A lot can change in 2 weeks

 

A lot can happen in 2 weeks. Just 2 weeks ago we were winding down for the year. There were plans being made. Plans to continue come to the gym in turns so that we don't undo all the gains. Plans to take the kids on a lot of long walks which we hadn't managed this year. Plans to spend time planning for an upcoming holiday in February. Plans to have family friends over, who we hadn't seen for one reason or another in a long time. There were plans to read a lot, watch lots of shows together, cook, clean, organise. Essentially have a productive time together. 

It started well enough. Chiyaa had an early finish on her last day at school. She came home and chilled for a bit till it was time to pick Pumpki up. Chiyaa accompanied me and it was quite fun walking  back home with both of them. We were to have friends over on the next couple of days. There was a lot of tidying up to do. There was also a lot of food to be prepared. It was an all hands on deck scenario. I loved how everyone came together. Giving their ideas for the menu, helping out on the kitchen chores and cleaning the house. We had a fantastic dinner over the Saturday and the Sunday was spent in the lovely company of another family. 2 more days of work and we were good to bid adiue to the year.

Monday contrary to expectations was quite hectic with work being wrapped up. Plans for a walk came to some fruition and we managed a short one. We seemed to be doing all right when it came to execution of the plans made a few days ago. Morning shows the day and we were quite hopeful that it would indeed be a productive couple of weeks.  

Tuesday our work places called it an early finish since it was Christmas eve. We had plans to venture out but the girls were too busy playing on the consoles. Well it was Christmas eve so no point in being too hard. We decided to let it go and call it a chilled evening. 

The next day was Christmas and time for us to work on our annual lego pieces. We sort of have this tradition of building huge legos over Christmas. Chiyaa, Pumpki and I got busy making our legos. It took the good part of the day with some overflow into the next day. Well our other plans were going for a toss but then it was Christmas time!

Boxing day I started to feel a bit unwell. It started with an itchy throat. I popped some paracetamol and rubbed some pain relief balm on my neck with the hope of feeling better. The next day I was feeling worse! Much much worse. And to make matters worse, it was Pumpki 's birthday the day after. I really wanted to be better for her sake. I was still quite unwell the next day but we somehow managed to celebrate Pumpki 's birthday. It was a good celebration. 

After this I just went further downhill. I totally lost my appetite. I literally went 29th and 30th without any food. Without food my energy was rock bottom too. Thankfully my sister was around and helped with feeding and looking after the rest of the household though she wasn't feeling great herself. With 0 energy the only thing that could be done was watch TV. And we watched a lotttttt of TV. We finished the Harry Potter series and started The Lord of the Rings. We even watched some lesser known shows and movies on Netflix which we still enjoyed a lot.

I was hoping to get better atleast by New Year's Eve. But that was not the case. I was better but still not there. So that was another day of being at home, sitting with the kids and doing nothing much but watch TV. 31st December was quite sedate. We were greeted to some friendly neighbourhood fireworks which brought some spontaneous smiles. 1st January came with some recovery, which enabled me to manage to clean some of the neglected bits of the house. I was still weak but felt the house was in desperate need of cleaning. I did as much as I could manage and then had to plop in front of TV. We were not happy about it, but by this time even the kids were feeling a bit under the weather and we did not want to risk aggravating their condition. I had to take 2nd and 3rd January off sick. I managed some chores around the house but still it was TV which was the primary source of distraction. The kids were coughing and troubled by aches and pains and given the scene at home, it was best to stay in doors.

The last weekend of the holidays brought in snow. And the best excuse to cross the threshold of the house. It was cold but bright. It was wet but magical. The snow seemed a weird twist of fate indicating a turn round the corner. It was finally a new week and things were going to be better.

New year shew year

What a start to the year it has been! And this better not be the trend. Pumpki had a bad case of cold and fever around mid December. Her appetite was gone and she was miserable. Thankfully since Chiyaa was around for the Christmas holidays she was a bit entertained. 

I had a redness in my right eye on Christmas Eve. There was no ache or pain so I ignored it. But 3 days shy of year end, the eye was very sensitive to light. I went to the local doctor and he was very concerned about the redness, the photo sensitivity and the size of the pupil which was smaller than the healthy eye. He referred me to the eye doctors and I had to rush to the main hospital. 

Hospitals here are in a state of their own. It was a long wait. Then there were some pretty intrusive checks on the eye. It was Pumpki 's birthday and here I was in a hospital. I felt like rushing home and cuddling her. But in  a way it seemed a bit like divine coincidence. Two years ago I was in the same hospital for her birth! And look here. Life has a strange way of coming around and surprising you!

