Ever since we have come to Pune on the 25th, we have been plunged into a series of emergencies. We had to admit Shobha's mom to the nearby Shaswath Hospital in Kothrud as she was in a lot of pain and partly delirious. So an ambulance was called and we admitted her in the hospital and all the care and worry about COVID we took all these months, went out of the window. Luckily we knew the doctors Dr Karmarkar and Dr Mundle who were very sensitive about the way they went about treating her.
They admitted her in the ICU and soon found that she suffered from dehydration, anorexia, electrolyte imbalance, gastritis and a variety of other issues. She was in pain and not cooperative so they gently gave her saline and other fluids and slowly got her to a state where she could talk more coherently. But progress was slow and painful to see.
The stay extended to eleven days and once we were faced with the possibility that her chest infection (which was finally concluded to be pneumonitis) could possibly be COVID. She tested negative and the CT was negative. But the period of waiting for the test results was a bit stressful considering that Anjali was isolated with Shobha's cousin Milind and me and Shobhs were exposed to the hospital environment. We all heaved a sigh of relief.
How much ever gloves, sanitisers and masks we wear, we are still aware of the ever present danger of infection. So when the doctors finally said that the treatment for the chest infection was not showing any improvement, we decided to shift her home. She was very happy to come back home and the happiness showed on her face, in her appetite, in her speech. She saw Anjali who came down to meet her Ajji, and said Árre Wah, Anjali' and that was so nice to see and hear.
Home is like a mini hospital with an oxygen concentrator, a suction machine, nurse and an attendant, but she is happy and that is great to see. One realises that there is a lot of stress around these situations whether anything is happening or not, decisions to be made, uncertainty, lack of information, and now added to that, the fear of infection. But we have to do what we have to do and it's nice now to hear her planning on going to Hyderabad for a checkup for her pacemaker and stuff. Maybe she turned around the corner. Whichever way it goes, seeing that smile on her face as she drank her coffee and chatted to Shobhs and Suhita was well worth it.
2 comments:
Nice to hear Hari that she is home.. I hope she feels better soon ... Home is a very interesting thing .. I think it is a living entity that heals us in ways we can never imagine .. Hospital treats you and fixes your body and mind, but home fixes the heart .. it is always good to be back .. where ever it might be... if you cant come back soon enough .. we need to make where ever we are home.
Thanks Anon. It was a revelation to me to see how she transformed after she came home. The smiles are back, the desires - coffee, sit out in the sun, a warm water bath, playing cards - were all expressed and enjoyed. She recounts stories, laughs at her condition and in many ways seems to have a better sense of what's happening to her than the doctors did. In the past few 10 days she has certainly tasted and enjoyed a bit of all the things she enjoys doing at home and perhaps that is also showing in her parameters. Absolutely right you are about home being where the heart is and heals.
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