Back on my feet

A long overdue post.... but i just got busy doing other things and at other time got lazy.
Would try to sum up everything that happened in short...

• Medical Update: My fibula didnt join even when the plaster was taken off, so the docs at AIIMS requested another surgery for some bone grafting stuff... we took a second and third opnion and both the opinions were agains the operation...so we changed docs and he got me out ofthe plaster and on partial weight bearing straight away. It was really like learning to walk all over again. but then things went on slowly but steadily... from two crutches i came down to one... then to walking stick and now i have left the stick... :-) I visited the doc last weekend... and now he has allowed me to drive :D so have been driving my car for the past two days after lots of fights with mom...
• Moved into new house: Finally got fed up of filling someone else's pocket with our hard earned money, so we bought a sasta-sa ghar. :-) Had puja and stuff...
• Started office: During shifting my internet was disconnected for a long long time... thanks to the sarkari nature that still remains in some corner of mtnl so decided to join office. It was a good change after long long time of house arrest.
• Since i have recovered I would stop posting on this blog and create a new one or revive the old ones i had created.
  

Mood: lazy

Listening to: Child in Time: Deep Purple

Quote for today: "If necessity is mother of all inventions, laziness must be the father."

Bound by a thread...

I have to break my catching up because I realised that in both my past blogs I have not mentioned my sweet, little and caring sister. Sounds like a placating post eh?? well, not exactly placating but just fixing one of my many screwups. So, I would like to dedicate this blog to my kid sister. Its so easy for all of us (atleast for me) to take people for granted. And I am guilty of this one more time.
During the past two months since my fracture she has been doing most of my chores be it making trips to the ATM, helping me in and out of bed for my daily needs, playing hostess to my friends (along with my mom who cant let my friends leave without feeding them) who drop in and right through has been a pillar of support.

Now that I have placed on record my gratitude let me mention some of the things that bug me. To start with though she has grown up(she is 15 now), I still tend to think of her as my kid sister (she is 9 years younger). At times I happen to become over protective about her, forcing her to take somebody with her when she steps out of the house, not letting her go near the stove. I am sure she can handle her self but I cant seem to justify it to myself that she has grown up enough for me to let go. Well, if i think back about when I was her age, I used to have complete freedom, my dad used to send me alone by bus in delhi to get books and classes. But then I seem to justify today by saying the times have changed and Delhi is not as safe as it used to be 10 years ago. But then I do realise that I would have to let her make her own decisions soon. I dont know how parents do this but I guess it starts with small supervised steps at first, just like learning to walk.

cheers

PS: Still waiting for my friend to arrive, his flight got delayed and landed at 0200 hrs, so chatting up all through the night is on the cards.

Currently playing: Van Halen- Right Now
Just started: "Courts and their Judgments" -Arun Shourie (doesnt reflect my taste in literature, started out sheer boredom and curiosity)

"Where one stands on an issue depends on where one sits."

7 nights and 6 days @ Rs.10000/- (cheaper than most hotels ;-) )

well continuing from the last post, I have not been able to write in a long long time. It was probably due to not wanting to recall the events of the past 2 months. With this post I intend to bring this blog up to date in as much brievity (with next few posts over the weekend) as I can without missing the few important things that happened.

12th December-18th December 2005
After the surgery I was kept in observation for a couple of hours and then shifted to the general ward for the day. Being the overcrowded hospital that it is, even with connections it took a day to get a Private Ward allotted.
In the meanwhile, the effect of anesthesia started to wear off and I started feeling the pain of the operation. Thankfully, the nurse came back with a syringe full of painkiller and an intra-veinous antibiotic.
On the day of my operations my college mates came over to the hospital to meet me. That was a welcome change. One of them had a flight the same night, but he still managed to come over, well he is like that.
For the next couple of days my routine was highlighted by thrice a day visit of different nurses with syringes and tablets. Every once in a while the docs would turn up and ask me to flex my finger. After a couple of days they changed the dressing and it was not a very happy sight and experience. There were visitors too, some of them were people I had not seen in ages old family friends, relatives. One important visitor was my boss from the office down to see if I was holding up well.
They initially thought they would discharge me in a couple of days but on first dressing they noticed swelling so extended my stay in the hospital for 3 more days.
Dad used to stay at the hospital most of the time, managing his office work on phone (on roaming, man that would have cost a lot of money to the state exchequer). I asked him why doesnt he go back, Mom and I can manage. But he wouldnt listen.
Anyways finally after 6 days of lying in the hospital beds, multiple punctures in my arm and butt and hours of senseless televion the doc finally allowed me to go home the next day.