The doctor was not able to diagnose the cause and ordered a host of blood tests. She consulted a senior and I could hear terms like scleritis, sarcoidosis, auto immune. And all the time I felt ' yayyyyy I know those terms. I have seen House :P' 

I was to come back for the reports and further checks a week later. In the interim I was on steroids and pain killers. 

The medicines seemed to work like a charm. We had a very enjoyable 29th and 30th. New year's eve was very good when we managed to find a play area where the kids went crazy. I could not have asked for a better end to the year.

But I definitely could have asked for a better start. I woke on 1st with a raging fever. I was feeling funny the night before and had promptly popped a paracetamol. The fever OMG. It sent shivers down my body and I could barely stand up. I felt very bad leaving the kids and taking a nap. But I had to get my strength up since a nearly full work week stretched ahead. 

I popped pills like crazy. The fever would go down only to come back again. Day 3 the occurrence of fever was over but my head hurt like crazy and my nose and throat was totally blocked. It is very easy to ignore the nose on a good day. When cold and flu come calling, boy we realise the importance of those two nostrils. Breathing through the mouth with the backs of the throat getting dry is not a pleasant feeling at all. The headaches were so bad I used to wake up and night with it. It was horrendous.

Day 6 and I definitely felt better. Someone else did not. This time it was Chiyaa. We have a travel to India in a week. So I promptly kept her off school. I allowed her to rest and recuperate at home before the condition aggravated. She still has a cold but she should hopefully be healthy in time for the travel. 

In other news, Pumpki started day care every alternate day. She cries when I drop her, she is crying when I pick her up. But she naps and she will hopefully settle down. For some things we have to wait for time to even things out. 

I have been to work once and intend to go tomorrow. It is not that cumbersome given that I am using private taxis. They cost money but they are convenient. Once in a while they are affordable but to get to a strict working pattern I need to think of sustainable means of transport. This trip to India is a watershed. We have  to take stock of things again once we are back. February is more like the January this year while January seems like..... well January. So this year we have two Januarys. :(

Re-assured!

Well, some days back I thought I was going to die. Yes, I have a tendency for hyperbole. For instance, when K says he has reached the coach station, which is a 10 minutes away from our home and he does not reach within 8 minutes which is the time he should take by virtue of his long legs, I imagine the worse. I imagine he has been hit by a vehicle on the way and taken to the hospital and the good people who took him there are unable to find my number, hence they are unable to call me. I know sounds morbid and you would not want to be in my head. What actually happens is - he takes a detour to the fried chicken corner and has a date with some fried wings! Yesterday for instance, K went to escort the man who was about to deliver our grocery. It would take 10 minutes tops again to fetch him 2 floors below. K took way long yesterday. And my khurafaati (sorry cant translate that word into its quintessence in English... say creative :D ) mind started thinking all sorts. I imagined there was a heavy load which the guy asked K to carry since he had to rush to his next delivery and K being the goody two shoes agreed. But the bags burst open and all the pulses and grains and pastas were strewn all over the floor. Even the milk bottle ended up having a hole with the liquid oozing on. The reality was, the delivery man and K were standing on opposite ends of the building and took a while to find each other :|

Coming back to the point - I thought I was going to die. We went to a kid's play area last Saturday. Technically its a kid's play area, but parents have to follow them. So I had to follow her, get on rides, slides and what not. Not that I did not enjoy it ;) After we came back from the park, my back was hurting a bit. I thought it might have been the general running around. So a good round of menthol balm and a hot pack seemed to make me feel better. Next day the pain seemed a bit worse. The next day, I felt really stiff. The following night, I was stuck in one position. I could not move, bend, turn sides. I had to wake up K to give me a hand so that I could turn around and get up. It was excruciatingly painful. My creative juices started flowing. I was sure I had a slipped disc or a fracture (I was ruling out fracture because if you have one, it is agonising and any sort of movement is impossible) So I had a bad back condition which would need an operation of sorts. That would keep me away from my husband and kid. And worse still I would not recuperate and my condition would worsen and I would eventually.....meet my end.)Ridiculous - I know. But what to do reading all those books has given me a very active imagination. We gave a call to the emergency health services who directed me to an out of hours surgery. Since the kid was sleeping K stayed home while I took a cab. The cab driver noticed me get in very awkwardly into the car, so he asked if there was something wrong with my back. I said 'yes, it seems to have some problem and I am in acute pain'. He said with utter confidence ' ah! You know what! Sometimes these muscles get on top of each other. I had it once and was feeling as if I was about to die! But don't worry they will give you codamol which is a very good pain killer and you will feel better!' I was very glad to meet someone with my own imagination! Even he thought he was going to die! It was some relief to get some reassurance from someone even if he was not a doctor. 

