OUR BLOGGER DEPARTS

I pen down this last blog with heavy heart as Kartik leaves for heavenly abode. This gives us the evidence that even the kingdom of God has dearth of noble and kind-hearted people so He takes them away from us. Though Kartik is not with us physically, his soul is very much with all of us. I am sure a star is born somewhere amongst us at 6.55 A.M. today.

He led an exemplary life and I am at loss of words to describe that. After fighting a long battle for 18 months, Kartik finally succumbed to his illness. I am happy that he put a brave front till last and exuded energy and courage throughout. May his soul rest in peace.

We have organized a prayer meeting on Saturday between 5-6 P.M. The venue is still not decided, however, we will do that in a day or two.

We thank you all for your continued encouragement, support and prayers, however, HE wanted Kartik to be with Him sooner and so be it.

Kartik in ICU

It is indeed sad to share with you all that Kartik is not doing too well and is currently admitted in Intensive Care Unit. The fever spike last night accompanied by low blood pressure, high pulse rate and breathing problem led doctors to take this decision. He was being observed till morning, however, his oxygen saturation level was not upto mark so doctors had to succumb to putting Kartik on ventilator. Kartik is sedated presently and his vital signs are being monitored. His chest x-ray doesn’t look too good. The doctors are doing their bit. However, "The Super Doctor” has some plans that we are unaware of. Let’s pray and hope for the best.

Drug Induced Depression?

Yes, the cheerful and positive Kartik is not doing so well since last couple of days. He hit a low, however, he is trying hard to bounce back. The doctors did not deny that this could be a possible side effect of prolonged use of one of the antibiotics. Currently the doctors are holding that drug.

The doctors are great and they are doing their best. They still seem to be clueless regarding the cause of fever. Loads of antibiotics are being given, however, Kartik's body is resisting all of them. Yesterday they did chest x-ray and found some lesions around the lung. This could be due to:

1. Possible Fungal Infection 2. Any other infection 3. Leukemic Deposits

The doctors are trying to figure out this too. Let's hope and pray for the best.

As a student of statistics, I have learnt that the normal distribution is represented as a "bell-shaped" curve. There are escalations and de-escalations in values that makes the graph. However, philosophically speaking doesn't that represent our life? And the wise men named that "normal" distribution! We too have highs and lows. So, let's accept what comes our way and hope for the best.

Fever 101.4

The cells in the Kartik’s body were enjoying a “five star hospitality” until yesterday when the doctors downgraded the heavier antibiotics to lighter ones. However the cells didn’t like the “three star treatment” so they decided to rebel. Kartik was running a slight high temperature today early morning. Fever has been playing hide and seek since last night. The heavier antibiotics have started so things should be in control by tomorrow.

WBCs are also upset this time due to onslaught of stronger chemo drugs and therefore not ready to budge from 100. Hopefully they should also start rising from next week.

Now some good news for you – Kartik has found potential 10/10 matches from NMDP registry. We are going for another round of tests to find the best match amongst them. The process is lengthy so it will take some time to find the right donor. Over and above many people would be vacationing at this time of the year. Hoping that everything falls in its place at the right time.

We can't thank you all enough for your continuous prayers and support.

Finding Lost Avid Letterman

This morning I had the strong urge to write a letter, not an email, using the good old pen. These days pens have been relegated for menial task of signing on the dotted line or they are simply used as ornaments on your attire. I sincerely regret that.

So I decided to write. I could think of no other recipient than my uncle, who was the one responsible for me to get started with letter writing. In my childhood days we exchanged many letters. As time went by I got mired in other things and simply gave up on writing. Had it not been for my correspondences with my uncle I probably would not have realized that I like writing. Had I continued writing I would not have been a software engineer but probably a student of some linguistics subject.

There is something meditative and blissful about writing with a pen. Time slows down. Your mind relaxes. I almost felt like a cow chewing the cud ever so slowly in green pastures :). I am a touch-typist and I can type really fast. However, neither the slowness of writing with pen nor the absence of spell-checkers and rich text formatting made me groan. Made a mistake? Simply scratch the wrong words and write the right ones beside them. To err is human, right? It is amazing that despite the slowness of this art you never realize that you have already finished few pages in no time. I enjoy the timelessness experienced while writing.

