthquakes, Karma got in touch with Gary to see if he could organize a medical clinic for the following fall. Together, the two men made it happen.

Like last year, this clinic combines US doctors and nurses with their counterparts from Nepal. Some medicines, supplies, and equipment were brought from the States, but the bulk were procured in Kathmandu and portered up to the monastery. Unlike last year, a US dentist and two hygienists (one from the States and one from Nepal), have joined the group. Lay people like me have been a part of both clinics. We perform such functions as working with nurses as pharmacy assistants and as guides shepherding patients from admittance to doctors, to the dentist, to the pharmacy.

My job is to remove earwax from patients’ ear canals.

I wear hearing aids which, as foreign objects in my ear canals, produce earwax which has to be removed periodically. As a result of that I’ve come to appreciate the benefit of those removals. They dramatically improve the quality of hearing. Before I left home I had a half day training in earwax removal from my audiologist and another audiologist friend of hers. Additionally, I watched countless YouTube videos of the procedure.

Using the curette to remove earwax

By the end of the clinic on the third day and I’d performed 20-25 procedures. (And no, I did not puncture any eardrums). Working on adults is relatively easy, but kids are different. I primarily perform a mechanical removal, which means I use a wire loop curette as the removal tool. From my own experience I know the procedure can produce some mild discomfort. Adults tolerated the procedure with relative ease, but the kids teared up in very short order. Their crying was almost more than I could stand.

Even this adult monk didn't like the irrigation method

When needed, I switched to the water irrigation method and achieved some success, but after several attempts the kids’ ears were still impacted from the accumulation of so much wax. When I’ve had that procedure done on me, I’ve felt the pressure from the water being squirted from the syringe into my ear, but no pain whatsoever. After a squirt or two, kids’ eyes shut tight and tears began flowing down cheeks. I really wanted to help them to be able to hear better, but I chose not to go on. I did what I could do, but I felt remorse over this white man from America causing pain to these precious little ones.

There is a “medic” who has some medical training who lives in Taksindu and was member of our team. He provides some basic medical care to the villagers in many villages in the area. His name is Buddha, he speaks English, and helped me out with translation for some of my patients. At his request I taught him what I know about earwax removal and he in turn did some procedures himself. I told him about the YouTube videos, which he intends to watch. He already had all the necessary removal tools in his bag, so going forward he will be able to add the removal skill and service to his repertoire.