The 29th and the 30th
It's me again (Julie) still sitting in the hospital room. Well..once again I am lagging behind a day in my posting, but don't worry, this entry won't be longer than life, because there is not all that much to write about. Yesterday morning, in preparation for what we believed was our soon departure, we wrote out cards and organized gifts for the nurses. We ended up putting a generous amount of money in each card and then putting the card (my idea mwahaha) into (as opposed to taped to) the packages we were planning on giving them .. clear plastic wrapping tied with a nice bow at top which contains little cardboard boces, cute mugs, a box of chocolates (hmm hope they're ok) and a teddy bear.. and now our sunshine themed cards! There are 7 nurses and 7 packages, all containing the same thing and with their name on the card. We just gave cards with the $ to the male food / housecleaning staff. I think they will be appreciative of these gifts - they deserve them. Mohan was not here since it was Sunday and Dr. Bose did not do rounds. Everything was a bit quiet. We could not move on with the insurance junk since no one was really here to do it. Dads bandage kind of came off in the shower which was bad, so we had that fixed eventually by another doctor. At night dad accidentally used the wrong controls so the T.V. stopped working and we couldn't get it back on. Joan was feeling better which was good! I am having some serious memory lapses about what else happened yesterday .. I know I was online, read, looked up Ideal Beach Resort for awhile and awaited this morning. Last night I started o get the feeling that it was truly time to move on.
This morning, when Mohan visited, we learned that the stupid insurance guy freaking STILL did not make clear what would be covered in regard to the remaining 30 percent - even after his reassuring 2 am phone call. At least the 70 percent was confirmed but... really. So, because of the stupid time difference, and since the woman for apollo hospital who deals with this stuff is vacationing in texas, even though dads hip is beautiful, we were told by mohan "not to rush it" and to stay another day while he figured out how much was being covered. One would really think that a week in the hospital would be ample time, but no, of course not. And on the US side this has been fought since .. the winter?! We were a bit frustrated in the morning, since it was a beautiful day out and our resort time is being cut shorter and shorter. Dad felt bad that I would be here another day so he asked Mohan if I could go out - anywhere. I then asked if anyone could come with me and the lady next door from london who lives in dubai (yes, the one who I met on our journey to the immigration bureau) said she would come. Mohan said a driver would be here by 1 or 2. We could not find him, but by 3:15 he came and got us. One of the housekeeping guys accompanied me to the ATM machine next door since dad was out of cash after all of this gifting business! Then we went off to Spencer's Plaza, a large and very confusing shopping mall. The woman I was with was very nice but did not want to stay long and told the driver we would be back about 2 and a half hours sooner than he offered for the price we were paying. She did not seem too interested in the shops - understandably, since people were so pushy trying to get you to go inside the smaller ones which were all over the place. We did go to the supermarket in the mall and purchase some things..but other than that we mainly wandered around dazed by the layout and magnitude of the place, haha. I cannot explain it.. it was circular, with empty space in the middle and a few floors.. but then there were also alleys extending outwards in different directions, and sections, and somehow it was very dizzying. It was interesting though, and good to get out for a bit. A man who I learned is an interior designer here in Chennai asked if this mall reminded me of my country. I said no, but this remark made me realize that this is probably an effort to appease western customers and that this place, which seemed foreign, interesting, unique and confusing to me, was seen by the locals as "western". Who would have guessed? Very interesting though. They did have some western stores and all, and after all, it was a 'shopping mall'. Random comment - in the taxi ride we saw women working carrying bricks on their heads! ouch! When we returned we visited Joan and helped her unpack.
She is feeling much better and will be going to the resort along with us tomorrow even though her surgery was a day later! Tonight dad received an email from Apollo hospital, and learned that these two extra nights we have essentially been forced to stay in the hospital (since they still don't have our insurance figured out) are each going to cost us twice as much as the resort would have! This was very frustrating as well, and another $ battle which I am sure will be brought up tomorrow morning upon discharge.
A note on tomorrow...
After discharge, which should occur sometime around noon (which means about an hour or so later).. we will head to the immigration bureau and hope they clear up everything even though we are scheduled to come on a different date (after we're gone). Then the hours drive to... Mamallapuram, at last. I think that the resort and tourist attractions surrounding it will be enjoyable so I am excited! :D
An Unusual Day
Yesterday I was unable to write, so I am going to update now! I woke up yesterday morning and after breakfast the nurse told me that Joan, the lady who's room is two doors down from ours, would like to see me. I went in and she told me that she was doing terribly. She had 'explosive' diarrhea and a fever and could not keep food down. Mentally she also felt vulnerable, as though she were "in hell," dying and her mind was agitated so she could not sleep. It was discovered that many others here also had diarrhea that day, (5 rooms in our wing i believe), so it was obviously the food. Everyone else was ok though, and her reaction was probably because her body was so stressed from the surgery and all of the medication that it couldn't deal with another problem. She is usually healthy and tours 3rd world countries frequently though, so it is still weird that she had such a strong reaction. This has caused some concern over the quality of the hospitals food. The manager of the food services came in to speak with my dad about the food and assured us that they do all that they can to keep the food safe and they follow the procedures etc., so it makes them very sad when patients get sick from it. He also mentioned that they will "pray to god for them". Apparently a nurse also said something along those lines to Joan. This is something that everyone wants to hear, and is usually comforting.. but not when it comes from people who you are relying on to take care of you medically. It is a different culture (even though apparently many of these nurses are Christians). I felt terrible for Joan and did what I did to help her .. but I really had no idea what to do other than suggest she sleep. Later dad and I visited her after his PT (and first shower). She wanted solace from dad as well and for him to help talk her back into reality a bit. He talked about problems he's had with his hip and the last one and tried to comfort her. She took a valium right before our visit to help her rest. Later when I came back again she was doing much better. She had gotten some sleep and drank some lassi and was sitting up. Dad visited too and told her the entire story of our insurance issues -- exactly what she wanted to hear, I'm sure. haha... which brings me to.. our insurance issues. I am not going into detail or this one blog entry would take up this entire page... but as you probably know if you're reading this, dad has been going back and forth with insurance people since... the winter? ..or longer, i'm not sure. In February he got a call saying that this trip was approved 100 percent. Then a month or so before surgery, he was notified that it would only be covered 70 percent. He's been fighting for the 30 percent back since. I asked mohan to come into our room the other day because we had questions regarding the date of his discharge (we did not know), the deal with the immigration office and insurance. Mohan informed us (for the first time) that he had not received the official 'letter of guarantee' from the insurance company. Apparently this means that - none of the surgery / stay here is being covered. Mohan was emailing blue cross every day but got no responses. This means that when dad was due to be discharged from the hospital, he would have to pay the full amount with his credit card upon departure. While this was 99.9 percent the fault of the insurance parties.. it was frustrating that Mohan had not mentioned this until now. If he did, he did not take the time to explain what this letter meant and what the problem at hand was. Since it was Saturday night here, we assumed that there would no longer be any way of calling and reaching dad's insurance guy until after he is discharged monday morning (nighttime in the US). So we preceded to use our hospital phone (which you can barely hear anything on the other side from and we had to have the operator connect us each time) to call worldwide assistance and tried to get connected to any case manager who could try to help us even though it wasn't their case. Apparently, the hospital disconnects you automatically after spending 10 minutes using the phone so this did not work very well as we needed to wait to be connected each time we called and lines were busy on their end. Eventually we found out the hospitals # and left it with whoever had been answering so that when it disconnected us she could call back. We were connected after awhile and some dinner to a case manager - dad quickly told his story and then handed me the phone again because he couldn't hear. The lady said that she was a case manager who works near andrew (dads guy) and would give him our message when he gets to work in 6 hours. She also said that he stays for 8 hours and quickly reviewed our case and hypothesized why Andrew may not have sent the guarantee (a fault of the pre-certification office only covering two nights stay) or something. A nurse woke dad up at 2 am and then Andrew called him. Dad now thinks he has full coverage because thats what he was told - I do not know the details. Mohan is not here today (Sunday) so hopefully tomorrow morning when dad is discharged he will have the letter of guarantee for 100 percent, or at least 70 percent.. (or at least something.. haha ) coverage for the surgery/stay in his email. phew. sorry you had to read about all that - i probably explained most of the insurance stuff wrong anyways - i didn't even mention the initial issue with semi-private rooms vs. private rooms and in-network vs. out-of-network doctors.. but since you really don't care, I won't go there.. and I'll just let you know how it turns out. Dad told me not to say that he went crazy about insurance in the blog tehehe - so I didn't ;) Anyways, the rest of yesterday is a blur. I also video-taped dad for a bit walking with his crutches -- he showed off and tried walking a few steps without them (bad patient, bad!). But he could do it. Another thing that happened yesterday (sorry about the order of all of this... whoops) is that Orlando, (who lives in Florida, but nope, not in Orlando..) a man whom we met on our first day here, came to visit us. He had just returned from the resort (his surgery was earlier so he is ahead of dad in the recovery process of course). He enjoyed it there and had decided to stay there for the whole time. He told us that we should do some touring while we are there. He was very happy with the experience and said his hip had never felt that good since before his accident 25 (?) years ago. He was here for his final check-up and I believe he was flying home that evening. He and dad talked for awhile again about running, different medicine, etc. It was nice that he came to visit and dad wants to keep in touch with him. It is a shame we weren't at the resort at the same time, dad could use some "male company". Out of the surprises, his visit was the one positive one of the day.