I only wish that my handwriting was a little more presentable. When I come across a written matter written in beautiful handwriting it makes my heart yearn to have such a skill.

So folks write a letter instead of an email once in a while and experience the bliss :).

Maya Needs Help

Maya is a 4 year old child of a Caucasian father and an Indian mother. She is suffering from a rare blood disease called HLH. The parents are desperately trying to find a donor but the search is difficult because Maya is of mixed race.

If you do know couples of similar mixed races, kindly pass on the message to them. You can find more about Maya here. Here is an article that appeared in LA Times. Her website can be found here

Back After Hiatus

So creating a climate of your liking around you like a mountain does is not as easy as I thought. :) I must admit that I botched up and did all the things I should not do - things proscribed by the manual of positivity. I cried when I got admitted on the first day. I rarely do. But it just happened partially because of the physical pain afflicted while putting the new line and partially because I refused to accept that all this was happening. For many days I only thought about the bleak side of things. Getting a person whose bone marrow HLA type matches mine seemed like a futile exercise.

That was some days back. I am in much better shape now. Relentless flow of positive thoughts and prayers from friends and family and reading the book that Surbhi talked about 2 posts ago has helped me immensely.

Please don't give up on me. I am still confident that I will take my next few months of treatment with stride and come out of it successfully.

A Quick Update

Isn’t it amazing how our body works? Kartik was quite unwell yesterday, however, believe it or not he is once again back into action today and that too with a laptop in his lap! The stronger dose of antibiotics worked. WBCs became visible today on the machine after going into hiding yesterday. The poor machine doesn’t report when WBC count is insignificant or less than 100 due to its own limitations. There is still some time before WBCs reach a normal range.

A dear friend of Kartik donated his platelets yesterday and that is the reason you see a respectable number in the table on the right. Blood and Platelet transfusions would be frequent in the next two weeks. On the donor front the news is that we have got 12 matching donors on low resolution DNA typing. We have still to find a matched donor on high resolution DNA typing. The search is going on. Keeping our fingers crossed that we find a donor as soon as possible.

I think a quick update went a little longer. Kartik’s neural circuitry is still finding the right connections to get back to blogging. In the meanwhile this is the best you can get from me. :-)

Books, Movies, Cricket and Medicines!

That's exactly how our daily event schedule looks like. Kartik is taking a break from fiction reading and exploring a non-fiction - The Power Of Now. I would give two thumbs up! The book truly reflects the profound message from the film Bawarchi: "It is so Simple to be Happy, but so Difficult to be Simple".

Moving into another genre we recently saw a mystery thriller: Agatha Chrisite:Poirot's Lord Edgware Dies. A must watch I must say. We have still some more Hercule Poirots in the queue so wait for the reviews. :-)

Cricket is in the air these days. It was thrilling to see India win the second Test Match against Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans were absolutely bowled over by our bowlers. Hoping to enjoy the third Test Match too starting on 2nd December.

There is nothing much to update on the treatment front. The WBC counts have reached the nadir at 100 or so we think. Hopefully they shouldn't go down further. Growth injections have started so the counts should gradually come up in the next 15-20 days. Kartik's taste buds have gone for a toss, however, the doctors made sure that his body does not so they have put him on all kinds of antibiotics - antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal. These are all preventive medications to minimize the high risk of infection at low counts.

Things are going on pretty well as of now. Hoping this to continue in the coming days. Sorry guys, I cannot be funny or punny like Kartik so I am at least being sunny.

Chemo Over!

And now getting ready for the consequences of the chemo and commencing of Groundhog Day :-) For the next few days we are expecting the counts to be very low. It would take its own sweet time to rise once again. The doctors have put Kartik on some of the antibiotics as he is very prone to infection in this vulnerable period of next 10-15 days. Otherwise he is doing well.

Hopefully he should be back to blogging soon!

Third Day of Chemo

More than half of the chemo doses have already been administered. The doctors are giving combination of three different drugs in this treatment protocol. Kartik is taking them quite well without any noticeable side effects except mild fever and slight weakness. He is also maintaining his normal diet. Hoping for the smooth sailing throughout the entire cycle.

Thank you all for your encouragement and support.

Fresh Round of Chemo Inches Away

New and Stronger Drugs are waiting to flow down Kartik's veins to attack the army of unwanted cells that stealthily managed to escape before. Hopefully this time the cells would not have much leeway and would have to succumb to the medicines.