I met the doctor who seemed groggy and eager to dismiss me. He did a urine test and ascertained there was no problem with the kidneys. Prescribed codamol and sent me home! If it was not for the cab driver I would have thought I was just royally ignored by the doctor. But thank God for that man whom I can never man meet to thank :(

Now for the gory part *evil*

While at my parent's place, I loved every bit of the time. The lack of routine, wake up when you want, food always being ready, tv remote always being with me :) One thing I was relished this time was my mom's hot champi. I let the oil soak in over night and had a luxurious head bath the following day. But after a couple of hours of that, I started feeling a bit uneasy. Since I had just recovered from a fever, I was doubly worried. Instantly in went a crocin and I felt better in some time. It was the fateful Wednesday when I had to attend the distant cousin's wedding. I had no appetite there. Once back, it was one more crocin for me and mummy's tight hug for a good night's sleep. Strangely next morning around 9 the fever was back. Thursday night when the fever came it came in with a heavy bout of shivering, I decided, there was no way I was making a return trip the coming Sunday. Friday we made a visit to the doc who to nail the usual suspects gave in some usual tests.

When the test results came back in the evening, he suspected some kind of kidney infection :O So he asked us to go in for some more cultures. In the meanwhile, he prescribed some real heavy duty anti biotics. Now the culture results take a good 72 hours to come up. It would be no sooner than Tuesday that we would be getting the report back. My mom was getting worried by the day. The fever used to come with real bad shivering and body aches. The temperature would start with a measly 100 and within 15 minutes peak to a 103-104. The symptoms were akin to malaria too. She got in touch with a uncle of mine, who is also a doc, and asked in case it might be malaria. This time, the malaria test had come negative. But that had been the case last time too, though it was a dosage of quinine only which had brought the fever down. My uncle said, quinine would not harm the anti biotics and he prescribed the dosage of quinine to be taken. So for 4 days I was taking something like 15 pills per day. Morning mom would wake me and give the antacid and the anti vomitting pills (Quinine causes vomitting) (2). I had to take 4 anti biotics per day (2+4=6) Then the 2 quinine pills (6+2=8) 2 more lacto bacillus pills to prevent acidity. (8+2 =10) And the usual B complex tabs (phew 11 ) Plus my body would be ravaged by the fever 4 times in a day mandating the consumption of crocin and bringing the pill count to 15. It was really frustrating to see absolutely no improvement over a span of 5 days. Even the quinine course had not yielded any results.

What saddened me most was the pain of my mom. She was always at my beck and call, massaging my sore back, rubbing the stomach aches, applying balm on the head. To worsen things, I got a cramp in my left shoulder due to the shivering. So there was my mom putting hot water packs too. I was very fussy about food, and even to make me have one morsel, she was out there in kitchen making anything, just about anything I might find palatable. She would be up all night responding to each sigh of mine though she had to be up early morning for the normal household chores. Once I caught her crying when she was praying and I could not stand it. It was just not fair to have her endure so much pain through her child. I just prayed and prayed that I get well soon, atleast for her sake.

Finally on Wednesday when the culture results came back, it was all sterile. Which meant the first results were wrong to start with. Evening we went up to the pathologist and decided to start on a fresh note - which implied a fresh set of tests. When finally the results came on Thursday, it was diagnosed as typhoid :| Luckily for me, the anti biotics that had been prescribed earlier would work good for typhoid as well. But I was to be under the medication for a week more and on restricted diet - no spicy or oily food, no roughage, mostly liquid or semi solid diet. I again extended my stay by a week more. Ironically, my condition improved the very next day. But the stomach aches were persistent which the doctor said would subside only once the intestinal wounds were healed.

I had a huge pending workload staring down at me. The insensitive brutes at office had the audacity to ask status reports from someone who was nearly bed ridden.... seriously the corporate culture does suck away the human aspect from people. But then I was at peace since I was at home. I could just walk into the balcony and smell the flowers to feel better. I would put my lazy feet up in the sunshine with a worn novel in hand and feel so happy. I would take a walk around the house and forget every care. Since my wedding vacation, this was the only time, I got 3 weeks at my parent's place. For that matter even during the wedding vacation, I was with my parents for 10 days only. Maybe God devises strange ways to keep people together. Whatever happens does happen for the very good.

Now that I am finally going to leave Bhubaneswar the coming Sunday, it kind of saddens me. Even my parents are also coming to terms with the fact that I am finally going back to Chennai. Its never enough with the parents :( Heres hoping for one more long trip back at Bhubaneswar..........