Day 3 (after Surgery)
This morning after breakfast when I was visiting Joan, Mohan came to get me and said that I must go to the immigration office. He told me to gather our passports and "plane tickets". We could not fin our boarding passes from heathrow to chennai, and we think that dad left them in the London touring book which he left on the plane. I gave Mohan my itinerary and we hoped that would be fine. I did not understand why I was going to this office, as it was not made clear to us. Me and a woman who is originally from London but lives in Dubai (her husband was having surgery at the time) took a car for quite a long distance until we reached the immigration bureau. We waited awhile, and then when I got to the desk the woman asked me to make two piles, one with all of my papers and one with dads. When she saw the papers, she said that the hospital did not include my name on the front page of the packet with the doctors signature, so I would have to have them fix it and come back again. It was on other papers but not that one. I argued and said that I would like to have them do my dads passport today, but she kept saying no and that I should come back on Monday (we'll be at the resort out of the city by then). I tried to move onto the next room, but needed a chip with a number on it in order to do so, so I ended up going back and saying that I just wanted my dads today over and over and that I had to wait for that other lady to catch my ride back anyway..until she gave me a chip. I knew the hospital would not be happy if they sent me there and I didn't come back with anything done. So when my number came up on the screen, I had the man register (or whatever he was doing) just my dad's visa. The slip that he gave me said to come back on July 7th (the day we are leaving). We left and the woman from Dubai said that she was given the same slip but that she is staying longer. When we returned I told Mohan about them giving me trouble and saying that I should come back to register our visas together, and he said that I won't need to get mine registered at all since it is a tourist visa and not a medical visa. I'm glad I got my dad's registered, but the whole thing was confusing. I will still have to go back (I think with my dad when he can) but Mohan is going to get the day moved closer hopefully. After this, the day was normal. It went by pretty quickly, as we just rested, ate, used email, and dad did his physical therapy exercises. He can walk with the regular crutches, but the physical therapist said to only use the walker for today (on his own). He tries to go too fast with the crutches sometimes and occasionally loses his balance when he starts/stops, but otherwise is fine. When Dr. Biz visited Dad had lost track of the time and thought it was two days earlier than it is. He asked him when he was going to be discharged when he found out how long we had been here. He was worried because today is day 5 in the hospital, and usually patients get discharged then, but Dr biz explained that the day of surgery is day 0, so 2 days do not count. It is only technically day 3. I also told dad that it is Friday which means that we have been in India already for about a week! He was very confused (tehehe) so I told him he lost time being knocked up for surgery, slept more than he thought afterwards, and that all of the days here (since they are so similar since we don't do too much) blend in, which is true. Then Mohan brought a couple into our room and asked dad to talk to them about the surgery. The man who was considering surgery was from Illinois and worked in Alabama and was on vacation visiting his family in India. He already had a total hip replacement and is considering extending his vacation in India to get a resurfacing done here. They discusses details, and their main problem by the end of it was the question of insurance coverage, which truly is a pain for many reasons. It would be cheaper for them to cover it here but they don't because of things like.. semi-private rooms aren't available which they cover, but since these are 'private' rooms, no coverage.. and the specific Dr. is not 'in-network' even though Apollo hospital is..etc. Stupid U.S. Anyways, they left and soon after Dr. Bose, Dr. Biz and a nurse came in to do their nightly round and dad whipped out a picture of Dr. Bose as a joke, which no one got to see, since Dr. Bose snatched it and had it folded in his pocket immediately after viewing it. he was laughing - apparently it is an embarrassing picture that a professional photographer whom dad met over the online surface hippy group took during her stay here. Not too much else is new around here - apparently a lot of people here have diahreah (sp?) today so there must have been a problem with the food yesterday. Right now me and dad are watching Mr. Bean as I have been typing this. Will update tomorrow! Thanks for checking the blog and for your comments!
<3Julie
Recovering
Yesterday the internet was down, so I did not get the chance to post. It was a very uneventful day overall - no internet - the nurses kept saying they would get mohan to fix it, and we waited and tried to fix it ourselves, and waited...but no mohan. There was no reason to go anywhere outside of our room, so I read for most of the day. I did visit a lady, Joan, who is two doors down and had her surgery that morning. She is very nice and is from Berkley. My dinner last night was fantastic! By far the best meal I have ever eaten in a hospital. I've observed that the food varies depending on who asks us what we want -- they don't even ask me anymore, they just say .."do you want ...." and i say sure, and then i try it. Anyways.. on to dad's health, the reason you are all reading all of this blabber anyways. Yesterday he was in some pain during physical therapy, and had much pain when they put the iv in his right arm (but did not feel a thing when they moved it to his left - strange), but for the most part he was ok. He walked around the room a bit with the physical therapist.