The entire chemo cycle would take around 3-4 weeks to finish before Kartik gets discharged. The cycle would be almost similar to the previous ones - 5 days chemo followed by growth injections until the WBC counts come up. As one of Kartik's friends wrote "We have been there in the fog before so coming back would not be difficult though the road would still be treacherous".

Thank you all for your continued support and encouragement.

Ward Off Trouble - But First, Trouble of Wards!

Friends, believe it or not I am still at home, enjoying all the coziness around me.  I was scheduled to get admitted last weekend but it seems our hospital has run out of semi-private and private wards.  It's incredible.

Tomorrow I am scheduled to go for a blood transfusion since my haemoglobin is low.  That would happen in the daycare.  Hopefully, I would get a vacant room tomorrow right after the transfusion.

Will keep you posted. :)

Back to Square One

Title of this post happens to be what I keep hearing everywhere around me or I sense it being said silently when  people talk with me.  The phrase it seems is laced with bleakness and defeat - even if we go by the dictionary perhaps.  But I carry my own Dreamer's Unabridged Collegiate Dictionary.  The lexicographer in me has different connotations for such words and idioms than what was perceived by my counterpart in real world.  To me "back to square one" means, yes, I am back from where I started but the meaning is not one-dimensional.  I am back where I started with more knowledge.  I am wiser.  I know so much more about my body.  I know so much more about how mind helps healing.  I know so much more about all you well-wishers  and how you kept praying for me perpetually.  I am back to square one with more wisdom and more fortitude.  I am back with more tenacity to battle this disease and never let it trounce my inner happiness.  

Just a few days back a dear friend of mine visited me and we all started talking about Mount Rainier in Seattle.  This mountain is huge enough to have its say on the climate surrounding it.  That's what I am striving to become.  I always want to be enwrapped in my own weather - a weather of happiness and tranquility.  Let the doctors come and sigh pitifully at me.  Let them impart the grimmest of news, I want to be under my own weather impervious to my surroundings.   It goes without saying that you all will play a key role in making me maintain such a weather.

The next few days will unravel the next journey I have to embark on.  Like a game, it is now at a level higher with more risk and requiring more experience.  I feel I have that.  I will not cave in under pressure.

Chances are I will be going for a chemotherapy really soon - maybe in next few days.  My blood sample has already boarded the flight to New York to find a good Samaritan who matches it.   MUD transplant is  what we are looking for.  MUD stands for Matched Unrelated Donor.  Since neither my sibling nor my maternal  cousins' marrow can be donated to me I have to look for an unrelated donor.  A 10-by-10 match is preferred but a 9-by-10 match can also work.  The process is going to be slow so we all need to be extremely patient.

The forecast in my world for coming days is "warm, sunny and clear skies" so don't worry :).

We are getting stronger!

It is said that difficulties make you stronger and better. It is so true, indeed! The Higher Power somehow gives you this inner strength to handle the situations well.

Things were going on smoothly at our end when yesterday the doctors dropped a bomb shell - the disease has relapsed! So, basically we are back to square one. It was really shocking for all of us; this was the last thing we expected. However, the best thing is that the "Birthday Boy" is cool. Kartik chooses to be calm and composed without being much disturbed. His smile is giving us courage to remain smiling and hopeful.

A close friend of Kartik visited us to wish him birthday and make us smile too!

Kartik's primary doctor is out of town so we will get the updates on further line of treatment only on Monday or Tuesday.

Thank you all for your continued support, prayers and encouragement. We will need these in plenty now. :-)

Biopsy and Transfusion Done Today

Thanks to some great planning by Surbhi and to my dear friend who graciously decided to come for platelets donation today itself, I got both biopsy and transfusion done on the same day.  Everything went off really smoothly.

Let's see what my scorecard says next week.  I am hoping for the best :).

Have a great weekend everyone.

Long Day at Hospital Tomorrow

Dear friends, it looks like I will be spending better half of my day at hospital tomorrow.  The bone marrow biopsy which was due few weeks back is due tomorrow.  There is nothing to worry - this is a routine procedure.  Because my WBC count was very low till recently there was very little to learn from the biopsy.  However, now WBC count has soared healthily, mostly in response to my cold and sore throat - which is a good thing.  So now doctors will get a better picture of my bone marrow's health.  The procedure will be performed under general anesthesia so I will be in a nice slumber when the procedure happens.