Danke!

And why did I choose the particular word? Well call it the QT effect :D. I happened to watch Inglorious Basterds over the weekend. (The 14th November weekend. This blog took a lot of time to shape up :( ) It is a must watch movie - I would rate it as the best of the year! Yep after Kill Bill this is yet another fare which completely blew me over.

But I am not out here to thank Mr. Quentin for making a movie which is simply beyond words. The Thanks is for my dear sis and the K :) Yep, over the weekend I was down with fever. Viral fever to be precise. And some fever it was. It kicked in on Thursday evening. When the temperature used to come, it used send such chills that I could barely stand. My palms and feet would turn numb and the only thing I could do was lie down. What scared me most was I anticipated a repeat of this. Another bout of malaria was of course not something I wanted in another decade. So I was pro active and started popping the pills well in time. Moreover my sis was supposed to make a trip, and we had oh so many plans. I did not want even one of them to go awry. So there I was taking medicines, taking fluids, taking rest and praying fervently that I be well before she lands in Chennai.

But then when something can go wrong it does go wrong, does nt it? So the fever never came down, but God did send the pouring rains on Saturday morning. With rains being so adamant, the TV and the washing machine decided that they might as well go on a French leave. So there we were with blasting rains, a sick wife, no mom in law to lend a helping hand and 2 of the most important appliances kaput. After receiving sissy dear, K and she got on with the household chores like a house on fire :). There was K on one side,arranging the house, soaking the clothes and washing them off with his bare hands. Sis on the other hand was on with the kitchen chopping, cooking and the whole nine yards. Before 11 all the stuff was done and we were set for the movie. Thankfully the crocin worked before the movie and I was sentient for the entire 2 and half hours. But no sooner had we come than I started getting the shivers again. Sis made the most amazing maggie and then I popped another pill and hit the bed at 1700. I woke only at 1930 to find my kiddo sis blissfully curled round me in sweet somber :)

I was feeling much better and chose to watch "Everybody loves Raymond" with K before retiring at around 2100. And the best part was my sis slept through the night. Poor thing, she has so much work and studying at her work place, that she had barely managed 4 hours of sleep per day for a week. So she slept straight 15 hours when she got the chance! Thank God she slept that much cos the next day the responsibility of all the cooking waited for her since I was feeling no better. She had turned into a very nice cook in fact. After eating the lovely lunch she made, we all slept like logs.

Before we realised it was evening and it was time to bid goodbye to her. Last time when she had come, it was barely for a day. Still we had so much fun. But this time all she did was take care of my house and massage my head, run errands for me and do a zillion and one things. She reminded me of the the joy of having family when one is ill. Nothing can match my moms tender loving care. My sis though came a close second. And K who in his normal form is not so demonstrative of his love, was so considerate. He even went to the length of taking leave the following Monday to take care of me (on second thoughts it was more to watch Primal Fear and True Romance :X) I made it through from the fever so much quicker just for the 2 of them. Thank you both so much!

Wrecked and Ravaged

Thursday 17th April: -
Day 1 - I started the day sneezing and wheezing. Blame it on the fact that the ac was on the whole night and me being so susceptible to cold, had to contract it. But I put on a brave front, popped a cetrizin and waddled to office. At office I was fine for some time, but then suddenly felt the ac temperature was a bit too low. And at 1400 hours a sneezathon started. Within an hour I was having a numbing pain through my body, and a tingling sensation from the roots of the hair to the tips of the toes. Thats when I realised Oh! Boy!! I was getting a fever.

I wrapped my work ASAP (That was the penultimate day for tax declaration and some more mumbo jumbo one is supposed to do in beginning of the fiscal year. How I hate the beginnings and ending of fiscals years. Grrrrrr) and scurried home. At home I had a warm cup of tea and hit the bed with my best friend (Amrutanjan :) )

That night I had a very high temperature and survived on 2 crocins.

Day 2 - Morning I did not have fever and woke at 8 to bid K goodbye as he was leaving for office. Since I had not slept well the night before I decided to take the day off. And as K was leaving Wham!!!!! I fainted and had a 5 feet 5 inches free fall. I was picked up by K, the maid and my mom in law and conciousness was restored. Then I slumped on the bed and slept off. K took the day off.

Evening, once the outside temperature was a bit bearable, we both went to see a doc.