Today was more eventful! I got up, we called mohan, and he has already fixed the internet connection! It went down for a bit, but for the vast majority of the day it worked! Then, a girl who I had briefly met after the function the day we arrived (which i have yet to update about), named Sonya came into the room and asked if I wanted to go downstairs to buy some chocolate. She has been here longer than us (her mom got the same surgery a few days back) and had already gone downstairs to the ground level of the hospital when she had a chocolate craving, so she knew where to go. After lunch, we went down, got chocolate, and then visited Joan. She strongly suggested that we get out of the hospital since we were mobile. I did not want to do this on my own, but now that there was two of us, it sounded like a good idea. Sonya was hesitant, but we talked to our parents and they thought it was a great idea, so we talked to mohan and he arranged a driver to come for us. We got ready and headed out. She was afraid of the traffic, and I should have been too - since it's so different - but after the rickshaw ride, a ride in an actual car was fine, and I was so ready to get out of the room already I would be estatic about anything. So we went to...Mill, a nice store where there was plenty of jewelry on the first floor, some very nice jewelery on the second, and other goods on the upper floors and throughout. I bought a few pairs of earrings.. there were so many to choose from!!! I had to put many that I picked out back.. haha. Then we went to Naidu Hall, a place that my friend Preethi told me that I had to go to in Chennai. Today when I was asking a nurse where to go if we went out, she mentioned it, and i was like.. its near by?!!?!? So we went there too - it was right near the other store, which is why we planned to go to both, the driver didn't have to take us anywhere else. I found a salwar - different from saris, that fit well (after trying on many huge ones.) It was pink and orange.. they give you a reciept for it but you dont take it or pay until you are ready to leave. So we went upstairs. There they had parts of the salwars sold separately instead of in sets, but you could mix and match the parts. So I tried one on which Sonya pointed out (she had one with a similar print custom made for her a few days back at another shop). It was a little big but smaller than most and it was a brownish shiny fabric with blue and gold print flowers on it... and it was a third the price of the one i was planning on buying downstairs. At this place I could have had one custom made for me, but since I probably would not be able to get back to pick it up, I decided to get one of the pre-made ones. In five minutes, a woman stitched up the sides a bit to make it a bit smaller, and I got it. I looked with Sonya for an outfit for a little boy and she also got a shirt for her neice (she's in her twenties). After this we walked out of the store and headed back to the vehicle.. only a one minute walk away.. and on the way i saw a girl who looked familiar sitting outside of the store. She turned, and I saw a distictive birthmark thta I recognized right away (it takes up half her face). It was one of the beggars we met on our first day at our stay at residency towers (when we first explored outside of the hotel). We kept walking while I was still confused, and a little boy came up to us begging for money -- the same one as the first beggar we met in india who we had given the red toy to.. he did the same thing and pointed to his stomach again. Then I realized they must travel around with eachother as a small group and that the girl was definitely the same. The boy did not give up even after we gave a few coins.. once in the car he leaned against the window begging and did not stop..even while we were moving.. until we went too fast. It's crazy that I've only really spent time outside twice, in different locations, and have run into, out of all the beggars in india, two of the same ones. I'm sure they know where to find tourists (not that there are many here).. but still.. our car was so close to the store, i was very surprised to recognize them! Anyways, we came back, I had dinner in the room with my dad (just rice) and then we all visited Joan .. including my dad! Yes, this is the part where I relate back to his health -- with his walker, he went from our room to the room two doors down and stood up talking with it for about 15 minutes! We showed her what we got and she was glad we had used the opportunity to go out. Then I visited Sonyas mom, because she wanted to see what I'd purchased as well. I showered and now me and dad are watching free movies on tv on the only channel we get subtitles with (our volume does not turn up load even though the other rooms do.. ). Dad is moving his leg without as much pain and can walk whenever he needs to (ex-to the bathroom). So in summary today 1) I left the hospital! 2)Dad's able to get around with the walker! 3)The internet is working! and 4) I talked to people. It was an exciting day :)
Typing for Gary..
I am dictating for dad who is awake now:
I'll tell you about my little details about my health for the day. Everything went very well, but I was concerned last night for the second night in a row. I felt bloated but last night only I also felt a little clammy. I finally got to sleep at about 4:30 and when a nurse came in at 7:30, I felt totally better, just dry mouth. Then I slept till 9ish. After I got rolled downstairs for the surgery, I was put to sleep in no time and when I woke up I really wasn't sure whether I had my surgery done yet or not. When a nurse started squeezing water in my mouth, I then knew it already happened. But there was absolutely no difference in the feeling of either leg. I've only peed once today, whereas last time I probably went close to 10 times, so I think something else was going on last time. Now I'm feeling very comfy, ate salad and fruit for dinner with no problem but it is QUITE sore when I move my leg in any direction, but not as sore as last time.
Julie has been having a good time so far and it's helped that we met other patients, including a woman next door who is having surgery tomorrow. The set up at platinum ward is pretty neat, especially since there is no commotion in the hallway. Nonetheless, I predict Julie will be getting itchy a day or two before we leave the hospital. It is great having her here.
Mission Accomplished
Dad's surgery was successful! I do not know the details, but he is laying on his bed behind me sleeping now. It took a while longer than I expected, and then Mohan took me down to the operating room to see him. He was conscious and knew who we were and all but his voice was half-gone. He asked for drops of water, got them, and then I was taken back upstairs. I spent time online today and just started reading a book. He recently was brought back up to the room- he must have slept through the elevator ride and all - and then he woke up here. After the nurses left he said he felt fine but very tired and weak. He seemed happy with that though. He falls asleep instantly after the nurses awake him for things, so the drugs must still be working. Every time he wakes up - even when we went down the first time - he jokes (even though his voice is half gone), haha... and then pretty soon after laughing..he starts snoring, and I know he's sleeping again. I am not sure about his blood pressure and all of that - they gave him extra meds. But as far as the actual hip resurfacing surgery itself goes, it was a success. :D
*SURGERY TOMORROW MORNING
Since I have just started writing in this blog tonight, I have not been able to recap our trip up to this point yet -- however I am going to interrupt the blogs to move into present time, because, as many of you who are checking (mostly family, I assume) know, dad's surgery is tomorrow morning. It's currently 12:20 am here and his surgery is at(they keep changing the time.. but I believe the procedure officially starts around) 11:00 am, as that was the time given from Dr. Bose when he visited us tonight. He will be gone for at least 3 hours, and when he is back he may not be conscious (anesthesia) but I'm sure the doctors will give me a report of how it went and I will update right afterwards. I will continue updating about his recovery for the next few days, as about two days after seems to be when people are usually in the most pain (according to conversations we've had today with other patients who are far along on the process of recovery). I sincerely hope that the surgery goes well - possibly better than the last one. His system has been a little out of whack recently from all of the buffets/wine so he's a little worried about that. His blood pressure is also very high and they gave him extra medication for it in addition to his usual. Also, he just told me that he is starting to feel dehydrated (again) with a bad taste in his mouth -- as some of you (certainly Saku) remember, the worst part o the surgery for him 2 years ago was waking up extremely thirsty and not being able to drink any water. He doesn't know why this happened but since he feels dry again I'm assuming its a reaction to the medicine they give him the day before because it would not make sense for him to randomly feel like this both times. We will see how he is after surgery tomorrow -- he drank a lot of water today but now is not allowed to drink or eat anything until after surgery - a long time.. i'm guessing about 15 hours. Other patients we spoke to did not seem to have this problem, although one was allergic to a painkiller they gave him. Anyways, hopefully dehydration will be his biggest problem and the actual surgery goes smoothly. This leg has always been better than his last so I don't see why it wouldn't. I will stop rambling about his health now (lots of spare time/can't sleep) and will update soon. Although I am worried it seems as though Dr. Bose + staff have got this surgery down, as other patients seems more than happy with the results. :)
From London to Chennai: An adventurous beginning in India
Transition + India Day 1:
We got up the next morning, had the breakfast buffet, had a nice and quick conversation with the male owner of the hotel and then lugged our luggage down the steps and down the streets (two luggage peices and a backpack each..we can just get it all.. what am I going to do after his surgery?!?) It was a workout again. We got to the station and took Heathrow Connect -- SO much simpler and better than taking the tube with luggage..esp. at rush hour. (If you are going do not take Express as it is triple the price- take Connect, the only difference is that there are about 3 stops instead of a nonstop route). You will avoid the steps and crowded tube. We got to the airport, I searched and bought my dad a USB port for his new (and first ipod) since he left his at home and wants to be able to listen to it when he's bored and can't move in the hospital. We quickly stopped at another internet cafe and then boarded. A slight delay but not as bad as in Philly, and then we were off for a flight.. take off at 12:55 p.m. (london time) and arrival at 3:25 a.m. (chennai time) which makes it about 9 1/2 hours in the air. I can't sleep on planes so I watched many movies. We were just about the only white people I saw on the plane (the plane was huge and packed), so that was different. When we stepped out of the plane, even though it was 3:45am-ish chennai time .. it was very hot. I remember being horrified at the thought of the heat during daytime if nighttime was that hot. We waited in the international passengers passport check line and then waited for our luggage. Then we stepped outside. It was the most dramatic thing ever. We stepped out, and even though it was 4:15am-ish, there was a HUGE LONG line of people/drivers waiting to pick people up from the airport. I still had on my london clothes (just blue khaki pants and a short sleeved turquiose shirt) but we DEFINITELY stood out. Walking down that long line with our luggage was like a never-ending walk of shame. I have never felt like such an outsider in my LIFE. We finally found the guy who was there for us (provided by the hospital) and we loaded our things into his vehicle. I did not have a good first impression of the people in Chennai, but now I realize that this is because people on the streets /outside the airport at this time act differently than the average person here. There were lots of very blatant stares while waiting for our things to be loaded and from people on other vehicles outside the window on the ride to the hotel. We arrived at the hotel and it was huge and beautiful- very different from the surrounding areas. We waited awhile for our room to be cleaned and then tried to go to sleep.. but it was already light out. We didn't get out of bed until about 1 or 2 pm! But it still seemed as though we spent the full day outside. We walked out and it was pure confusion. It was hot and the traffic was so confusing so we just picked a direction and went down the street. My dad had a few toys for beggars and such and withintwo minutes a little indian boy came up to us pointing to his stomach for $ (for food) .. although it's likely that he would have to give any $ to his parents. My dad gave him a toy and he looked at it in confusionfor awhile and held onto it, but kept begging. Within a minute a woman and her daughter came begging "please sir" and "please madam" .. soon more and more children and a few woman and babies surrounded us.. almost like when you're feeding seagulls at the beach, they seemed to come out of nowhere. We did not have much indian change yet and were very much so surrounded by the crowd. We were basically helpless after awhile, after we had given away all of our gifts we could not walk without the crowd following us, which only attracted more beggars. It was a crazy first 20 minutes out on the streets on Chennai. We eventually had some of them lead us to a food place and bought two boys lunch, which they sat down and ate very happily. We gave some others money for fruit juice and then a few boys on motorcycles scolded the young boys for not leaving us alone and asked where we were from etc. Then a man came up to my dad rambling about his 50 rupees rickshaw ride to the beach to take a picture.. we didn't quite understand what he was talking about because of the accent.. but getting on a rickshaw cheaply (and getting away from the beggars) sounded awfully good at the moment so we hopped on. The traffic was even more frightening from the rickshaw which is open in the back where we were sitting and is a small tri-wheel yellow vehicle. It was good for filming, but the pollution in your face as you went through the streets got bad after awhile. We first stopped at a beautiful church and went inside - it was very nice and there were some people in there. We then stopped at a hindu temple (i am not sure of the names of either of these places at the moment but they are the regular tourist sites in chennai). The colorfully painted animals/gods on the tower was truly remarkable. We had to take our shoes off (ee) and then we walked around .. and got tricked into paying a tour guide to show us around. He spoke good english though, was very nice, and said he had many friends i
nPhilly and knew of Apollo Hospital - he even had a friend from NY who had recently visited and got the same surgery done -- he was wondering why american's have so many problems with their hips. There were many people worshipping there which was interesting. Our guide explained many of the customs and even put red ash on our forheads - a similar symbolic ritual to ash weds.. except this is done each time they go to the temple. There was also an area where people bowed down and touched there foreheads to the ground. There were also areas where people seemed to be simply hanging out there, and also an indoor spot where they fed the poor 3 meals a day. We got back on our rickshaw and next went to a beach. We got out and walked around for a bit, as there were people walking up and down / sitting on the beach. When we got back to our rickshaw, our driver, who spoke enough english although with a heavy accent, had me come up to the fron with him as my dad got a picture like i was driving it... then.. this was scary.. he put his foot on the gas and actually let me steer.. since i don't even drive regular cars steering a rickshaw suddenly (not on a main road but there were still vehicles and kids playing on the street) was interesting. My dad missed it with the video camera so we had to redo it -- just what i wanted, let me tell you - but there was barely any traffic this time so it was better. (And the driver was definitely helping me steer, but it still makes me nervous looking back on it). We drove alongthe beach, where the tsunami had hit and there were many temporary hut-like structures set up there, we drove around the village which also looked very poor and different from other areas of the city - there was even indian music playing. We headed back onto the main streets and the rickshaw stopped working. He hopped out, tried to fix it, it stopped again and he then wheeled us to a place where they adjusted some wires and used some tools and fixed it. This made me a bit nervous, but it seemed to work fine afterwards. We then went to a place to buy an indian outfit for me. I picked a fabric out of many many options and we got it. THEN they let me try it on. I had no idea how to put it on me (a large rectangular peice of cloth) so two women helped me. It was pretty big -- too much material for me, and too long. I dont know if i can find someone to hem it/cut it here, which is a shame because I would love to fit in better on the streets. However, my indian friend who moved to Florida (Preethi!) has informed me since via facebook that I should have gotten a salvar instead of a sari, since sari's are mostly worn by older women. Who would've known?! Then we got back on the rickshaw and he drove us to a handicraft place.. which we looked around in but didn't get anything at.. we said no more handicrafts but he took us to another fancier place with very fine, expensive goods (handcarved wooden statues/figures, metal sculptures (both small and huge), even carpets) .. *warning for anyone traveling to india - if you take a rickshaw, make it clear that you do not want to go to what they call "handicraft" stores such as these .. there must be some sort of deal, because they all do this. We thankfully were driven to plenty of other places as well and only to 2 of these, but others can be worse. weird.* We got him to drive us backto out hotel, and he told us that for his daughters birthday he is collecting her $ from different nationalities so along with an indian tip we gave him some pounds and American bills/coins. He deserved the tip ad he took us around all day and tried to make conversation with us while driving most of the time. He kept saying : "My family very happy today. You in my rickshaw! Thats business" He also told us straight out that our meter was broken (which they usually are -- rigged to higher prices to trick passengers) and said he was not a cheat and let us pick the price. He also got very mad when he found out his friend, our tour guide at the temple, had ripped us off (or at least pretended to be mad - we couldnt tell). That night we showered, got somewhat dressed up and then ate our FIRST MEAL in india -- we went SO long without any food!!! we had only had part of a luna bar for breakfast. We were starving so we went to the buffet in the bottom of the hotel and ate TONS of indian food way too quickly. I know my limits to some extent.. but dad .. he ate a LOT. The buffet was huge, salads, soups, breads, lots of noodle/rice dishes, meat dishes in interesting spices and sauces, as well as many vegetarian dishes (as most people in south india are vegetarians - most of the indian restaurants back home are northern indian, which is different, and mostly non-veg I believe), a bar of desserts, ice cream, etc.etc.etc. Our time schedule was very messed up so after our huge meal we stayed up until about 4 something am in the hotel room.. it was getting light again when we went to bed.
India: Day 2
Since it was the day before traveling to the hospital, and since we had so much excitement the day before, dad wanted to rest before his upcoming surgery. We slept in way late ... and then ordered room service. Yes, we are that lazy (and it was cheaper than the other options). The food we shared was good and plain (baked chicken, mango milkshake, paratha) which was just what we wanted after the buffet. Then we went down to the business center and shared an hours worth of time on the internet. As I took the 2nd shift dad went to the gym to work out. Then he charged his ipod (it's a nano and i've been calling it his 'little friend' b/c he's never had his own before and has been clearly enjoying it.. even at the beginning he was rocking out in the philly airport ..eeek) and then he took a swim in the outdoor (but covered) hotel pool while I lounged in the room (my senior mini-week sunburn is way too bad to be outside in a suit). He came back and showered and then we walked around the hotel exploring various food options.. a mexican place looked good (and tempting because it wasn't indian) but he ended up wanting to go to the same buffet again. We enjoyed it much more this time because we weren't so ridiculously hungry. We ate too much (esp him)...what else is new, but we took our time because we had nothing better to do. After our meal we walked outside just a little bit in the surrounding areas of the hotel. Then we explored within the hotel, and found a restaurant that took up the entire 20th floor .. even though we had already eaten the waiter showed us to the outside portion of the restaurant which was beautiful. The tables overlooked the city (20 floors) and you could really see Chennai. There was water surrounding the perimeter of the outside area. Neither of us had a camera since we stumbled upon the place. Soon after, we explored other floors and then went back to our room. We packed, I showered, he had a big dilemma over not having a red pen and then losing some of the information he needed to write with it while searching for one, i got him to give it up finally, and we went to sleep very late again.