We also have got to take care of low platelets.  Yet another kind friend of mine is giving me his platelets this time.  Thank you so much to all my donors - I don't know what I would have done without you!  Let's hope that after this transfusion the platelet count soars up like the WBC through my own marrow.   The hope is still very much alive and I am very patient.

As I said earlier I have a running nose and slightly sore throat.  There is nothing to worry.  It is in the air out here in Pune.  In fact after having taken just one antibiotics dose I am feeling much better.

So that's that.  See you all on the other side of the bone marrow biopsy.  The report will take its own sweet time to come though.  Keep me in your prayers and thoughts.  I am feeling upbeat because of all you  nice people out there.

Constructive Witticism

This is an SOS call to all the civil engineers reading this blog post. The three storied blood count building that I erected few months back, located on the top right corner of this post, needs some strengthening  Our short-sighted engineer seeing the third floor's occupancy weight not go beyond couple of  thousands planned its support structure with those figures in mind.  Today we had an occupant weighing 6,600 and as you can see the building has begun to crumble.

We don't want to lose this valuable occupant so can one of you be kind enough to do the required masonry work?

:)

Blood Checkup on Monday

The news is that I am fit as a fiddle and Surbhi is getting a well-deserved break from me and is visiting her relatives in Mumbai.  Consequently the Rindanis have unanimously decided that we will knock the door of our hospital only when the calendar heralds the date "2 Nov 2009".

I have been very silent in this space but believe me the reason is genuinely a good one.  I am slowly and gradually getting back my rhythm in office work and enjoying it immensely.  Unfortunately because of that whatever little creative part I have in my brain is utilized for work related problems :).

And to my two readers of "Psi Sickness" story, who withstood the obscure humour that I assailed  the readers with, I will be back with second part.  You still have 24 hours to dissuade me from writing the second installment :).

Platelets Due Today

After deftly managing the body for a month platelets have made a humble request to be replenished.  This morning I found a couple of clots in my inner cheek.  Please don't worry - these clots aren't as big as the ones I have seen in past.  Since there is half a unit of platelets available today in the blood bank the doctor thought we might as well make use of it.  Who knows, after this transfusion platelets will get breathing time to surge to a higher level :).

We don't intend doing a hemogram today so we will come to know the counts only on Monday.

Update: We did get the blood report done eventually before the transfusion and the results are there on the right.  Platelets drop wasn't worse than previous instances.  WBC have come back to their "normal level" :).

3200!

Wow it seems like I just got a Diwali bonus from my body.  The WBC count jumped to 3200 from 2100 in matter of few days!  I am just a whisker away from the normal WBC range.  Yay!

Blood Transfusion Today

My low hemoglobin is being taken care of today.  I shall be receiving two units of pack cells today.  There will be slight change in the procedure today because my central line was removed last week.  Central line is a tube which was inserted in my neck through jugular vein to avoid repeated pricking for administering intravenous medicines and transfusing blood.  It was very convenient, however, the sutures holding the tube came off repeatedly. When they came off this time the doctor decided that we can get rid of it since I don't need transfusion very often these days. So today they will be putting in an intracath.

I will be carrying my laptop to make three hours in daycare seem like one :).

Counts in a Good Mood :)

I am sure you happy seeing at least two columns on the right side table as I am.  WBC counts and platelet counts are looking awesome, platelets especially.  Last transfusion I got was roughly three weeks ago.  WBCs have also taken an incredible jump.

Don't let the hemoglobin drop worry you.  We are trying to find out how long should we wait before giving me blood transfusion.  Will keep you all posted.

Right now all I can say to my body is: "Jai Ho!" :)

Blood Report Due Tomorrow

Dear friends, I will be going for my weekly blood report tomorrow.  Let's see how it goes.  Health-wise I am doing really well.  In fact I started going physically to the office last week.  It was a welcome change from working from home.  There hasn't been been any signs of bleeding, so my platelets might be at a healthy level.

More details tomorrow.  Have a great weekend and the week ahead! 

