nurse

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”- Charles Dickens  It truly had begun to feel like that.  Worst of times? Clearly understood. Best of times? Metaphorically speaking of course. I mean who would like to lie down and sleep all day with horrible hospital food to eat, only white walls to stare at  and minimal exercise. Definitely not what I signed up for when I entered the world .  The lying down part was already being taken care of by my highly conscientious physiotherapy.  I’m pretty sure all of you remember the extremely hilarious way…

Let me begin this log by giving everybody some clarity on the topic of seizures. A seizure is quite literally, in its very essence, like having your body possessed. And most definitely it is worse than A Nightmare out of Elm Street (for the afflicted and the viewer). My first seizure was what can be termed medically as a GTCS - Generalized Tonic-Clonic Seizure. It was a pretty serious one and from eyewitness reports I had my eyes rolled upwards, such that you could see their whites, my teeth clenched and my tongue bit. There was also some not-so-pretty frothing.…

“As you sow, so you shall reap”. I had “sowed” 5 Surgeries in my head till now, what would I reap? That was the question. After all of the zillion therapy sessions and pain that I had endured, would there finally be some light shining as I neared the end of the tunnel? Apologies, staring at white ceilings all day in the hospital seems to have driven me a bit… nuts, and all I seem to spout is philosophy now, haha. These surgeries and procedures couldn’t prevent my brain from having its own share of “Fun”, though. And my, oh…

Doctor: “We think you can take discharge in a week’s time and come for therapy from home in the OPD (Out Patient Department)” I assumed this would be how my doctors would have started the discharge talks with my family because all they ever asked me was, “When are you planning on going home?” Almost as though it was all under my control - leaving and exiting the hospital, as though I owned the place 😊. The doctors had once again raised our hopes high after the cranioplasty due to the wonderful results showed by my body. Everybody seemed to…

As much as I try to avoid admitting it, it is true that these times were incredibly, incredulously and almost intolerably frustrating. So many “near-discharge” moments were beginning to make me feel like Tantalus from greek mythology, who could feel the fruit (in my case, my discharge and normal life) within the reach of his palm but as he reached out to grab it, it was taken away from him. We didn’t let this frustration get the better of us and we got back to the very thing we had shifted to Mumbai for, Neuro-rehab Therapy!! :-) As soon as…

Hmmm, discharge talks… let’s pick up where we left off. Once again, once again!... the goose gave dreams of a golden egg, but would we finally end up with one? Finally, things were looking up. I was able to walk unaided, and this, along with many other welcome improvements, had made me able enough to be nearing clearance for a field test… in other words, I was almost cleared for getting discharged and going out into the real world. It had been barely a few days into the discharge talks, and I was just getting my hopes up again, when…

Since we’re nearing the “Grand Exit” from the hospital, I think it’s about time I write about some of the most invaluable parts of my hospital journey that I didn’t include in my previous logs, for they deserve a log of their own. I believe it would be right to begin with the most vital component that makes a hospital run. During my almost year-long hospital stay, I befriended a lot of other patients who knowingly (or unknowingly) became key players in my hospital innings. Therefore, this log is dedicated to all the patients in the hospital who had a…

I think that since we’ve spoken of the blackcats, it is now time that we speak about the saviours of my story. This log is dedicated to all of my doctors, in (& out of) the hospital, without whose constant watchful eyes and support, it wouldn’t have been possible for me to be saved a countless number of times and recover to function like a regular human being. There have been numerous doctors who contributed to my recovery in various ways. Doctors from Dubai, doctors from India, doctors from the USA, doctors from my family, doctors from beyond the hospital,…