London: Day 3
On Thursday, we slept/rested just past the breakfast at the hotel (9:30.. we hadn't gone to bed until about 3 the night before) so we skipped breakfast and rushed to find a tour bus since our 24 hour ticket was expiring soon. Once we got on, we knew we couldn't get off and catch other busses b/c our ticket would have expired. So we took it easy and stayed on the bus for about 3 hours as it toured all through London. We think we walked faster the day before than the bus moved, but the commentary and sights were enjoyable. We got off and stopped at a Lebanese retaurant on the way back to the hotel (we were expecting mostly english food, but there are tons of lebanese, and various other internation restaurants in london!) I had a "goat cheese salad" and dad had lamb curry. It was good other than all of the smoke from the huge pipe-like things that they serve there. I'm not sure what they are called but it is obviously a custom to smoke it with a meal as many people were always outside the restaurant doing so each time we walked by. We went back and rested, and then took a regular city bus (instead of walking, thank goodness!) to picadilly circus and decided to see.. another show! We didn't know what else to do. We were too late so the cheap ticket selling place was out of tickets for the shows we were considering.. so we decided on Les Mis and walked to the theater to see if we could get tickets, and we did! We shared duck and soup very quickly at a Chinese restaurant since Chinatown was right next to the theater. Then Les Mis! It was a slightly obstructed view, but it really was not that bad (DSL was blocked, that was all), on the first row of the first balcony level. It was a GREAT production - I've only seen Les Mis once before (4 years ago in Philly) and I loved it then and have been wanting to see it again since. It is officially one of my favorite musicals now. Jean val jean (sp?) was fantastic!..as were eponine, cosette, etc. The story and music are great :) Then we didn't know where to get a bus so we walked back, stopped for gelati at the same place (Bella Italia - since it was so good) as the night before, stopped at another internet cafe to print our boarding passes and such and walked back to the hotel where I made dad start packing and I packed up my things as well even though it was late.
The Beginning: London Days 1 + 2
Hello blog-readers! It's Julie writing and it looks as though I will be taking over the blog since dad needs to rest. There is much to catch up on - we couldn't write earlier because we had to pay for our time on various computers at cafes in england and the hotel in chennai, but now that we're at the hospital and have had the internet connected we will hopefully have unlimited access :) (which I'm very happy about because it looks like I'll have time to spare this week). I guess I'll start from the beginning even though my memory is a bit blurry at this point.
DAY (s) #1: We arrived at the airport in good time (not late for once!) The flight was fairly long (about 7 hours plus a delay in the philly terminal) and we had jetlag since we took off around 6:15 pm and when we landed in England it was 6:20 am (english time) .. we then took the tube which was somewhat disastrous! It was morning rush hour in england and we had tons of luggage and then tube just kept getting more and more crowded at every stop.. and then we had to transfer lines and had to carry our luggage up and down steps and had to do the same when we arrived.. whoops. we were trying to save $ but later realized that we could take the heathrow connect instead of express (which was much easier o nthe way back) for about the same $ as the tube. We lugged our things to our hotel, which was more like a small bed and breakfast owned by a couple.. the husband was from malta, italy and were not sure of the wife's nationality. We first had a very noisy small room right next to the desk on the first floor but thankfully got it changed to a nice one upstairs. Running up and down the spiral stairs for 5 flights with our various luggage peices was worth it. We were tired but it was bright out and we (or at least I) was anxious to see London so we went for a walk. It was beautiful out (clear and sunny- very rare for london) so we walked to Hyde park and sat on lounging chairs that were out all around and got a sandwhich.. dad fell asleep for a bit.. then he tried to feed the pigeons chips ..but they didn't want his food. The birds must be spoiled there.. dad kept trying to get them to eat his chips.. it was sad. He said his food "wasn't even good enough for the birds". Then we bought a bus tour ticket for the next day. We walked around London for awhile.. up and down Oxford Street and the surrounding areas. We went in a few stores but just walked by most of them to see what was around. I thought that a japanese place called "Wasabi" looked sweet from the outside so we went in. It had lime green chairs and was decorated modernly. The ENTIRE side wall was full of sushi. They had the regular boxes, but they also had peices of sushi wrapped individually, (almost like candy) that they sold. We had already eaten but I got two peices as a snack (I was very fascinated with the wrapping of each peice and the display of so many individually wrapped peices on the wall). Then we went to a nice area that reminded us of rittenhouse square, one of the "circus" es in london but not a well-known one, and the sun was shining so we laid down and dad fell asleep. Then we headed back, and dad sat on a bench while I went into a huge H+M (but I didn't buy anything.. prices in London are ridiculous!). We headed back and rested .. dad had slept on the plane (THROUGH TAKEOFF EVEN!) and taken various naps but I hadn't slept in two days due to the time difference so I fell asleep for about half and hour until the phone rang. We didn't realize they were coming this early, but it was Sulochana (Saku's friend from going to school together and living in Sri Lanka and then England) and her son Tim. They were downstairs at our hotel, so although we were a bit sleep deprived, we quickly got ready and went downstairs to meet them. We walked around and we arrived at an Indian restaurant that we though we would try. (We ate lots of indian food before coming to India!) The food and wine was good and we had a very good time. They were both extremely nice and we ended up staying in the restaurant talking for at least half an hour after we had finished eating! They had traveled a lot (traveling seems to be easier and cheaper when you live in Europe since things are so close together) so they told us about different trips and we talked about differences between the UK and US in terms of schooling, and our families and such. They talked a bit about their jobs a bit and about Sulochana's other son, Richard (whom I'd met in Philly a few years back) and his studies of classics at Oxford. Dad eagerly tried to get Sulochana to tell him some dirt on saku's past .. but he got nothing. ;) It was a good time with lots of laughter and we are very grateful that they came into London to take us out.
London Day 2: We got up in time for the free breakfast cooked by the owners of the hotel. We had eggs, English bacon, mushrooms, sausage, tea, juice, etc. Then we got ready and went out on the bus tour - we took the original bus company although we probably should have taken the big bus company since there were more of them throughout the city - or at least there seemed to be. We sat on top and got off pretty soon after the tour started at Buckingham Palace for the Changing of The Guards.. it was packed with people/tourists so it was very hard to see much. It happens in london at the same time every day - a very formal ceremony type thing with band uniforms and horses and the whole nine yards. I would never want to be a part of that every single day, although I'm sure it's an honor. Afterward we we back on stopped at various other touristy spots in London. We took a free ferry (part of the bus tour package) down the Thames and stopped at the London Eye which we sadly did not go on. I had fish and chips for lunch (had to do that while in England of course..) and then we took the next ferry to grennich (sp?) village. There were many restaurants and shops and such there and we also went into a maritime museum and walked around the gardens of........... We eventually took the ferry back and realized from our tourist book that it wasn't too late to buy theater tickets for that night. We had a lot of trouble finding a tour bus and ended up walking to picadilly circus where we got inexpensive tickets (at least for london) in the 3RD ROW for that nights production of Avenue Q which I know the music of but have never seen in NY. We were walkingaroundto find somewhere to eat and out of nowhere there was a huge platform and red carpet etc. set up right in the area in front of a movie theater and it was PACKED with people. We found out that the UK premier of the movie Hancock (i think thats the name) was thta night and the cast came out on the red carpet.. everyone was psyched for will smith. It was a huge deal - tons set up, ltos of ppl and lots of sreaming- very random though. We got dinner at an overpriced not-so-great italian place and then saw the show. The cast was fantastic and it was a very enjoyable and creative, lighthearted production. The puppets slash acting at the same time must be really hard and we were impressed especially by the main male character who played 2 parts. We had already done a LOT of walking that day but we decided to walk all the way back from picadilly circus to the hotel on sussex gardens (off of edgeware) we stopped at another (much better) italian place for my dad to rest and my to get gelati! Which was absolutely delicious;) his mango juice was great too.. (ok ill stop rambling..) We then stopped at an internet cafe for the first time and stayed until they closed at 1 am (ish) we eventually got back and slept.