Psi Sickness - Part I

Are you an owner of a vehicle that trudges on four legs, dispassionately referred to as tyres (and quite aptly "tires" in some countries)? Does the sight of tyre going sapless and hapless at the most inopportune moment leave you in cold sweat? Does it make you feel like a person who has just saved a drowning person but doesn't know how to resuscitate him? Have you ever been on a long drive - a drive well beyond the cozy confines of 1-800 emergency road services? And have you noticed that while your co-passengers are busy cooing oohs and aahs seeing the beautiful countryside, you are endlessly thinking whether your tyres are asymptomatic and at a healthy 30 psi? If the answers to our questions above were in affirmative we must sadly impart the news that you are suffering from Psi Sickness.

But there is hope. Air Apparent Academy can cure you! We will transform you from a nervous psi sick person to a person who is a jack-of-all-treads. Never again will you look at those miserable tyres with fear. On the contrary you, with your newly achieved alacrity, would want to fix every punctured tyre you come by on the road. We aren't didactic and have our own inimitable way of teaching you our subject of expertise.

Take for instance this couple from Pune. The wife is a daring adventurer and the husband a textbook case of psi sickness. Our tireless experts undertook his case and worked out the modus operandi to bring this pitiful bloke to normalcy.

It was learned that the couple was planning a drive to Lavasa - a picturesque hill city some 40 kms away from their home. Our surveillance center immediately apprised our experts, who within no time were on their drawing board and worked out the most unobtrusive plan to treat.

Counts Low But Not the Mood

The numbers on top-right corner might have worried some of you.  Please don't.  I am feeling energetic and can even play a game of TT right now.  I don't have fever or any other symptoms that would suggest that I am in dire straits :).

Hemogram Today

Wow - I am going for a hemogram after 10 days.  The dressing of my central line is also due.  My general health is good.  I saw a teeny-weeny petechial spot on my arm today but it is nothing to get concerned about.  I am sure my counts, although still in minimalist existence, are good enough.

I shall have update for you in another few hours, so keep a watch on the counts column on the top right.  I am sure you might find that more interesting than the points tally of the Champions Trophy :).

Scenes at F.C. Ground

Cricket is in the air these days in India (when it isn't one might ask?). All the cricketing enthusiasts are getting their errands hurriedly done so that they can uninterruptedly watch the India-Pakistan match in the evening today. I thought this would be an opportune time to share a mail on the same subject that I wrote to recount my experience of playing cricket with friends on the famed Ferguson College ground. I hope you enjoy reading it :).

30 September 2007

Since sometime now I have been playing cricket at F.C. ground with my friends. We convoke at the ground at around 7 on Saturday mornings. The ground is teeming with activities - people of all ages exercising, cricket teams of varying team sizes with varying paraphernalia playing, F.C. ground staff rolling the patch of ground that has semblance of a pitch etc. However, these activities themselves were not the ones which drew my attention. Unfailingy at around 7:15 AM a distant loudspeaker somewhere in the college campus heralds the beginning of day by first playing few second-long shehnai-based classical music piece which is immediately followed by our national anthem. As soon as the national anthem begins the whole F.C. ground freezes as far as you can see. The joggers, the young boys cricket brigades - *everyone*. They literally stop whatever they were doing and pay reverence to the national anthem. After the national anthem concludes it is as if someone pressed the play button to resume the hustle bustle where it left from. It was such a heartwarming scene!

The cricket matches themselves are pretty amusing. At any given time there could be six to seven matches going on on the same ground. It is enough to make any ICC official's jaw drop. The boundaries of each "groundlet" overlap. The pitches themselves are haphazardly placed. It goes without saying that it isn't uncommon to find fielder of match A at mid-on just a few pace away from a third-man fielder of match B. In fact during one match while fielding at mid-wicket position I almost ran into the batsman of match B at striker end who was just about to swoosh the ball wildy towards *his* mid-on. I was saved from a jaw-dropping incident - literally. Seeing the IT folk riding of the outsourcing wave, these cricketing teams have mastered outsourcing too. The fielding beyond certain circumference is duly outsourced to the adjacent team. So when you find a pinch hitter hitting the ball off the park (park = groundlet) you will invariably find the fielders from that match A screaming "Eh ball! ball!" signalling the fielders of match B to collect the outsourced fielding assignment. Fielders from match B do that diligently often juggling with their ongoing fielding chore. And we have mergers and acquisitions too. When a few slackers from some match don't make it to the ground they find the most appealling team and make them an offer for alliance.

