Day 4!

Hey All,

Day 4 in Xining. Having a really interesting time. The people on my trip are really nice and chill. Altogether, we are nine students; three canadians in all! No one has any previous experience in Tibetan medicine so we are all on the same page. I feel great about the group and am looking forward to getting to know everyone.

There is so much to write already about my short time here. As some of you read from my previous emails, I am still getting over an acute case of culture shock. I dont really think I allowed myself to think about this possibility before I left, which is definitely for the better. No one can escape the surprise you get when entering such a foreign place! But overall the shock is turning into intense curiosity, and I am switching over from 'survival mode' to 'eager tourist' mentality.

Some of my recent thoughts/observations so far:
-Why put diapers on your children when you can just cut a slit in the crack of their little pants and let them go anywhere? You can even cut a slit in the front and let it hang out as they walk. Seriously brilliant (actual pictures to come I promise)!
-Who needs toilet paper?
-We think Montreal drivers are crazy...uh huh. There are no lines on most of the streets here and it seems like the point of crosswalks is to drive as close as possible to a fearful pedestrian (dont forget to honk!).

----

On a more serious note, today marked the second day of our time at Qinghai Tibetan Medical Hospital. This place blows your mind. On the one hand, you can recognize some aspects of Western medicine. Doctors wear white coats, patients' vital signs are charted, there are specific departments for each specialty, there are elevators.... But the similarities sort of end there. We are obviously still learning the theories behind TM, but the tools Tibetan doctors use to diagnose and treat disease are totally incredible/shocking/amazing! From bloodletting, to moxibustion (burning herbs in specific locations on the body), urine analysis (not the Western kind), pulse diagnosis and tongue analysis (to name only a few), the world of Tibetan medicine is a fascinating and always daunting experience for someone trained in the technology-dependant Western world.

Tibetan doctors believe there are three poisons: hatred, ignorance and desire. These poisons cause disease, by causing imbalances in the three humors.

The three humors are (in Tibetan):
-rLung: known as wind but implies movement, circulation...etc. This is a neutral temperature.
-Tripa: known as bile but refers to hot processes in the body, such as digestion. Also liver, gallbladder. This is hot.
-Bekan: known as phlegm. This is cold.
It is a constant challenge for us to understand the essence of what the humors (and all of Tibetan medicine for that matter!) are supposed to represent. They can refer to specific organs (each organ seems to be a specific mixture of the three), bodily processes...etc. Part of the problem is that this is a very complicated subject, and also that the translations are not always appropriate or possible. Combine this with the language barriers we are facing with our instructors, and I fear a lot can be misunderstood! But it is always a fun challenge.

Today we learned a bit more about urine diagnosis. There are many properties to analyze about one's urine, but one of them is sediment. For example, the location of the sediment in the urine can tell you where in the body a patient is experiencing a 'fever' (I think this refers to the source of the fever). Sediment in the top layer implies a heart or lung source, the middle layer implies visceral organs, and the lower layer may indicate kidney or lower extremity origins. There are many other things you can do to urine and apparently this is on the agenda for tomorrow! Woohoo. [the doctors are not fazed by urine, obviously. The doctor we had today was very eager to show us a patient's urine sediment and you could definitely tell we weren't used to getting this close to someone else's excretions! He would hold it up, and move the cup quickly from side to side as he talked, stirring it around as well. Each of use would take turns reflexively stepping backwards, away from any possible spillage...Even the patient didnt mind at all having us crowd around her pee, poking and prodding away]

We also had a session on moxibustion today. In a nutshell (which is pretty much all I know anyway), many diseases in Tibetan medicine (TM) can be classified as 'hot' or 'cold' in origin. So, if a patient is suffering from an excess of cold, it might be helpful to give them 'hot.' This can take the form of moxibustion. Special herbs are prepared by the doctor and burned over specific areas of the body. These sites are either located exactly where the patient is experiencing pain, or may be located in specific areas that are known to provide relief from certain ailments. It is then important for the patient to avoid any fluids for at least an hour after the treatment lest they extinguish the 'hot' that they obtained from the therapy.

Sorry if this posting is all over the place, I just have a lot on my mind!
You should all be able to post comments, but if you cant and still want to reach me, send me an email! Love hearing from all of you.