The doctor was a well reco-ed one so my expectations were all the more from him. We went inside, he took my BP!! Peered into my throat - "Throat is very bad" He croacked. And decreed - "You have viral fever. Dolo 650, Allegra, Becosules and Azethomycin. You will be fine in 4-5 days. If any problem is there you can visit me. But I think there is no other cure but for you to bear it. "

I was so DISGUSTED. He gave scant regard to a person with some 104 degrees temperature!! And what the blooooooody hell of there is no cure and you have to bear. Why did we pay you those 100 bucks?

Anyways we came home and I tried to have some food and retired to sleep early on.

Day 3 - Saturday no let up by the fever. I spent the whole long day sleeping. K and I had plans to go for a movie the weekend :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

K starts sneezing by the evening.

And....... Night I had terribly high temperature. I shivered a lot. :( :-S

Day 4 - I called up my uncle who is a doc in Apollo Hyderabad and oldhim the symptoms and whats going on. He was like see if this is viral, started on Thursday, its already been 4 days, 2 more days and by Tuesday you should be on the move. But I would suggest you get an MP(Malaria Parasite) Test done. I was like God Blessssssssssssss You!

Day 5 - Its Monday. Poor K takes leave for me. He takes a limping me to the Malaria Centre. They draw blood. And tell the results will b out at 1500 hours. I limp back home with hubby. And fall asleep flat with a temperature that could makes chickens hatch :-S

1500 hours results come. MP Test Negative. I dunno whether to the relieved or be sad.

So we decide to pay a visit to our good old doctor.

And this time he greets us with a smile and says ," Maa listen, this is how it is. You have to be positive. Once you start thinking negative that is when things start turning bad. I dunno why there are so many cases of this fever now a days. May be something to do with our changed lifestyles and polluted environment. Do these tests and come back tomorrow."

All the while I was seething inside listening to his sermons on Art of Living. I wanted to strangle him to death with his own stethoscope. &^%&%^%

Gave a quintal more blood for some more bloody tests. (It was MP Test again and a haemoglobin count test)

That night I wear 2 sweaters, take a thick blanket, switch off the fan :-( All this in the heat of Chennai- Still my teeth clatter. A dread ful night.

Day 6 - Since I am so ravaged with fever, I called uncle again. Uncle this time asked me to take the Typhoid test (At least he makes me take some decent tests not a damn Haemoglobin count test. Btw my haemoglobin count comes as pretty low in the test and Dr Dear asks me to come with my husband and meet him in the evening. I mentally mouth profanities and keep the phone.)

Then uncle states, now a days malaria aint getting detected that easy. So if the fever does not subside by tomorrow and the typhoid test is negative, we will start the dosage of quinine. It has no side effects, but you have to take it on a full stomach else the blood sugar level might drop.

Day 7 -7 days of full blown fever. 0700 hours. Typhoid test - Negative.

I started quinine dosage at night.

And that night I felt as if I was being exorcised. I had such a high temperature that I had a cold towel over my forehead. After one hour, the temperature started coming down. Then I felt my heart beat rate increased enormously. :-S And I was hyper ventilating. I lay on my stomach to stop the pounding of my heart. All this while I was wondering if my stomach was full enough before I took the medicine. And I was thinking may be I should have asked my uncle the symptoms of dripping blood sugar, for God forbid, if this was it :-S I am done for :-S. Then after 20 minutes of absolute agony, I broke into a nice sweat. I sweated as if I was in a sauna. And I sweated and sweated and sweated and finally slept......

Day 8 - Fever was at a manageable 100 degrees. Uncle told, it should be done with by Friday. That is tomorrow. In case not - We have to get you admitted in a Biiiiiiiiig hospital with Biiiiiiiig instruments and Biiiiiiiig Doctors and Biiiiiiiiig tests :-S That is exactly how he said it. And I prayed to God fervently that I better get well sssssssssssssssssssoooonnnnnnn.

But he said, it must have been Malaria cos no other parasite responds to Quinine. So since the fever has gone down due to quinine its proved it was malaria which was not being detected.

Oh! How I adore a logical explanation!!

Day 9 - Hmm feeling much better, I was singing praises of my uncle and cursing that God forsaken Chennai doctor every moment. And one of my friends told me that day was World Malaria Day :

Day 10- I am able to get up and move around :D :D :D :D

I make the masala, K makes the dosa and we eat happily ever after :D :D :D :D

Day 11 - I make food again. And evening we even go out to the beach !!!!!!! We start from home at 1730 hours, spend some time on the beach with K 's uncles family, then we take a walk, have some tit bits @ Barista, do some shopping and come home at 2100 hours!! That was the longest duration I was off a bed and outside after eonssssssssssss.

Day 12 - I am in office. In front of a machine finally typing all this :D ;)