We usually play till 9 AM or so and then the event culminates with a customary trip to Vaishali or some other F.C. road eatery for piping hot idli sambhar and filter coffee.

Platelets Transfusion Done Today

After a long gap of 21 days I had to visit hospital today for another platelets transfusion.  A good friend of mine from the office was kind enough to again donate his platelets this time.  Hopefully I will be able to sustain my body for even a longer duration this time.

I bumped into my doctor today as well.  I met him after ages.  The slowness of my blood cell growth doesn't seem to be bothering him.  In fact he said that the chances of disease relapsing are lower given the slowness in the proliferation of my various kind of blood cells and given that my general health is good.  He also told me that sometime in October another bone marrow biopsy would be done to find out how healthy the bone marrow is 3 months after transplant.  Does it still look healthy?  Is it still as sparse as it was in month of July?  Let's see how I fare in the next biopsy test. :)

Hemogram Tomorrow

Like Mahy who is hesitant to go school after a break so am I. However, I cannot play truant anymore. Lab technician is waiting for me with his scalp vein needle and an empty vacutainer. :)

That makes two twitter-sized blog posts in a row. I am rummaging my brain inside out to see if I can find a topic or two worth a few paragraphs that I can put up for display out here :).

Hemogram Postponed to Tomorrow

With hemoglobin full to the brim and with no signs of bleeding I can afford to go for routine hemogram a day later. Yay! :)

Blood Transfusion Done

I got two units of packed cells transfused today. Transfusion went off really well. There was a chance that I might need a platelet transfusion tomorrow as well. However, platelets seem to have held the fort well since the last blood report. They continued to stay at 9000 - even after a gap of 4 days, which is awesome.

Reverse Gear Lessens Fear

A few unpleasant thoughts about my ultra-slow progress were knocking the door of my mind to make an unsolicited entry, when an unknown car below shooed them away by airing "Sochna Kya Jo Bhi Hoga Dekha Jayega" through its reverse gear horn [1]. It roughly translates to "Why think of future? Whatever happens we will see."

On Monday I am scheduled to go for packed cell transfusion to up my haemoglobin level. It deserves a round of applause for sustaining itself for almost a month (and so do Maa and Surbhi for feeding me food that is good for hemoglobin).

Packed cell transfusions are very slow and two bags usually take around 3 hours to get done. My blinkers to avoid getting distracted by the slowness of the procedure would be my good old laptop brimming with all its technical goodness :).

The weekend is hopefully going to be eventless. I shall have more updates for all of you next week. Until then take care and have a great weekend!

[1] I am not sure what this electronic device is called in US or in other parts of the world. This gadget starts playing a tune the moment you put the car in reverse gear. It is basically used to alert pedestrians or vehicles behind your car to get out the way. ^

A Day in Mahy's World

"Mama [1] , look Aayush wants to go shopping. Who will drive the car?," announced Mahy marching into my room. She was carrying a doll of the size of my palm in her little hands. Mahy rarely announces that she wants me to visit her fantasy world. Fantasy world is her real world and Tanush is very much a dweller of her world as much as I am. He isn't an inanimate doll. In her world he breathes, he gets hungry, he becomes cranky and he loves excursions. He isn't the only inhabitant in Mahy's world. Tina, Bhondu and Kadam are the other citizens whom I have had the pleasure of meeting. They are of different sizes, wear different attires and have different hairdos (if they have hair that is). When I was introduced to Tanush my primitive wordly eyes could not see him. Mahy was a little peeved when I could see him sitting right beside me.

Do you want to be a part of Mahy's world? Immigration is a piece of cake here. Just recently I convinced her, the sole immigration officer in her world, that her Sponge Bob (tm) backpack is not just a mere dump bag. He is an interesting character who is smitten by her world and wants to be a part of all the fun we have everyday. It took me less than a minute to convince her to give him citizenship. He would never need to carry passport when he enters her world. As long as he is part of all activities that happen here (chores not being a part of activities) he needs no identification.

Mahy's world keeps shrinking and growing between one and two rooms. But even when it occupies just a room it can house a movie theater, a swimming pool, a cake shop, a vegetable shop, a book shop, a grocery shop, a car and a bike. Speaking of cars residents here are alien to the concept of a driver's license. Anyone - Mahy, me, pocket-sized Aayush or even the invisible Tanush can drive the car.

