Juggling Hospital Duty with Other Commitments

Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Bombay

Juggling Hospital Duty with Other Commitments

     Namaste from Bombay!
     Awake again at 5.30 am, I reached out for my laptop and began to blog, respond to email and draft messages of my own.  It is amazing how much one is pulled into the epicenter of NYU even when one has taken a year off from regular teaching duties.
     I washed and was about to have my breakfast when my friend Shahnaz called.  She had just returned from Delhi and wanted to talk. I was happy to hear her voice again after three days, but the chat went on for over an hour. She did most of the talking, I listened until I had to excuse myself and get on with my morning.  I was starving by then--almost 9.00 am and I had been up for at least four hours. I ate muesli and drank some coffee while watching Escape to the Continent--this has now become routine for me.
    After that, I walked to the supermarket, two minutes from my studio, and bought a few staples--cheese, bread, bulbs for my table-lamp. I found Kraft cheddar cheese there--so delighted--but I also bought local Britannia cheese which I am also trying out. I also bought some apples for my muesli and some pears for Russel from the fruit stall at the same corner. I am discovering that I have all these shops right by my home--very convenient indeed.
    By 10.45 am, I jumped into the shower and left my studio at 11.00 am. It appears that my next-door neighbors are getting some work done in their kitchen.  Awful hammering and deafening drilling began and I was grateful to get out of the house when I did.
     At the office, I found Dad there already. He has been arriving at 8.00 am daily and stays till 9.30 pm.  I have now insisted that he sits with a pillow behind his back as I am afraid his back will go with the prolonged sitting in that position. He just does not take enough care of himself and has been eating poorly.  Needless to say, he is looking very thin and worn out. Tomorrow, his housekeeper will be back after her week-long Ganpati break.  I will insist that he go home to eat his lunch and get a nap before returning to the hospital at 5.00 pm if he would like to do that. I will do duty from 1.00 pm onwards.
     I began by editing the final proofs of the Goa manuscript that I have been sent quite suddenly.  It seems that our publisher in Goa has found a printer and the job is moving forward--after more than two years.  Of course, it has to come at a time when I am doing hospital duty--but I am loathe to complain about that as my book will never see the light of day, if I do.
     Then, after about two hours, I pressed the wrong key and lost my document.  Since I have no internet in the hospital, I had to return home.  Dad told me not to come back until the evening--about 5.00pm. So I kept him company while he ate the sandwich I made him (cheese and mango chutney which he enjoys) with a cup of coffee. We are adhering to the hospital's no-food policy and leaving our sandwich bag at the entrance.  We pick it up from there at lunch time.
     I then said Bye to Dad and walked home to have my own lunch--chicken cutlets, chole and kheema mattar. To my shock, I discovered that the work going on next door was at its height--the sound was simply unbelievable. I had made such a mistake coming home. Still, I ate while watching TV at the highest volume to drown out the sound. Despite the noise, I was tired enough to try to take a short nap and I actually succeeded.
      I then continued working on my laptop and managed to proof-read three more chapters of the book I have edited. At 5.00pm, I had a quick cup of lemon tea and ate one of the lovely mava cupcakes that a friend had presented Dad and which he shared with me--so good! But five minutes later, I got a call from my cousin Allan's wife Antoinette to tell me that they were at the hospital and needed the pass to go upstairs to see Russel.  I told them that I was on my way but that I would call Dad who was at the hospital.  He would bring them the pass. He told me that the doctor had just arrived and he could not go downstairs.
    I then walked to the hospital--which is just 10 minutes' from my house and gave them my pass which allowed them to go upstairs.  I stood at the entrance of the hospital and waited for them to exchange the pass with me. Allan came down in about fifteen minutes and I went upstairs.  In the elevator, I met Romanee who was also on her way upstairs to see Russel and Dad. I introduced her to Antoinette with whom I visited for a few minutes before she left.  Romanee stayed much longer.
    Dad told me that Lenita, the physiotherapist, did a great number of muscle-strengthening exercises on Russel. He said that Russel co-operated bravely and did tell her again that his leg was paining.
     At 6.00 pm, our friends Ewell and Nina arrived. Thirty-five years ago, before I emigrated to the US, I used to be a professor of English at Jai Hind College. Ewell was my colleague--he taught Accountancy part-time as he was a full-time chartered accountant in downtown Bombay. Our friendship has grown over the years and despite the distance, Ewell became a close family friend and now has an independent relationship with my family--as does Romanee who also started off as my friend and my student (also at Jai Hind College).
     Ewell and his wife Nina are staunch Charismatics.  They came to the hospital to pray over Russel and they invited us to do so as well as they anointed him with holy oil.  Romanee, Dad and I also joined in the prayer.  Dad was overcome with emotion and began weeping when Ewell told us the story of the man in the Bible who begged Jesus to cure his son of palsy. I guess Dad saw parallels with the man's concern and love for his son who was also handicapped and unable to walk. The prayer was deeply moving. Ewell and Nina also explained to us what they were doing and why they were doing it. It is in situations like this that I realize how strong my own faith is--and I am so terribly glad for it. I feel confident in the power of the Lord--I feel certain that Russel will walk again and walk well--at least far better than he has been doing for so long. I have seen myself, time after time, how the power of prayer has wrought miracles in my own life...it is simply uncanny.
      Dad also told us that a few nights ago, he was troubled by the most painful cramps in his calves. He tried all sort of ways to relieve himself of the pain, but nothing worked.  Then he remembered that his friend Bernie had given him a bottle of holy oil. He walked to the family altar at 2.00 am to anoint himself with it. He said that he merely made a few crosses on his calves with the oil and the cramps and pain just disappeared. How does one explain such things except by the fact that faith can move mountains? Given these inexplicable instances of God's mighty power in my own life and that of my loved ones, I am more than ever convinced that the Lord and Our Lady will do wonders.
     Soon after the prayer, Romanee left. Ewell and Nina stayed just a little while longer. Russel is still very quiet, completely out of his element. He lies down on his back all day and has been sleeping for most of the day. We thought he might be slightly sedated but it is the pain-killers they are giving him that are probably lulling him to sleep.
     At about 7.45 pm, Jon Ken arrived, stayed for just ten minutes, visited briefly with Russel and left. Russel was not even in the mood to have his dinner today. He is simply too out of sorts.
     At 9.15 pm, Dr. Derrick D'Lima arrived and spent a long while with us--well, long by the usual standards of the doctors of Holy Family Hospital who usually gave patients a cursory glance and leave. He told us that it would be best for Russel to remain in the hospital for a total of twenty days and at least 12 days after surgery. This way, they could take off his stitches, put his leg in a fiberglass plaster which is much lighter and send him home. This way, he said, he would be able, gradually, to move around and not return to the hospital for at least 3 months. If we took him home in a day or two, we would simply have to bring him back again in 3-4 days, back and forth by ambulance, to have the stitches removed. It seemed like wise counsel to us except that Russel is going to be very unhappy in the hospital and will not like it at all.  Right now, he thinks he will be going home in a couple of days (as that was what one of the other doctors had told us). Now, he heard that he would have to stay much longer.  It is going to be more difficult convincing him about the sagacity of staying than anything else.
     I had a brief word with Dad, as we were leaving the hospital together. I told him that if Russel is going to stay in the hospital for another week, i.e. until next Tuesday, we will need to share duty as it is simply impossible for him to sit there from 8.00am till 9.30 pm. I am afraid he will crash himself if he does not take better care of himself. However, it is very difficult to get him to listen to such advice.
     I will have to wait and see what tomorrow will bring.
     Until tomorrow...