Hip #2!!
Two years wiser & two years pain-free in my right hip, it's time to give my left hip equal care. My daughter and I depart in a few hours, 1st for London for 3 days, and then to the esteemable Dr. Bose, in Chennai. We are not bringing a laptop, and I don't know how frequently we will be using computers, but time will tell. Whatever the circumstances become regarding the future of this blog, I have a wonderful small camcorder with its own hard drive, and I will be making a crude DVD of our adventure when I'm stuck at home in early July. Perhaps my daughter will do the lion's share of the blog posts. She has way too much energy for me!! I love the fact that she is joining me for my 2nd hippy adventure!
Homeward Bound
Even though I have another day here, I plan to make this my last post....unless something unusual occurs. Last night, Dr. Bose made a quick decision out of the ordinary, partly due to his tight schedule. Saku and I plus another couple were invited to his home at 8PM for our final check-ups. We had a splendid visit, ate a wonderful meal, and oh yes, I passed the final test and received the final bandage (in a different room) before departure. Here is a picture of Dr. Bose, the man who gave me my life back, along with his wife and daughter. His cute 6 year old son was in bed by this time. Thank you, Dr. Bose, from the bottom of my heart!
Palani
Palani is a beach hawker who comes each day to a designated spot with his wife and members of 4 other families to sell their wares to tourists at our resort. They are not situated where the tourists relax on the beach, but about 50 yards away, waving silk saris to entice buyers. Not many get enticed, but Saku and I were, one reason being that although Saku went into town once for shopping, she had yet to make any purchases. We may have not gotten the very best "stuff" from these families, but we certainly like what we purchased, and we formed nice friendships, particularly with Palani. Palani is an ex-fisherman who has had hip and pelvic problems that prevent him from fishing. His home was wiped out by the tsunami and he lives in a modest rented structure a few hundred yards away from the resort along with fisherman families. Palani, near penniless, and a very sore hip, had his hip resurfaced 6 months ago by, yes, one of the best hip surgeons in the world, Dr. Bose! A few months ago, Palani developed a nice friendship with another surface hippy from America, Rus Kappius (who's blog gave me the idea to do the same), and when I mentioned Palani to Dr. Bose at my final check-up, he remembered him immediately...as he does all of his patients. After Saku and I had a few stimulating conversations with Palani (Saku in Tamil), Palani invited us to his home for lunch (how's that for Indian hospitality!), and we made a date for the next day contingent upon my walking ability. The Friday meal - a whole fish, plus prawns and even a lobster tail, with dhal and chapathi was just wonderful. Here is a picture of a stuffed me between Palani and his wife. Palani then kindly took us for a stroll through the fishing village and here are two fairly typical pictures. One is an entrance to a home, where each morning the mother pours rice flour on the walkway, somehow into these georgous patterns. Saku explained to me that this indicates the family is up and about, and also the symbols are inviting to guests, who gradually disperse the powder as they walk on it. The next picture is of a bricklayer working in the hot sun to rebuild a home destroyed from the tsunami. Palani and I exchanged addresses - hopefully our relationship will endure!
Happy as a Clam
I'm loving it here at this casual resort. We did visit a couple staying at Fisherman's Cove, and it is true that the grounds there are perfectly landscaped and everything is picture-perfect (I took several), but this place has everything set up the way we like it. It just seems more natural. Saku and I were hoping we'd get some quality vacation time during these 6 days, but I don't think we anticipated it would be this good. Also behind my smile was a morning discovery that I could get around easily in the room using one crutch, which means I can actually carry a glass of water or other prized item all by my little self. Gary P.S. Do you like my "fashionable" white TEDS?
Discharged
Hi there - attached are some pictures in chronological order. The first is of Saku with Mohan, the patient coordinator, 10 minutes before I left the hospital. I will miss Dr. Bose and Mohan, because they were so warm, caring and professional. In fact, I cannot emphasize the word "professional" enough. Although my hospital room was more than adequate, they are in the process of building a whole wing just for hip resurfacing, where the bathroom floors will be less slippery, etc., and Mohan won't have to go floor-to-floor to visit patients. Most importantly, nursing staff will be directly assigned to this wing and under the supervision of Dr. Bose's team. I believe even the surgery will be done on this new wing. It was easy to walk with my elbow crutches outside to the transportation van. The subsequent pictures are of leaving the hospital for approximately a 40 minute drive to the beach resort. The traffic was quite clogged the first 20 minutes and then eased up, only to be slowed down by a cow or two. Some stiffness sitting in the car on my right side, but not too bad at all.
Day 5 After
Even though this was early in the morning (great nurses C. Jayalakshmi and D. Suniram feeding me pills), my day started quite earlier. Fell asleep on the late side, and at 5:15 am I saw a young adult male standing over me muttering something. I have formed the bad habit of shaking my head up and down and saying "yes" or "ok" when I'm not quite sure of the question, as I'm usually asked if everything is alright or whether it's ok for the worker to do something in the room. After my nod, the fellow turned around and started preparing something and I was wondering why he didn't leave. Saku then notified me that I had just consented to a sponge bath in bed. That stirred me conscious, as it was the last thing I wanted at this time or actually any more times as they're not as luxurious as they may sound... and anyway I received a waterproof bandage yesterday and took a shower before sleeping. I clarified I did not want one and tried to fall back asleep. As I'm writing this, a woman just happens to be in my room who actually did give me a sponge bath a few days ago. I showed her the picture of her colleagues and I think she would like her picture posted too, so Saku just took it 5 minutes ago. This very kind woman's name is Sheela Darathy. Tomorrow morning I get discharged. All going well.
Day 4 After
No - it's not a daredevil stunt - in fact, I lasted only a few seconds in this position. On Day 4 "on the other side" no more second thoughts, or occasional wishes that Jack Kevorkian would quickly relieve me from my pain and inability to move. I did receive a good 3 1/2 days worth course on Preparing for Nursing Home life, but today my visions revolve more around rejoining the Delco Road Running Club... when they run on soft surfaces. I know I have many stages to complete before accomplishing that feat, but after a fun chat with Dr. Bose today (he even makes rounds on Sundays) when we talked about athletes who have come under his knife, and whether or not Floyd Landis may be on the horizon (an inquiry has been established), I felt really psyched...only to be reduced to submortal status when I struggled to take babysteps while placing my body weight on the affected hip guided by the walker. Saku has met the wives of two other Surface Hippies (one from Arizona and another from Saskatchewan - a tae kwon do instructor who I believe is way ahead of me with physical therapy). Saku went to the shopping mall with the Canadian wife yesterday and we plan to go out with the Arizona couple toward the end of our stay at Ideal Resort which begins on Tuesday - we decided to only spend two days at Fisherman's Cove and Mohan, Dr. Bose's Coordinator, easily made this change. Hope I didn't bore you too much during my week vacation at Apollo Hospital! P.S. Good luck Julie on your Louisiana Mission Trip!! Welcome back David!!
