Bombay
Russel Gets Pre-Op Tests at Hinduja Hospital
Namaste from Bombay!
So Russel is safely ensconced now in possibly the best hospital in the city of Bombay! As Day One comes to an end, there is no telling how long he will be here.
I kept my alarm for 6.45 am as I am still jetlagged from my travels in South America and am having very restless nights. I stayed awake until almost 2.00 am tapping away on my computer and chatting to Llew in the States until it was he who insisted I try to get some sleep. I was actually awake before at 6.30 before my alarm went off. This left me enough time for a shower and a full breakfast of muesli and coffee before I dressed and walked to the hopsital.
The early morning air is now fresh and monsoonal clean. Many fiery red leaves from gul-mohur (flame of the forest) trees have fallen overnight and their scarlet petals strew the streets. There is barely any traffic on the streets at this time and it is a real pleasure to walk along Bandra's beautiful tree-lined lanes. It takes me about 20 minutes at a fast trot and in the process of enjoying the Queen of Bombay's suburbs (it was voted as one of the 50 best suburbs in the world), I also get my exercise in--because I am well aware that i spend most of the day seated on my butt.
I arrived at the hospital at 7.45 am and found Russel and Dad in good spirits. All Russel wants to know is when they are going to send him home! However, he has not come to accept that he is in hospital for surgery and that he will have a series of pre-op tests over the next couple of days that keep him busy.
And right enough! Dad left by 8.00 am to go home after what he said was not too bad a night. Russel got up a few times but he was fully attended to by the super-efficient and very pleasant staff. Dad too managed to get some sleep although he finds the air-conditioning too strong and is not happy with it at all. I advised him to bring a cardigan along with him when he returned in the evening. I have carried one myself and I throw it on when the room gets uncomfortably chilly for me.
As was expected, Russel had a battery of tests today--there was routine ones such as blood pressure and blood samples taken, chest X-rays done, X-rays of his leg done, etc. During the ECG, they found that he has an irregular heart beat and that his kreatin was on the high side, as revealed by his urine test. In-between tests, he was very well fed with a number of absolutely delicious meals delivered to his bedside from bed tea to a full vegetarian breakfast of dosas with sambhar and chutney plus cornflakes with coffee. Mid-morning snacks include fruit, soup precedes a wonderfully abundant lunch, tea-time brings a flask of hot tea with delectable delicacies, followed by soup, dinner and milk. Russel, who swore he could not stand veg food, is gobbling it all up.
A whole gallery of doctors
and nurses came trooping in to his ward today but Russel took it all quite
gamely. I have to say that his next-door
neighbor who is in for jaundice was extremely nice and very tolerant of Russel
who tends to talk very loudly—partly because he is hard of hearing himself because
his ears are perpetually filling up with wax! The treatment is this hospital is
just incredible and I cannot say enough good things about it. I have had just
as good treatment in the USA (but then I am fully covered with superb medical
insurance through New York University) and in the UK, where I have lived and
been under NHS care, I found a bunch of surly personnel at most hospitals
(although the GPs there are superb and have incredible diagnostic skills). Here
in India, I am now convinced that if you have the money, the medical care is
second to none. But, of course, if you are poor, you simply curl up and die! The
state of health care in different parts of the world is a whole study for a
Ph.D. dissertation in itself.
By the end of the day, with
Dad returning to the hospital, we were told that all the reports would come in
tomorrow and, hopefully, Russel should be certified fit for surgery on Thursday.
The echo-cardiogram will be done tomorrow. I gave Dad a full verbal report on
how our day in the hospital had gone and then I stayed until Russel’s dinner
arrived. Dad had eaten his dinner and come to the hospital to spend the night.
I had been almost on an empty stomach all day (apart from breakfast) as I did not leave Russel’s side—I merely ate
a small bowl of rice (from his tray that he said he did not want to eat) with a
few drops of dal! This hospital does not allow you to bring food from out. One
can order by phone from a cafeteria and there is a small pantry downstairs; but
I have yet to learn the drill and I did not want to leave Russel alone for a
minute. I will try to work out some kind of system tomorrow that will enable me
to take in some food as well.
I said goodbye to both
Dad and Russel and left to go back home as Dad will be doing duty at night. I
was home in about 20 minutes and had my dinner straight away as I was ravenous—chicken
curry, mince, beans with one chapatti with a most delicious ‘langra’ mango for
dessert. The mangoes at this time of year in India are just amazing. I absolutely
enjoyed it as I continued watching Murder
City. I spent the next two hours on my laptop as I had to catch up with
urgent email correspondence on my forthcoming book. But at about 1.00 pm after
a long update chat with Llew, I switched the light off and fell asleep.
As I said, Russel’s
first day was pretty trying…but, hopefully, this will be worth it. Please
continue to join us in prayer.
Until tomorrow…
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