Phew, the hospital stay ended quicker than I anticipated (at least in writing). But, now what? We got the discharge, but we were nowhere close to being recovered enough to make my re-entry into the real world. Now, since we were already out of the hospital, the first step was done, and all that was left was recover a little-teeny-tiny-bit-more so I could fit back into the so-called normal world, good and proper . The doctors had easily told us to come to the hospital on an out-patient basis for therapy, so that we could utilize the golden period of our recovery – where maximum recovery happens Easier said than done. Travelling in Mumbai is more troublesome than most people would deem it to be. It would be impossible to travel for hours on a daily basis for therapy as 1) I still wasn’t quite used to the bumpy-ride motion and it would send the fluids in my head swishing around, making me nauseous and extremely uncomfortable (not to mention the sudden change for the brain), and 2) it would be too tiring for me since my general stamina was still at an all-time low.
We conveniently found an easy, efficient, and non-exacting solution to this problem. We decided to stay in the hospital guesthouse, so coming on an out-patient basis would not pose an issue of any sort. The guesthouse posed many additional benefits, among which my personal favourite was that all my relatives who were only restrictively and discriminatingly (no kids and all that) permitted to meet me while I was a patient in the hospital were now allowed to meet me freely and unhindered at their and my convenience, and for as long and as often we wanted. I also got to freely move in and out of the hospital as I liked. Another great advantage was that I could go for my therapies quickly and without the hassle of waiting for a porter and a wheelchair and all that drama. Perhaps, the biggest advantage, which might not seem like much at first, was that I got to walk to the therapy hall alone sometimes (which, by the way, is pretty huge as the seizure threat was still looming large). Another good aspect of shifting to the guesthouse was that I gained compulsory freedom from the wheelchair, which the porters had to give me a ride on to get me to my physiotherapy. It gave me good practice of using my two legs normally, as I still wasn’t very comfortable on them back then. So, I think it was safe to call the guesthouse decision an all-out win right through.
Slowly, but steadily, thanks to being out of the hospital in-patient environment, I was getting accustomed to daily life and its activities, so that I could go back to school to finish my last year and get back to life in general. Once again, we took the leap of staying in the guesthouse, but none of us knew how long would we be there and how long would this “extra time” in the hospital premises last… how long folks??