72 hours
Hi there. I made it all the way to the other end of the room without human assistance, and am sitting on a nice fluffy pillow atop a sturdy chair. I appreciate Saku's blogging for me in the interim and keeping me abreast of your comments and emails. I was able to sleep thru last night without feeling pain or needing to fill up the potty jug every hour or so like the previous two nights. (The problem with the jug was I couldn't stand it upright after filling it so I had to keep bugging the nurse or Saku to have the honor of dumping it.) Last night was fulfilling in that I could do the physical therapy exercises without too much grimacing and didn't get dizzy when I got up and moved about with the walker. Dr. Bose is a busy man - he's done at least two surgeries a day since I arrived, and visited me twice yesterday with his assistants/trainees. This picture was taken at approximately 7 pm and I'm sure he had already put in another 12 hour day. He showed me some pictures and a ten-second film of the surgery on the back of his camera and will copy it to a CD. It was bloody! Dr. Bose posesses a certain charisma - he has a youthful smile and speaks with great confidence without being pompous. A refreshing, professional style! I've never been overnight in a hospital before, so I don't know whether certain things here are routine or distinctive, but everyone who has come into my door (and there have been many) has been conscientious and pleasant. I also know, just from reading the Indian newspaper, just how low the wages are for certain service occupations. I imagine many staff here are very lowly paid, and it's amazing how much they put forth for their salaries and maintain what seems like a very natural pleasant demeanor. Saku may go outside today with some other people she's met. Staff are quite surprised when they realize that Saku speaks Tamil. Although all staff speak English clearly, some have difficulty communicating certain things and enjoy speaking in Tamil with Saku. The nurse wants to check my blood pressure now so I will depart. I plan to post once a day. Again, thank you all for your well-wishes! Gary
The day after the day after
Yesterday, the day after surgery was spent on recovery. (Despite the date on this post, Indian time right now is Friday the 14). Gary experienced some pain and sitting up and standing with the help of the physiotherapist was not exactly fun but all of that is par for the course after major surgery. The trajectory of Gary's recovery so far has been a nice steady journey upwards. Last night was better than the first night and both Gary and I got some sleep. Today's challenge will be trying to walk for the first time when the physiotherapist turns up. While Gary may not make it to the computer for a little while, I have been able to read him the comments posted to him. Gary enjoyed hearing all the supportive comments and would like to thank you all for them.
surgery was successful!
Gary was prepared for surgery starting at 6:00 am
. By the time all the preparation and then the surgery was done it was 11:00 am. Mohan, who coordinates for Dr. Bose, called to let me (Saku) know that surgery had gone well and that no complications were encountered. I was able to see Gary briefly in the recovery room, where he was definitely the most chipper amongst all the patients there! Gary was wheeled back to his room at 3:00 pm, sore but otherwise doing really well. While he encountered a little nausea all body functions returned to normal relatively quickly and by 7:00 pm he had eaten his first solid food for the day, a slice of brown bread, milk and cereal, and some papaya fruit. Nausea had receded by this time so he showed no inclination to throw it up either! All in all a successful day, although it involved much nail chewing for his family.
Hospital - Pre-Op
The Apollo Hospital has everything well-organized, from hotel pick-up to medical tests to food. Dr. Bose's coordinator, Mohan, handled all the details, and I met with the dietician, the assisting cardiologist, the cardiologist, the anaesthesiologist, my surgeon's assisting doctor, and my surgeon, Dr. Vijay Bose. I was asked every question under the sun to get my full medical history. I was x-rayed, echo cardiogrammed, weighed, measured, had blood and urine samples, etc. I had some trouble understanding a few questions due to my partial hearing loss and the local accent, so Saku very ably assisted. Dr. Bose was light-hearted and informative -- it was a special treat to meet with him in his office, and chat awhile even though it was 7:30 P.M. I will be woken at 6:30 tomorrow morning and taken to surgery - I believe I'm the only one on Dr. Bose's list. I really like the hospital suite they placed me in for the next 5-6 days. Here are some pictures of it, including the computer I'm typing from. (Mohan said that new suites are being constructed and should be completed in 2 months.) See you on the other side!
To Apollo Hospital
Pick-up is in 20 minutes - we're checked out and I snuck to their computer lab one last time. We had a very enjoyable stay here at the Residency Towers, and got to know several staff, who live nearby. Worked out at their gym at 7:30 AM, and saw Ryan Howard win the Home Run competition. I'm not sure what the computer set-up will be like at the Hospital, so if it is problematic, I (or Saku) may not post until sometime after surgery. If I can post beforehand, I will find something to blather about! Ciao!
Sleepy Day
I looked out the window this Monday morning, after a late night watching the World Cup finals which ended at 2 AM, and the traffic had magnified from yesterday. Went downstairs for a scrumptious breakfast (don't ask me what I ate, because I don't know) and then went to the Hotel computer room and wrote yesterday's blog before returning to my room for a light nap. We had planned to take a cab tour for a few hours, but when I woke up, it was 7 hours later and night was falling. Not wise to tour at nightime, so we did the next best thing - we ate again.
Now I can say for sure I'm rested before check-in at Apollo Hospital tomorrow morning. Here is a picture of me after my 7 hour catnap, and of Saku at the Hotel dinner buffet. One side note: for whatever reason, we both came away from this dinner highly impressed with the social organization and efficiency of the staff. They certainly appeared to be enjoying themselves while working, engaging in smooth conversation with patrons, with each other when they had a minute or two, and keeping an attentive eye on whatever was needed by a patron or along the buffet table. When the chefs had a spare moment, they would come outside the cooking area and politely socialize with the patrons. Everything just seemed to work more smoothly than other buffets I've been to; it was a happy environment.
Lesson Learned
One thing I attempted to prepare for, based on the little I knew of Indian street-life, was the presence of children beggars. Surprisingly, none came our way until we came across a little boy who tried to sell me some cotton swabs. I wasn't interested, but gave him some pens and postcards. But the cute boy persisted with the sale, and once I gave him 20 rupees for some swabs, a cute girl, perhaps his sister, started tugging on me and I took her picture and then showed it to her in the viewfinder. I gave her some colored pencils and postcards, but she wanted to eat, so I gave her some loose change. The two kids continued to follow us and beg for food, despite our gentle efforts to leave them. (A number of adults saw what was going on and told the kids to knock it off.) Thinking they were just hustling me for more money, I asked the kids why they couldn't buy food with the money I just gave them, but they said they didn't have it. Then I remembered there was an adult near them who must have received the money. They didn't want more money from me, just something to eat, so when we went by a little fruit stand (pictured), I asked if they wanted some fruit, and they enthusiastically said they would like a mango drink. I complied and noticed another person, crippled, pointing to his mouth. I felt very happy to leave them contented, even if just for the moment.
Street Shopping
Despite some sleep deprivation, Saku and I decided to venture outside for a short walk around the block. This was not as simple an undertaking as we envisioned, and we returned hot and tired in a little over an hour. Even on a Sunday, when the main shops were closed, the streets were very crowded, particularly the sidewalks. We purchased a few knick-nacks and engaged in pleasant conversation with vendors. I had a stack of Philadelphia postcards, and people appreciated it when I handed them one or two. Here is a picture of a typical street scene, of Saku interacting with a drum hawker and of a woman extracting juice from sugar cane.
Arrival at Chennai
We are comfortably situated in the confines of our Hotel room at 6 AM, looking down below. At first glance, the drivers and pedestrians look anything but safe, going in all mishmashes of directions. But as we kept watching, we realized that everyone seemed to know exactly what to do to avoid collision. To get to these cozy hotel confines, let me revert back to the plane trip.
The flight on British Airways from London, despite taking 9 1/2 hours, was very comfortable and enjoyable. There was sufficient leg room (although the amount in 1st class was obscene!), the seats were comfortable, the food tasty, and the children on board surprisingly well-behaved the whole time. I selected an Indian movie which was not typical Bollywood fare. It was a very stimulating, well-crafted portrayal of Delhi college students taking on the system - "Rang de Basanti." (I highly recommend it.) Saku sat next to an older woman who was returning from visiting her children in New York. She didn't speak English very well, so Saku spoke in Tamil for the first time in quite a while. When we arrived at 4:30 AM today (Sunday), we went through the "Foreigners" line, and saw a relatively small number of Indians in our line, which meant that most travellers on board were returning to India vs visiting there. As soon as we got outside, there were mobs of people waiting to pick up their relatives and friends. We had no trouble finding our pick-up person arranged by the hospital. The 20 minute drive to our hotel was adventurous, as there was an interesting mix of traffic even at 5:15 AM. There was lots of honking, but as we learned from our driver, one is expected to beep when close to another vehicle to alert them of your (very near) presence. It was still somewhat dark, so only the close-up pictures with my flash were viewable. The first is of the most popular vehicle we saw - an auto-rickshaw, the second of two passengers on a bus, and a third of another very popular vehicle - a motorcycle, with a woman passenger, dressed elegantly in a sari.
