Losing Track of Days and Dates as Russel Recovers

Friday, June 14, 2019
Bombay

Losing Track of Days and Dates as Russel Recovers

     Namaste from Bombay!
     It's a bit bizarre but I simply could not remember what day of the week it is as I sat to type out the first word of this blog! Doing eight-hour shifts by a hospital bedside has a way of turning one's brain to mush!
     But you have to forgive me for I had a lousy night. I simply could not sleep--not until 3. 15 am! Little wonder then that when I awoke it was 7.15 am. I knew that I would need at least an hour to get going as I also felt dreadfully groggy and sleep-deprived and would have liked nothing better than to curl up in bed and go back to sleep again. But duty beckoned! So I called Dad at the hospital to tell him that I was running late and would be there a little after 8.30 am. He was fine with that!
     I washed, showered, dressed, ate my breakfast of muesli, gulped down a cup of coffee and left my studio for the hospital. I walked out into a slight drizzle that threatened to become a downpour. It made sense to take a rickshaw (especially as I was running late). So off I went and by 8.30 (as I'd promised Dad), I was there. Dad did not stay long. He apprised me of the late-night situation (all had gone well) and he told me that a new patient had come into the adjoining bed--an elderly man whom, he thought, had cancer as he overhead talk about chemotherapy. And then Dad was off for the day.
     Russel is stable, alert and in fine fettle-by the grace of God. He is not fretting about going home although he did ask me about three times during the day when he is likely to be discharged. He also told me that he likes the hospital--and, seriously, what's not to like? The food is awesome, the place is fully air-conditioned (such a boon for me in this sultry monsoonal weather), care is efficient, frequent, cheerful, pleasant and professional, and everyone is ready to bend over backwards to please. There are Customer Service personnel and Management staff who come in twice a day to find out if there is anything they can do to provide better service! Can you even believe this???
      Russel who usually does not take too kindly to a vegetarian diet is simply salivating at the thought of his meals. He is visited daily by a dietician who actually asks him what he would like to eat: he has told her that he doesn't eat plain boiled rice--and so she is sending him khichdi. Because he has lost some teeth, she is sending him soft food! It is incredible. He was also visited by a cardiologist, a general physician (who told me that his sodium is low). They have, therefore, upped his salt intake (I was told not to worry that it would send his BP skyrocketing). A physiotherapist came to see him and prescribed simple exercises for his legs as well as breathing exercises (as he is not moving around). His orthopedist's assistant came in the afternoon to check on him and told me he is doing fine. He also said that Russel was a model patient during the operation and did not disturb the surgical team at all with his chatter. He was visited by a male nurse who changed the stocking on his foot to ensure there is no onset of DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) which is possible when one does not move around. Wow! I am so ultra-impressed by this hospital that a friend described to me as "seven-star" that I honestly cannot say enough good things about Hinduja Hospital at Khar.
     Russel was also delighted that I could tune into his favorite TV program for him (CID) which went on for almost three hours. Later in the evening, when the England-South Africa World Cup Cricket match began, we tuned into the game too and watched it together.
       As for me, I made friends with the new occupants of the room and chatted with the patient's daughter--a lovely person named Anjali who told me that her father has cancer of the esophagus that has metasthesized to his back and is a cause for concern. He was in the hospital to get a device fitted to his back which will now permit him to receive chemo as an outpatient in the same hospital. Rather like Russel, this man could not wait to go home and after he returned from the OT, he persuaded his lovely wife and daughter to arrange for his discharge. So, sadly, this lovely family left without even staying for 24 hours.
      I spent most of my day doing two things to pass time and keep myself gainfully employed: I began reading Dan Brown's Origins on my Ipad (downloaded through the Libby app from my local Fairfield Public Library) and I began uploading to my laptop some of the documents I had backed up on to my external hard drive. Llew had brought it for me from home and had handed it over to me when we met in South America. Backed up on it, I found a great deal of the documents I had lost when I had accidentally wiped them off my computer, two months ago. Uploading them takes time and is boringly repetitive but the results are so rewarding because I am getting a lot of my older Documents back. In the final analysis, I think I would have completely lost only about 10% of my Documents--so, as you can imagine, I am much relieved and in a far happier frame of mind than I was two months ago. I shall continue with the uploading process while I remain in the hospital on vigil for the next two days. This exercise makes my stay in the hospital seem like a very productive use of time--so I have no cause to complain.
     I have been hand feeding Russel his meals--liquids (soup, juice, milk) and solids (lunch and dinner) as he has a large bottle of a pain-killer that is being given to him intravenously through his back. I am afraid that if he shifts his body in the awkward way in which he usually does, he will detach these tubes. Hence, I am almost baby-ing him; but it is such a rare privilege to be able to look after him like this and support him through this ordeal that I feel very honored to do so.
       For my lunch, I bought a vegetable-cheese-chutney sandwich from the canteen downstairs and I had half of it in the afternoon and half of it at tea-time. Anjali even asked me if I would like a cup of tea or coffee at elevenses, but I told her that I have caffeine intolerance and could not avail of her very kind offer. Both Russel and I managed to get some sleep in the afternoon--I slept for far more than my usual 20 minutes! In fact, I slept for a whole 45 minutes and only woke up when Russel told me that his tea had arrived!
     Russel had a visitor in the evening: Jon Ken, a family friend, called me from downstairs to tell me that he had arrived and would need me to hand over the visitors pass to him (as only one visitor is allowed by a patient's bedside in keeping with the very strict rules of the hospital). I went downstairs with my Ipad and continued reading while he visited in the ward with Russel. And guess what? As I sat reading, my eyes closed and I fell fast asleep! This is what jetlag does to me!
     Dad arrived at the hospital a bit early today--at about 6.30pm--while Jon Ken was still upstairs (Dad has another pass). After about 45 minutes, Jon Ken left and I returned upstairs. Dad, Russel and I chatted for a while and I ordered Paneer Makhanwala from the Room Service menu for Dad--it was delicious and I know because Dad insisted that I have part of it. Then Russel's dinner arrived and I hand-fed it to him. By that time, it was past 8.00 pm and Dad wanted me to hurry and leave as he is not keen on flouting hospital rules. I did say goodbye to the two of them and left.
     I walked into a real downpour, so I felt lucky to find a rickshaw that took me home. With the rains having arrived, the city has cooled down considerably and the dust has settled down too. But the streets get very messy and muddy and I have to come home and wash my feet before I slip them into my slippers. I had my dinner (still wading through Valerie's last meal of chicken curry and mince and beans) and had some chocolate ice-cream while watching Murder City. Then I spent a wee bit of time blogging and decided to try and get some sleep.
     Until tomorrow...