Monday Brings More Work and Another Doctor's Visit

Monday, May 13, 2016
Bombay

Monday Brings More Work and Another Doctor's Visit

     Namaste from Bombay!
     I had another insomniac night partly because stress and worry about my brother's forthcoming doctor's visits this week kept me awake. I am dearly missing Llew whose comforting presence in times when I have gone through stress, in the past, has always been my savior. I feel alone and very vulnerable as I try to soothe Russel's hospital-indiced anxieties and Dad's constant worry over Russel's prognosis. So it is good to be able to say that I felt more heartened than I have felt in months after the doctor's visit we had this evening.

Getting Done with Regular Work:
     But I still had to get through my tasks for the day and they began with an awakening at about 5.30 am, blogging and then a quick return to the chapters of my manuscript that had still to be edited. I took a break for brekkie and had three slices of multi-grain bread with spreads and coffee.  I realize that the bread man is no longer coming to our building at 7.45 am as most of the residents of my building who are his customers are Muslim. Their holy month of Ramzan (Ramadan) has begun and they awake at about 3.30 am each day to start praying and partaking of food that will fuel them throughout the day. Then they go back to sleep for another few hours. I suspect they are asleep when he comes at 7.45 and, having already eaten for the day, they are unlikely to buy his bread in the morning. This probably also explains why I hear his bicycle bell at about 5.00 pm--when they are ready to break their fast, pray again and eat their evening meal.
     I got down to work right away and finished editing my manuscript. I then turned to edit a lecture I had given while delivering the keynote address at the University of Nagpur, a few months ago. The papers delivered at that conference are being collected and edited for a proposed volume on Caste, Race and Gender. The Convenor of the Conference, Prof. Shende, has requested me to edit and submit my talk for publication. This involves reviewing it and reformatting it again. It took a good couple of hours for me to complete just 4 pages--I have about 12 more to go and shall complete it tomorrow.
     I also transcribed my phone chat with Siddharth Bhatia--this was short and took no more than an hour.
     At lunch time, I stopped to eat the content of a newly-delivered meal from Valerie: chicken curry, cutlets (she has forgotten that I had instructed her not to send me any fried food) and white pumpkin with lentils with one chapatti. It was all delicious. While eating it, I watched Line of Duty--impossible to drag myself from it, but work beckons and I do watch it in installments (although it is truly a binge-worthy serial). I tried to take a nap and I did fall asleep as I was reading my novel.
     When I awoke, it was time to take a shower and then get to Dad's for our evening appointment with yet another doctor. We were told to arrive at 7.00 pm--so we took an Uber to get there.

Seeing Another Orthopedist:
     Orthopedist Number Three was actually the very first one that Dad and Russel had seen about two years ago when his arthritis had just begun. He had, at that time, ruled out knee replacement surgery as he said that it is only done when there is severe pain. Since Russel had no pain, surgery was not done.
     Now the same doctor is singing a different tune. He told us that his knee bones have been so eroded that he needs to do something to grant him stability. He suggested hinged knee replacement surgery. But this can only be done after Russel's tibia sets. It is still fractured He told us that the bone-grafting will have to be carried out and only after that has healed can we move to addressing the knee. But before he actually does the knee surgery, he wants us to carry out a battery of tests which require an MRI. This means that Russel will probably have to be sedated when he does the MRI as it is unlikely that he will be able to stand the strange process if he is conscious. Such neurological tests will give him a report, he said, on the reason why his bone structure is so vulnerable to damage and injury and whether he is a good candidate for the knee surgery.
     We were heartened because he is the first doctor who told us that he would like to do the surgery on the second knee as well as that too has started to show signs of arthritis. Knowing that there is a form of hinged knee replacement surgery which will allow him to flex his knee (which the rod insertion surgery recommended by the other two orthopedists will not permit), Dad felt far better as this will be far more conducive to a good quality of life for Russel.
     We finished with the doctor at 8.15 pm and took an Uber back to Bandra where Dad was dropped off and I got home to have my dinner--a repeat of my afternoon's meal. I was finally able to watch Line of Duty and I did so till nearly midnight.
     Until tomorrow...