Stopover at Heathrow Airport
Well, it didn't start out smoothly, as I found myself trying to play the caretaker role, which was not what I was best equipped for. Saku was feeling quite ill at the time of departure, and made one last trip to the Ladies room just when boarding commenced. We made it on board in the nick of time, and Saku quickly used up her allotment of barf bags. To avoid dehydration I used my stopwatch and she sipped a half a fluid ounce of seltzer water or ginger ale every two minutes. She fell asleep (or passed out) after about an hour, and up until arrival at London. Fortunately, Saku was much better then. I was relieved I didn't have to carry her heavy bag with my hip between flights! Here is a picture at the departure gate to Chennai. I noticed that about 90% of passengers were Indian, but we weren't sure at the time whether they were visiting London from India, or vice versa.
Up, Up, and Way Away
Tonight I leave - bye, bye Philly. (Are you hiding behind those larger buildings, William Penn?) I'm psyched and ready for my day and a half vacation in Chennai before going under the knife....I guess I'm psyched for that too, but not quite in the same way. Dowloaded 3 audiobooks to my son's IPOD, which he let me borrow (Da Vinci Code - abridged, a volume of classic short stories and The Human Stain by Philip Roth). See my daughter, Julie, for lunch, then Saku will come over with her lightly? packed suitcase. 1st flight to London (7 hr, 25 min) and 2nd to Chennai (9 hr) - we'll be there at 4 AM Sunday (which is 5:30 PM Saturday in Philadelphia). I will post a picture (or 2 or 3) from the day sometime on Sunday. Enjoy your weekend. Ciao.
Getting Closer
Well, I'm glad I worked late last night because today was a lot of fun, but not much got done. It's days like today which make me extraordinarily proud I work at Philadelphia Health Management Corporation. Everyone has their own way of showing care and concern, and it was shown to me by fellow employees and work contacts over the past few days in truly warm, genuine ways. I am touched. I also received some great well-wishes from the indiaresurfacing discussion group - I feel like I know them personally, as well as the Temple gang, the running group, church, family and even the guy who works behind the counter at the Indian restaurant I frequent. I have more social support than I could have ever dreamed about! I'm ready for the surgery!
Hip Resurfacing vs THR
A picture tells a 1000 words, so here is one where the person got a THR (total hip replacement) on one side and a HSR (hip surface replacement) on the other. See where the bone is missing on the THR side (left hip)? Although the metal spike is deep and solid in the femur, the remaining bone does not get utilized as fully or naturally as with the HSR (metal is cupped over the ball of the femur), and bone, like muscle, needs to be exercised to avoid deterioration. The early HSR devices (1980s) often came loose and gave the procedure a bad name. Since the middle 1990s, the device has been vastly improved, as well as surgical procedures to implant it, led by Dr. Amstutz in Los Angelas and Dr. McMinn in Birmingham, England. Dr. Bose was a student of McMinn, and he further developed the technique since beginning his practice nearly 10 years ago. It was great to see some pictures of a recent patient of his, a tae kwon do teacher from Louisiana, on the first page of an article titled "The Doctor Is In...INDIA" in a June People Magazine article. This patient was quoted $40,000 to have the procedure done in the U.S., and his cost came to only $6,500 for surgery and hospital costs (what I will pay) and approx. $10,000 for all expenses, which his students raised!
My "bilateral" dilemma
Whereas many things are clear-cut regarding hip surgery, the choice of whether or not to get "both hips" done at the same time is not an easy one when one hip is bone-to-bone (such as my right) and the other has only a precious sliver of cartilage remaining (such as my left). Approximately 12% of patients go the "bilateral" route, and there are some advantages to doing all the recuperating at one time rather than repeating the same process a year or two down the road. My local OS at Crozer-Chester Hospital, who only does THR's, suggested I consider get ting them both done together. Dr. Bose said that he's seen patients improve with their "slightly better hip" after getting their "bone-on-bone" hip resurfaced, and prefers "conservative measures" as long as there is cartilage remaining. The fact that I have significantly more trouble putting socks and shoes on my good hip has worried me, as well as occasional spikes of pain that I use to, but for some reason no longer, feel in my "worse" hip. However, several members of the surface hippy group have reported substantial improvement in their "so-so" hip after surgery on the "too late" hip. Dr. Bose said in an email reply that he can't give me any precise probabilities regarding my left hip, but that surgery on my right side could result in some pelvic adjustment that could lessen the stiffness and pain in my left hip. He also said that some patients insist on bilateral, and that he complies in most situations. My thought is I might not mind another trip to India in a few years (good excuse to go!), and if I can wait longer, I think the odds are greater that I will be able to receive insurance coverage, especially given the recent FDA approval of the BHR device. I just don't think my left hip is going to miraculously improve, but perhaps I can delay its further deterioration by running less and biking and swimming more.
Before Hip surgery
This photo was taken on October 12, 2003, during the 23rd mile of the Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This date has family significance in that not only was it my son's 12th birthday, but also David scored the winning goal for his soccer team at the same time that I was running in this Marathon. I reached my goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon with a time of 3:28:21. It looks like I was grimacing in this picture...I always struggled running uphill ...little did I know that a large part of the problem was my hip! When I ran the NYC a year after this one, my legs played all kinds of games on me during the last 10 miles. I rested a few weeks, then started running again and woke up one day in February after a day of helping move furniture, and couldn't run at all - and haven't been able to since....but don't feel sorry for me - I'm seeing one of the best hip surgeons in the world!
Why a "blog" ??
This is my first "blog" (web log). I haven't been a blogger before, or visited other people's blogs, prior to visiting someone's blog who notified our "surface hippy" discussion group about it (Rus Kappius). I went to Rus's blog on nearly a daily basis while he was in India(indiahippy.blogspot.com) and found it entertaining and helpful in preparing me for my surgery/adventure. I concluded a blog would be an ideal way for me to communicate with family and friends, and be something to show my great-grandkids when I'm 90 and going strong on my resurfaced hip. They will probably say, "Gee, back in the old days they didn't know how to grow cartilage from stem cells, did they?"
Why India??
1. Dr. Bose...Dr. Bose...Dr. Bose. His reputation, and his helpful, professional responses to my email queries pulled me to India. His very reasonable fees didn't hurt matters, either - half of de-Smet's in Begium (also a superb surgeon), and approx. 20% of the experienced U.S. surgeons (ok, 25% with plane fare), which total perhaps 12 (my favorites are Amstutz, Mont and Gross).
2. I have a fascination with India, and actually I wouldn't mind contributing to their economy in any small way I can. It seems like lesser dollars (which make lots of rupees) go a longer way in India.
3. I enjoy 21 hour plane trips and 100 degree average temperature in July......yea, right!
4. I want to be clear on this - I would have gone to India regardless, but two years ago I stumbled upon (ok, searched low and high for) a female companion who intersects smoothly with jagged Gary. This woman's full first name is Sakuntala (sounds Indian, huh). Saku is not from India, and has never been there, but hails from nearby Sri Lanka. Her ethnicity is Tamil (from the region in South India I'm travelling to). The Tamils are a one-third minority in Sri Lanka, and her family fled during the on-again, off-again civil war. Saku came to the U.S. in 1989. Whereas Saku would have readily gone to Belgium (other option) with me, I finally got her to confess that she would prefer India after my decision was already made.
Why Hip Resurfacing....and not THR??
Top 3 reasons (in a nutshell)
1. Hip resurfacing allows for more range of motion and potentially enables more physically demanding exercise than a total hip replacement (THR).
2. The body of research results from the most recent wave of hip resurfacing (last 5-8 years) show equal or better success rates compared to the THR, and there are sound theoretical reasons to believe that the current generation of hip surface replacements (HSR's) will outlast THR's before requiring revision.
3. If by some chance my surface hip replacement does fail, either now or 20 years from now, I can then revert to a fresh new THR, something I could not do in the reverse direction, as the femur head gets amputated with a THR, so there would be nothing to resurface.