Mumma, I am coming home...
Going back home was exciting, but then the thought of getting my 90 kg butt up two stories of stairs was not very pleasing. But anyways it had to be done, doctor said jump on one leg, man that would be a new sport...:D
With my leg still in bandage, I left for home. Putting my foot down after a week of elevation was painful, somehow I got to the car on a wheelchair. At home, I jumped on the shoulders of two people and hopped my way home.

Currently reading: Hungry Tide by Amitava Ghosh
Listening to: Queen-Keep Your Self Alive

The break!!

This blog is to give vent to some thoughts while recovering from a fracture in my leg. Largely immobilised for six weeks, I might have mood swings from being philosophical to totally childish. This fracture might seem like a minor injury to many but for me its a major event in my life. I think mostly I would just recount my experiences of the past few weeks and would like to figure out how this whole thing affects my life.

My past record of blogging hasnt been very great but with being stuck to the bed with a lappy as my sole toy I just might do better this time. So, read this at your own risk... and if u wanna criticise this blog, do it later when I get better ;-)

1500 hrs, 11th December, 2005. Greater Noida.

It all began on 11th September, when a jump made in team spirit during a team building exercise to save a few seconds went horribly wrong. The moment I landed on the ground, I could feel a burning pain in my left leg and knew this was not how it should have turned out.

I was taken to a hospital nearby and thought they would put my surely fractured left leg in a cast and let me go home. The consequences of the event hadnt sunk in yet, in a way I was looking forward to the 3 week or so vacation. I didnt want to call my parents all the way 50 kms for this. Then, they did an X-ray and said you better call your folks as they might have to operate. I was like, What the F*(&!! This is supposed to be a simple fracture...why do you wanna operate on my leg.

Anyways, my folks rushed down there and the doc said I would have to be operated and have some plate put into my left leg for support for a year or so. The idea of having my first operation was not very pleasant. I was getting all those wierd images of scalpels and needles... Anyways my folks decided that they would get the operation done in a hospital closer to home.

So, now it was time for my first ambulance ride :D. I asked a friend of mine NK to come along to help my folks and I thank him for that sleepless nite of his.

2000 hrs, 11-12-2005. AIIMS, Delhi

The ride in the ambulance was not exciting...they didnt even start the siren, I m not sure if they had the flashy light on or not :D

Well, we reached the emerency at AIIMS. Anyone who is familiar with AIIMS would know its a pain getting services at AIIMS. For those who are not familiar, imagine a chaotic hospital of national repute designed for 1500 beds which needs 10000 beds to meet its needs. Luckily, "contacts" always helps in such conditions in India.

I was looked by the Orthopedic doc on duty immediately and he said they want to operate on my leg ASAP that night. Come on guys...I have had a painful day already....let me have a good sleep and operate the next day. No such luck...

0015 hrs, 12-12-2005, Operation Theatre

They rolled me into the OT, I thought earlier that I would be scared shitless before the operation. But I was surprisingly calm, I dont know from where I got this strength. The believers can say its god, or its just the fact that when you are beyond the point of no return, you just accept what happens.

Anyways, they took me in and I was met by the anesthetist who gave me a couple of injections in the spine to make the lower part of my body numb. I asked her if she would put me to sleep, she said yes sure. Well I dont know how long I slept but I was awake a long time during the operation to hear the drills working on my bone. They were playing the radio and after some time I got used to the drilling and screwing of my leg and started enjoying the song. If I remember correctly I even swung my head to the beats for sometime :D.(well not swung really...small nods may be)

The whole thing lasted a little under 4 hours. When I got out, I was grinning like an idiot. I dont know why... but atleast the grin put a smile on the face of my folks. I was telling them about the drilling in the operation when the nurse told us I had 1 plate and 10 screws in my leg.

Fantastic, my leg is 5000 bucks more expensive now :D

To be continued....