Testing My Limits

I have always said that I have a phobia of worms, but its not really true. Its not a fear as much as it is a nauseating disgust, and it could never be diagnosed as a phobia because it is in no way debilitating enough to impede daily living. When it comes down to it, its not even about worms as much as it is slimy, wiggling creatures. Honestly, writing this is making me want to vom. This general disgust for slimy beings has sometimes been a dramatic one, and those who saw me nearly cry at a BBYO convention because of the worm-infested sidewalks have my sincerest apologies. Because that squeamish girls would be unrecognizable to the tough young woman rocking India right now. To prove it, two fun anecdotes:

This week, I noticed a lizard in my room on the floor by my bed. I chose to ignore it and hope it would make its way out eventually if I prompted my door open for long periods (a tactic that had proven successful in the past).  But soon, more than a day had passed and the lizard had not moved. I made the natural conclusion that it was no longer living and brought it up to the family durning our post-dinner yoga time in the living room. Somehow, everyone just laughed it off and slyly avoided my subtle appeal for help. The PhD student living here agreed to take a look, but confirmed it to be dead and then exited the situation. So, I was on my own with this one, and I was not going to sleep another night without this dead thing out of my bedroom. 

Suzanne, suddenly amazingly courageous, offered to take care of it for me... only to shriek as soon as she turned the lights on in my room before she even saw that little thing-- FAIL. So, it became a group effort. Kyla had a plastic folder and Suzanne had a magazine (while still screaming and occasionally breaking to roll around on my bed freaking out). Together, the two scooped the limp reptile off the floor. I stood about 5 feet away directing the operation and providing positive encouragement. We later joked that in the sport of dead-lizard-removing, Kyla is a varsity athlete, Suzanne is JV, and I am the coach/ cheerleader/ water boy/ soccer mom. 

At first, this story makes me sounds really lame. But I am actually so proud of how I calmly coexisted with this carcass for 30+ hours. I then stood very close to the thing in order to asses its condition. And, while I may have made some very squeamish faces throughout the removal process, I remained relatively unflustered. Deciding that it was the least I could do, I sanitized the folder and floor area, which required overcoming some irrational concerns of nastiness-contamination. VICTORY! I was the only one of the three of us that remained level-headed enough to veto the idea of throwing the lizard off the balcony, so the little guy was peacefully laid to rest in a bush outside the house.

You are probably all overflowing with pride right now, but there's more! Anecdote two: 

On Tuesday, my Ayurveda class went on a field trip to a public Ayurvedic hospital. I went into this semester hoping to have some really unique experiences, and this is absolutely one of them. You can not see operations like I saw anywhere else in the world, and I will probably never have another opportunity to get the insider's look that my teacher provided. With that in mind, I was excited to have a day off of classes and on to adventure! 

First stop was the gynecological wing, where we learned about Ayurvedic recommendations for a health pregnancy. Easy. Next stop, the opthamologist-- needless to say, very different from the Atlanta office where I spent entirely too much time in April after my water polo blow to the eye. We watched a man get oil nasal drops and another have an oil eye soak treatment. Cool. Then, we were suddenly in this strange smelling room where an old woman was sitting with her head back and mouth open. The doctor used a giant tank-hose mechanism to blow medicinal steam and smoke in and around this lady's face to treat a speech impediment. Interesting. We also hit up the pharmacy, where a doctor explained how different herbs are used and let us taste different medicines. "This is long pepper. It is spicy and used to treat congestion.. Anyone have a cold? Anyone want a taste? Try it!" We all joked about walking into a US hospital and having a doctor say, "This one is good if you have back pain, anyone want to try some morphine?"

The most memorable stop of the day, hands down, was the "Operation Theater". UNREAL. First of all, we had to take our shoes off before we entered the wing. Secondly, the operation at hand was a rectal fistula. What. We talked to a surgeon and then the group split in half- those willing to go into the operation room and those choosing to wait outside. My teacher tried to say something compelling about observing in the name of science, but I didn't need convincing.. I was in! Two months ago, this would have been a difficult decision, but it was a completely obvious one considering my current gung-ho mentality. So, I will spare you the details, but I stood one yard away from one operation where a doctor removed a corn from a girl's thumb and applied medicinal alkali or something to the open wound. Then, I stood about 5 yards away from the fistula procedure, hands covering my gasping mouth by eyes open wide. 

Just, honestly, who am I?