Thursday, October 4, 2018
Bombay
Russel Gets a Home Visit and Afternoon Tea With School Friends at Bandra Gymkhana
Namaste from Bombay!
Today was a bit more unusual than normal. I awoke, as usual, at the crack of dawn and began blogging and dealing with email. I have not had a chance to read for a while as I somehow seem busier than usual. Or it might be that I am now reading The Times of London on my iPad each morning--which leaves less time to read novels.
I did not go to Jogger's Park today as I needed to contact Russel's physiotherapist, first thing. I waited till 9.00 am to call Lenita and found her already on the train headed to his place. I told her that I was troubled by the swelling that I had found on his knee and wanted to call the doctor before she did physiotherapy today.
Five minutes later, I had the intern, Dr. Vijay Patel, on the phone. When I explained that I had noticed the swelling in Russel's knee and was afraid that an infection might be brewing, he told me he would make a house visit as soon as he finished his hospital rounds. I thanked him immensely.
For the next half hour, I was on WhatsApp (texts and audio) with my college classmate Anita who is an Occupational Therapist in Cleveland, Ohio. She educated me on what the danger signs were, suggested that a physician see Russel immediately and what I could do, in the meanwhile, to give him relief, should he be in pain. Speaking to her was comforting on the one hand but frustrating on the other, because, of course, I could not get any of the devices or the relief items she suggested here (fancy knee braces, elasticized bandages, etc) for which she kept sending me links. Also, as we all know, US health care is designed to be instantly gratifying. You feel a slight bump on the head, you get an MRI! Here, things move differently (as I am quickly discovering). I am still aghast that our orthopedist left for 20 days without even informing us that he was going away (we heard this from one of his interns) and without providing us with a substitute orthopedist who would take over his cases. Anita was equally aghast in Cleveland. In a post-op situation, many complications can occur, she said. Although she did not wish to alarm me, that was what she succeeded in doing!
Anyway, for the next hour, I could barely concentrate on anything as I got really worried about Russel and wondered if the dressing I had done for him, the previous day, had anything to do with the swelling and had caused an infection. He had no fever--which was a good sign. But his knee was red and that worried me.
I ate my breakfast (muesli and coffee) and thought I would take a shower. I was just about finishing when the phone rang. Of course, it had to be the doctor! I took the call and found out, to my amazement, that he was heading in a rickshaw to Russel's place. I called Dad immediately, then raced through my own dressing and left my place to rush off to Dad's.
Dr. Vijay Patel and I reached my Dad's building at the same time. The security guard at the gate was just signing him in when I arrived. He greeted Dad and and then went inside to the bedroom to have a look at Russel's knee. There was a swelling, he agreed, but he said he was not sure whether this was the residual fluid that had been left behind in the knee after attempts had been made to drain it out during surgery or if it was new fluid that was forming. At any rate, he said that he could not do anything about draining it again until the doctor arrived. However, he did assure me that there was no infection under the skin--a huge relief! He also said that the dressing I had done was fine and was not responsible for the swelling. What he did say was that a new surface skin infection had erupted--something that Anita had warned me about and said was commonplace after such surgery. Poor Russel! He now has a skin infection to deal with. This is also causing him an unpleasant itching sensation. I felt so sorry for him.
The doctor gave me a prescription to take care of the eruption. It was called Glycerine MagnesiumSulphate. He told me it was a milky solution. He said gauze needed to be soaked in it and then applied to the eruptions. This course of treatment was suggested for five days. Because Russel complained of an itch, the doctor said that an antiseptic powder should be applied on his leg before the knee brace is put on. More complications!
After the doctor left, I raced off to the pharmacist nearby to buy the item. However, since the pharmacist did not have a readymade solution, he gave me glycerine separately in a bottle and two small packets of magnesium sulphate (Epsom Salts) which he told me to mix together to dissolve the crystals and then apply to the rash.
I returned to Dad's place, did as I had been instructed and made a thickish solution. I then dipped the gauze in and tried to apply it to the rash. However, glycerine is greasy and since I was doing it for the first time and did not have any idea what I was doing, I found that it dripped down the leg. I also found out that the plaster tape that would be used to keep it in place would not stick as the knee had become so greasy. So, overall, it was a disaster. We tried to do what best we could, but I was really frustrated at the end of it.
Not having done any work at all all morning, I raced off home. It was already about 12. 15 pm by then and I was hungry. I stopped to have lunch and then began working. For the few hours, until tea-time, I was on my computer trying to make up for lost time. There was email to which I had to respond, a publishing grant with a deadline for which I am applying for the publication of my memoir, an interview (with Jimmy Bilimoria) that I had to transcribe, plus logistical arrangements for my forthcoming trip to Hyderabad that had to be finalized. Suddenly I felt inundated with work.
Tea at Bandra Gymkhana with Classmates:
To make matters worse, I had to stop at 4.00 pm to get ready for my 4.30 pm appointment with my classmates Iris and Beulah at the Bandra Gymkhana where we were meeting for tea. Luckily for me, it is just around the corner from my place. I managed to get dressed and leaving the house at 4. 20, I was there on time only to find that they were both there in advance. It was terrific to see them both again. I was meeting Beulah after at least ten years. I had seen Iris only last week. Beulah is back in India for good after living in Saudi Arabia for almost 12 years. It is good to know that she is in Bombay too. We were once inseparable as classmates at Elphinstone College--we had so many years to catch up to. What are the odds that your best friend in college and you, would unbeknownst to each other, give our daughters the same name!!! Well, probably that is a mark of why we were such good friends once upon a time--our minds thought alike. So she too has a daughter named Chriselle--except that she spells it differently. And both of us named our daughter Chriselle because we had a classmate in school who was named Chriselle and we simply liked the sound of her name!
Needless to say, we could not stop talking for the next two hours. This time Iris did most of the talking as she caught us up on all her family sagas. Beulah barely got started when it turned out that time had marched on. Over fresh lemonades and toasted chicken sandwiches and plates of cheese pakoras (the place has a very limited menu at tea-time!), we gabbed on and on and decided that we simply had to meet again as we were not done!
At 6.25pm, I had to excuse myself and call it a day as I wanted to go back to Dad's place to take a look at Russel's knee. Beulah who lives in Chembur, had her car and driver and dropped me home before dropping Iris off to Bandra Station and getting home herself.
I got home to find that Russel was doing okay but complaining of his leg itching. Dad and I left soon to get to church. Right after Mass, I returned home to have my dinner and watch Tunnel on my iPad before calling it a night.
It had been a bizarre day--but I am getting used to the fact that apart from the three hours I have at the beginning of each day--from about 5.00 to 8.00 am, I really do not know how the rest of my day will turn out. I am literally taking one day at a time.
Until tomorrow...
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