#ThrowBackThursday - India 2019

Those of you on Twitter might have noticed that I’ve been - ahem - actively campaigning to take Grace and Sam on a little jaunt to India.  I’m not sure I’m getting very far, as his Highness is still making regular references to Florida and the Maldives, but I really think that with Grace’s new found interest in medicine, a trip to India would be a worthwhile experience for us all.

My last trip out was in 2019, and the medical aspect then was completely unplanned.  I’d been receiving medical treatment, and although discharged by my clinic, still didn’t feel quite ready to return to the ED (the background to this is long and detailed, but if you need to know, you know).  So, quite on a whim, I booked myself on a yoga retreat in Kerala in South India.  Well, the Malabar coast was beautiful, and the scenery was to die for, however it took me all of two and a half days of yoga to discover that I am not the sedentary type.  I was bored out of my mind, and no attempts to find my inner zen seemed to work.  So, I ditched the yoga and started to explore the local area instead.

And that was when I stumbled across the Good Karma Hospital.  Now, I was already familiar with the hospital on two counts.  Firstly, I had got rather hooked on the docudrama that ITV produced about the hospital and local community the year previously, and secondly, it was founded and is run by one of my early supervisors in Med School, the indomitable Lydia Fonseca.  However I was pretty surprised to discover it was on my doorstep.

That said, even once I realised it was in the vicinity, I had no interest in doing anything medical, my confidence just wasn’t there.  I didn’t even let Lydia know I was nearby, not wanting to have to get into the realms of explaining what I was doing there in the first place.  But then, one night our paths crossed at the local bar, and before I knew it I was being strong armed into volunteering in the clinic, triaging emergency patients. 

And if I’m honest, it was what I needed.  Thankfully they didn’t have the TV team in at the time, so it meant I could rebuild my confidence in my skills away from the scrutiny of my own team, albeit in a new setting with new challenges.  I worked slowly and steadily and by the end of the month I was out of triage and in theatre, which gave me a massive boost, and definitely got me back into the right headspace for returning to Holby. 

Lydia was exceptionally supportive, full of praise and encouragement to push me to the next stage, whilst having the decency never to question what I was doing there, and she was always there at the end of a shift to debrief at the bar over rum based cocktail.  

I feel very lucky to have had my time out there, and would really like to have the opportunity to return and give something back, whilst also sharing the experience with my daughter and her father.  

And if bikini pics are what it takes to convince the latter, I think it’s worth it.