You are rarely cash-strapped. Here petrol and pop corns cost the same - 2 Rupees, at the most 3. In fact even if you buy bags of snacks or gifts you never pay more than 2 Rupees. In this world my empty iPod case magically transforms into a wallet. I slide my hand inside the wallet and a credit card comes out. Real world dwellers, you won't see it but believe us when we say that we just pulled a nice glossy credit card typically used only at petrol pumps. If the credit card fails to surface, the wallet produces this wondrous 2 Rupees coin. With this coin you can keep buying things and when you open your purse to buy a new item, incredibly that very coin is still there in the purse.

Cell phones are used diligently out here. Broken cell phones, which were shunned by the real world, work impeccably here. And so do the so-called toy phones. They don't need any charging. They don't need any SIM card. They just work. And you will never be hounded to pay the bill.

Monotony does not translate to boredom in our world. Monotony increases happiness manifold. You would see us buying cakes every 5 minutes, not just one cake for the birthday boy or girl but several of them, each to suit ones palate. A minute after the birthday song is sung for Mahy, it is time to celebrate birthday of Tanush.

We don't mind going to movie theater and devouring popcorns and colas umpteen times. We see the same movie every time and dance to the same songs. And yet dwellers of this town don't complain of boredom. They love every moment of it.

There is one fellow in particular in Mahy's world who has had a lasting impression on me. He inspires me everyday. His name is Kadam (who graciously agreed to putting his picture on my blog). Kadam means a step in Hindi. And I know that in his case it is always a step forward. This guy smiles perennially regardless of the situation he is in. By a series of unfortunate accidents Kadam was rendered handless and limbless. We are frantically searching for his appendages. Despite the pandemonium Kadam's face never shows alarm. He gives me the broadest of his smiles. I get the same smile when we talk about about my slow recovery. This guy cannot utter a single word but still manages to sermonize me just by his smile. Whenever I am crestfallen and my attention falls on Kadam, who is sloppily lying on a chair or bed, his smile calms me.

For me and Mahy a day in her world is not just a make-believe game. For her it is a routine and for me it is an invigorating experience. Her friends like Kadam, who are labeled lifeless in my world, land up teaching me something invaluable which the best of the teachers or books in my world could not teach me.

[1] That's me. Nieces and nephews call maternal uncle Mama in my language. ^

Reporting From Daycare

Dear friends, I am writing this post from the daycare. The platelets transfusion will start shortly. This time another good friend of mine is donating me his precious platelets. Going by my friend's nature expect me to be in an overly energetic and indefatigable state for next few days :). And don't be surprised if you find me buying one too many gizmos like him.

I am not depressed seeing me receive yet another platelet transfusion, especially this time. My body has done wonderfully. Can you believe when I say that the last platelet transfusion was given to me good 12 days back? Platelets typically have a very short life - roughly 4 days or so I am told. So given that my previously transfused platelets would have said goodbye by 23rd.  For next 9 days or so my body was sustaining me with its own platelets even if they were just a handful. Isn't that great?! I personally feel I could have continued for a few days more without platelet transfusion since I haven't seen any bodily symptoms which would suggest extremely low platelet count. Be that as it may it is better to play it safe.

Like me you might have been delighted to see WBCs crossing 2000 mark. Phew! For a moment we all thought that the stagnation that occurred during 700 would recur. Luckily not :).

Rohan

I heard about him when I was undergoing my first chemotherapy. Nurses told me many stories about this thirteen year old. He was just couple of rooms away from me. They told me how his room was stacked with toys which kept him busy the entire day. They told me how he refused to wear the hospital clothes and insisted on wearing t-shirts and trousers from home. I heard about how he transformed his bedside dinner trolley into a pommel horse sometimes and sometimes into an elevated chair. I heard how he eagerly pulled out all his hair after his chemotherapy just like he would have dismantled a toy at home. I learned that he was a leukemia patient who didn't have a matching donor in the family despite he and his brother being twins.

