Back home.

From the hustle and bustle of the Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal...

Dr. Sandy ji & Dr. Matt ji ready to negotiate the throng of people at Tribhuvan!

To the "hustle and bustle" of the Valley International Airport, Harlingen, Texas...

Ahh...home sweet home!

It is always a good feeling to get back home after another busy, productive field trip, and especially after 4 to 5 flights and approx. 40 to 45 hours spent in airplanes and airports.

I guess the 'icing on the cake' was to find the only taxi at the Valley International Airport was already booked! Luckily, I knew the driver by first name (he has previously taken me to/from the airport on several occasions in the early/late hours of the morning/evening, respectively), so he came back to pick me up as quickly as possible.

Time to walk around a little and stretch the legs...

And enjoy the cool (for Valley standards) Autumn/Fall weather while waiting for my taxi to come back.

Day 16...sample shipment

Wednesday, November 30, 2016: So today marks the final stage of activities associated with data collection in the field for the Jiri Eye Study - packing the samples for shipment. To have everything packed on time we find ourselves having to be at the Tilganga Eye Hospital by 07:30 h - needless to say there were a few tired bodies after our 9.5 h road trip the day before and our 11 days of sampling. But the team pulls together to make sure the samples are safe and secure for their long trip ahead.

Coffee: a must need before anything else can happen...

Packing complete.

Loading the truck.

Samples are ready to go!

Back of the Tilganga Eye Hospital... oh, look, more motorcycles!

Time for one final food update and it's not what you may think.

Lunch: Nepalese Thukpa, derived from a Tibetan form of chicken soup -
highly recommended on a cool/cold day.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for following and stay tuned for more updates as we'll provide some insight into what happens to the samples once they reach their final destination in Brownsville, Texas.

On behalf of the Jiri Eye Study data collection, field research unit, thank you and talk to you soon, from Texas.

Day 15...back to Kathmandu

Tuesday, November 29, 2016: Today, we left Jiri, our home for these past two weeks, bound for the hustle and bustle that is Kathmandu. Like our outbound leg, our inbound leg saw us take the long(er) road back (see map in "Day 2..." post) and our journey lasting close to 9.5 h. Although, there was one (well, two actually) difference...our multi-person van was replaced by two Land Cruiser SUV's. Personally, I preferred this method of transportation and I also think this type of vehicle is more fitting for some of the road conditions that we encountered. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I think I'll let the the following images describe our trip from Jiri to Kathmandu.

Our new ride(s) parked in front off Hotel Zurich View, Jiri.

No brake fluid here, just water run off.

Our luggage!

One of those buffalo's I mentioned in an earlier post.

Field clinic is clean and packed up, we're now ready to go.

Traffic jam, 20 meters into our journey!!

We should be moving again soon.

Things to see on the trip back to Kathmandu...

Rhesus macaque.

A cow.

A trip of goats.

This may be a Barking Deer, although the habitat altitude may be too high.

Countryside.

Country life.

And some mountains.

A closer look at the peaks.

Getting closer to Kathmandu.

Have I commented on the motorcycles?

Outskirts of Kathmandu.

Our digs in Kathmandu, The Hotel Tibet (the next day).

Day 14...

Monday, November 27, 2016: Today marks our final day of sampling and the only element of the day's activities to report on is collecting the signed consent forms (to bring back to our Brownsville, Texas office location) and scanning the questionnaire and eye exam data (also to bring back to our Brownsville office).

Ready to scan the day's data.

So this marks the end of our "day in the life of" data collection activities for the Jiri Eye Study. We had yet another very successful field trip - recruiting another 257 individuals and passing our half way mark of our total recruitment goal of 2,000 individuals. To date, we have successfully recruited 1,048 individuals!!

We depart for Kathmandu tomorrow so stay tuned for an update on our return road trip. We will also report on packing and preparing the samples for shipment to Texas and what happens to the samples after they arrive at the laboratory.

In the meantime here are some random images...

Sanjita ji, one of our hard working recruiters, acting as a babysitter for one of the participants.

Bhim Bdr ji, our other hard working recruiter.

Dr. Suman ji, a hit with the local kids.

Gautam ji, our clinic supervisor, interpreter, and lunch chef!

Day 13...

Sunday, November 27, 2016: At the conclusion of each day, the blood samples that have been collected need to be processed so that they are ready for shipment to our laboratories in Brownsville, Texas. Basically, this entails transferring the blood from its collection vacutainer into a storage tube which can take anywhere between 1.5 to 2.5 hours depending on the number of samples collected on any given day.

Every element of our data collection is important, but probably one of the most important elements is tube labeling. While this may not seem a difficult task, if vacutainers and sample storage tubes are incorrectly labelled then all the ensuing work that is to be done in the laboratory will be moot.

Multitasking! Dr. Sandy ji & Dr. Sarah ji checking pedigree records and getting ready to label sample storage tubes.

During "lull" periods Dr. Sandy ji and Dr. Sarah ji never miss an opportunity to label sample storage tubes.

Before blood processing begins other preparation work needs to be completed.

Dr. Matt ji preparing a 10% bleach solution.

Dr. Matt ji 'suiting' up.

Ready to go to town!

Sorting the labeled storage tubes...

...making sure the numbers are in sequential order.

Removing the first batch of vacutainers from the fridge.

Ordering the vacutainers as per the storage tube order.

...and away we go!

Still going...

Phew! Batch 1, sample 1 is done!

First batch of vacutainers processed...

...and now safely stored in liquid nitrogen.

Fast forward approximately 90 minutes...

Second batch of vacutainers processed.

Cholesterol levels, measured in  the serum, are reported back to the participants.

Serum samples ready for liquid nitrogen storage.

Blood clots ready for liquid nitrogen storage.

By the time all the blood processing is completed, Dr. Matt ji's short walk back to Jiri's Hotel Zurich View generally looks something like this...