Tying Up Presentation Prep.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Bombay

Tying Up Presentation Prep.

     Namaste from Bombay!
     A shortish post today as I get ready for my flight to Nagpur. Will be out the door and off to the airport in an hour.
     Up at 5.30 am, I blogged and got my breakfast ready--muesli and coffee again. Then I dressed and was at the gym where I had a good hour-long workout. Straight off to Dad's to do Russel's dressing.
     Must mention that my friend Anita Chatterjee in Cleveland, Ohio, was extremely helpful.  She left me long audio messages on Whatsapp to tell me that what Russel is going through is quite normal for someone who has been in a plaster cast for such a length of time as he was. She calls the swelling on his ankle an 'edema' and says that it will take at least a couple of months to subside--but disappear, it eventually will.  She also says that wrapping in crepe bandages is exactly the right treatment and I should continue to do so. The pain in his elbow joint, she says, is the result of the weight of his body and the pressure he put on the walker as he tried to do the new exercises that were given--also, she said, very normal.  Apparently, most people develop similar aches in their armpits as they usually tussle with crutches while recovering. She says that the pain ointment (Moov) and heat treatment I am applying are also right on track.  I found her messages deeply reassuring. It is what she calls 'par for the course'.
     The other thing I have discovered through this long ride with Russel and Dad is that Indian doctors and surgeons offer zero post-surgery advice or care once the patient is off their hands.  Unlike the States, where the team of surgeons and the hospital staff are at your beck and call to answer any questions, calm any fears, etc., here the patient gets zero support. Much is expected from home care. Again, in the States, surgeons and physiotherapists work in tandem to effect the best course of post-operative care for the patient. Here the physiotherapist works in isolation with no input from the surgical team whatsoever.  It is interesting how health care systems vary from one country to the next...but despite all its deficiencies, I do believe that we are blessed to have the sort of health care we have in the USA and it is only when we leave the country that we realize how lucky we are with our national systems, in so many ways.
     Once I finished the dressing, I got back home and remain chained, once again, to my computer. I had email to respond to before I got down to composing the Powerpoint presentation I would use to accompany my verbal presentation in Cochin, Kerala, at the South and Central Asia Fulbright Conference which will take place there, almost as soon as I return from Nagpur. I worked on steadily and stopped only for lunch.
     Lunch was the rest of Valerie's tiffin: mince with potatoes, brinjal and dal. I would do with soup and crackers with cheese for dinner. I had an orange for dessert as I watched You Tube which presented a bunch of short videos on 'Eating in Paris'--they took me back to the City of Light.
     Back to the laptop after lunch, I continued working until I finished my Powerpoint presentation. Meanwhile, I downloaded the pictures in my camera (many of which I used in my Powerpoint presentation as visuals). I have been taking pictures of most of the interviewees I have been meeting and speaking about my experiences with them in Cochin, I will be using my own pictures of them. All this was very time-consuming but I had my Oxford webcam to offer slight distraction through the day to offer mental rejuvenation.
     I stopped again for tea with a simple shortbread cookie. I loaded the Powerpoint presentation and my text on a flash drive--ready to get the latter printed out at Jays'. Then I got dressed and left again for Dad's. I found that Russel's swelling was better and that the lower calf area has reduced much in size. Anita has told me to expect a different appearance on the leg every single day as the accumulated body fluids (a result of lack of movement) will re-distribute themselves daily throughout the length of his leg for a long period of time until slowly they will be absorbed by his body completely. I do not know what I would have done without her input as the text I sent to Russel's surgeon went unanswered. As I said, zero after-care is provided here. It is very disheartening.
     When I finished treating his arm and his leg (I needed to do some dressing as there was some slight bleeding and oozing--again, very normal), Dad and I left for Mass. We stopped at Jay's to photocopy, but to my disappointment, I found that my presentation had not loaded! I guess I forgot to hit Save at some point!!!
     Back at Dad's, I put Russel's crepe bandages on his leg. I said Goodbye to his day assistant Nagendra who has been around with us for a few months as tomorrow will be his last day. He leaves to take on a new job after having trained Rohit to do what he was doing. Fingers crossed again that the new man will work out well. I then left to enable them to get their dinner sorted.
     In my own studio, I got my soup, cheese and crackers ready and finished a really delicious and truly gigantic guava that was in my fridge. I finished watching Are We Officially Dating which must be one of the worst movies I have ever seen and then got my little back pack ready for my overnight stay in Nagpur.  Nothing much to pack except a change of clothing and a few toiletries. Then I set my alarm for 5.00 am with the idea of getting out of the house at 6.00 am to take a rickshaw to Santa Cruz domestic airport for my 8.30 am flight on Indigo Airlines.  It is a short flight of just 90 minutes and I shall eat a sandwich on board, I think, for breakfast.
     I feel more at ease now that I am ready with both my presentations. It has been an unusually busy few days but I know that I leave Russel in good hands as Rohit, his new helper seems competent enough.
     I went to bed at about 10.30 pm knowing that I would be waking up early tomorrow to get cracking for yet another trip.
     Until tomorrow...