Deepali Gupta

Before surgery, Deepali attempted to remain happy,
but we all could tell she was in a lot of pain. 

Deepali Gupta, a beautiful 6 year old girl with her wispy hair cropped short, needed to go to the doctor today. Actually, Warden Vijay took her to the doctor yesterday, but today she felt even worse so we determined she should visit another doctor today for a second opinion. Deeplai has an infection in her right hand. After incessantly playing on her favorite playground toy, the monkey bars, Deepali found herself with many big blisters on her palms. He right palm was especially sore, so Deepali popped her blisters with a safety pin! Just a few days later, her hand began to balloon.

The doctor we took Deepali to this morning works in a small clinic which treats the children of Nav Jeevan's hostel for no cost. We did not have to wait long, and after his inspection, the doctor prescribed an oral antibiotic and some NSAIDs for Deepali. He planned to have us bring her back in the evening for a small surgery where he would sedate Deepali and drain her infection from her hand. However, by mid day, it was decided by the school administration that we would take Deepali to a hospital for the procedure rather than the doctor's office. Dr. Raju Wilkinson, the son of Iris Wilkinson, who founded the school, was able to perform the necessary procedure around 4pm, also for no charge.

After school, with Deepali in her favorite red and white ruffled dress, I climbed into the school's car with her, Kiran, Roger, and Anita. On the way to central Nagpur to the hospital, Anita spoke to Deepali about her life, her time at the school and how she hurt her hand. She learned that Deepali has one brother, Deepanshu, who is also attending school and living in the hostel. They are from Uttar Pradesh, a state in Northern India, where they lived with two uncles and a grandmother. Their parents, Deepali said, are not really present (if alive?) and she and Deepanshu often stayed home for days and nights at a time, alone with no one to feed them, before coming to the hostel. For me, hearing Deepali tell Anita this, though it was in Hindi, was quite emotional! She said it with such matter of fact tone that you would have thought she was reciting her numbers or the alphabet. But, underneath, the pain that crossed her face gave away her true feelings under her stoicism.

Before we arrived at the hospital, Anita was determined to stop at a clothing and shoe store for Deepali. When helping her get ready to leave for the surgery, I discovered that Deepali did not have many clothing options. Indeed, she was quite happy with her ruffled dress, her two pairs of underwear, school uniform, and school shoes. But, we stopped to update her wardrobe with a pair of sandals for playing, two pairs of white socks, a pair of jeans, and a tshirt so that she could properly wash her clothes between wears. Even with these additions, Deepali does not have clothing options for sleeping and she is almost out of toothpaste. If it were not for Nav Jeevan's gracious help, Deepali would truly have nothing like countless other children in India and throughout the world.

Despite staying with us Sisters, Deepali's friends
Joy and Monica still found her!

At 4pm when we arrived at Janta Hospital where Dr. Raju practices, Deepali's fever had spiked and she was in quite a bit of pain. She also understood that something was about to happen that she would not like. Being with a young child and a medically inclined student, Dr. Raju allowed me to watch the procedure. However, this meant that I helped hold Deepali down while she was given an IV in her wrist to receive her general anesthetic. She cried out sharply, tears barreling down her cheeks, for her mother and looked at me so sadly. Soon though, her hand was bandaged from the procedure and she was waking up. After about half an hour of recovery, I carried Deepali to the car and we returned to Mrs. Wilkinson's house, nearby the hospital, to make sure she was ok before driving to the school. Asleep in my arms on the way back, Deepali looked peaceful and her hand was already beginning to look less inflamed. At the school, Katie and I decided to have her sleep on a mattress on the floor in our room for the night so she could finish coming out of her anesthesia and we could feed her dinner, give her a proper bath while not getting her bandaging wet, and give her medicine before she slept for the night. Also, this would prevent all the curious little hands in the hostel from touching her! When giving her a bath, Deepali said, "Sister (that's what the children call me and Katie) is mira (Hindi for my) mama."

Now that Deepali is on the road to recovery, it is important to reflect on the care she received here at Nav Jeevan and by her health care providers. Being a small child, it is easy to see that the infection probably was not too preventable. But, Katie and I, along with the Wardens, will work on proper training for caring for blisters. Watching Deepali's many trips to the doctor/hospital has certainly already proved educational for the others, as they understand that what she caused herself was a nice slice by a knife! Also, it is important to realize that she is lucky she had any access to medical care at all. Anita said it best of all, I think, when she told me the fact that an impoverished family brought two young children from  hundreds of kilometers away, spending a significant amount of their time and income, means that this is the first facility where their children would receive proper care and love. I am grateful to be a part of this mission.