Rohan's stories made me smile and eager to meet him in person. And then I saw him. I saw him hop past my room with his twin brother. He had a huge smile on his face - a smile which the mournful mask that he wore after his chemotherapy could not succeed in hiding. As days went along Surbhi and Rohan's mother chatted with each other more often since we were separated by only a couple of rooms. While Rohan's parents had anxiety written all over their faces seeing Rohan's slow progress, Rohan was always in his own blissful world, always finding something to amuse him. I still remember how the hospital staff surprised him on his birthday by first making him vacate his room under the pretext of routine cleanup and then decorating the room with festoons and balloons. Rohan in turn celebrated his birthday by distributing chocolates to all the patients, their relatives, nurses, maids and ward boys in the hematology ward.

We parted ways. His counts looked healthier and he got discharged before me. I kept meeting him when he came for routine blood checkup at daycare. His parents weren't keen on going for autologous transplant (the one I underwent) so they were taking radiation therapy in another hospital. Radiation therapy had failed to intimidate the child. He came to visit me in my room when I had come for the next round of chemo. Because of his low immunity he had to spend all his time inside home. His mother told me that he was merrily immersed in all the PC games at home.

I didn't see Rohan for a very long time. Then one day Surbhi bumped into them right before my autologous transplant. Rohan and his mother had come to daycare for transfusing platelets. A tragedy had befallen the family. Rohan's leukemia, which was under remission so far, had relapsed. To aggravate things further doctors said that they cannot perform anymore chemotherapy or radiation therapy. As a last resort family had to try homeopathy for Rohan.

After that we got busy with my transplant and heard nothing about Rohan's health. Today we were shocked to hear that little Rohan is no more. The doctors could not contain the damage done by excessive number of leukemiac cells in Rohan's body.

This wasn't the only sad news which we heard today. We also heard of a demise of a patient who occupied the bone marrow transplant room beside mine. This patient's sister's bone marrow matched 100%. The transplant went off successfully but he succumbed to the post-transplant complications. See the irony of life - on the one hand Rohan had a twin brother whose bone marrow didn't match and Rohan passed away and on the other hand this patient had a sister's whose bone marrow matched perfectly and he still passed away.  I can say with conviction that even though leukemiac damaged every part of Rohan's body they would have failed miserably in damaging the child's spirit. His spirit was impenetrable and unassailable.

Dear Rohan, I will miss you. You probably didn't know what "Carpe Diem" means but you practiced it so well. You never let woe in your life shrivel the child in you. I thank you for teaching me such an important lesson in life.

Platelets Rising?

The table on the right may disappoint some of my readers but not me. Platelets have almost halved themselves. However, take a look at the last day when I was transfused with them. It was a good six days ago. Shelf life of platelets is typically three to four days, at the end of which my count goes into danger level of 5000 to 6000 platelets. But my count at the end of six days is 13,000. Something tells me platelets have gotten rid of their stage fright and have started performing. Today on sixth day, I am still not showing any signs of bleeding anywhere. Would my body pleasantly surprise me by showing a count of 13,000 or more in my next report? Thanks to all the iron-rich food that Surbhi and Maa are feeding me with my hemoglobin is also rising up.

Our trips to hospital have been pretty much eventless. All we go for is my routine blood checkup every alernate day. Everything gets done by an hour or so and we are back home. I haven't met my doctor for quite some time now though I am sure he is keeping a tab on my reports. Till last week the hospital also looked uncharacteristically empty perhaps because of H1N1 panic. The daycare, which usually overflows with patients, showed just two appointments on the whiteboard. The general and private wards were emptier too.

I feel that my ascent towards recovery is finally ending. I am looking forward to seeing all my woes, lying at the base of the mountain I just climbed, looking trivial and unnoticeable like specks of dirt from the summit.

Lolling in Lull

Yes I have been very quiet since last two days. There haven't been any visits to the hospital. There hasn't been a transfusion since almost two days. I am lying to you. There has been a transfusion which happened outside the walls of my hospital - transfusion of quarter of a bag of "nine-to-five" working day. And even with just that quarter of a bag I felt so invigorated. I dearly miss the full dose of working eight hours at office and that wonderful tiredness that you experience once you get back home, a tiredness that says you had a really good day at work. I am hoping that I get transfused with innumerable eight working hours days really soon.

Tomorrow we will be going for blood report again. From my bodily symptom it seems that my platelets are still at healthy level. In the last report the ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) was still on the lower side. It was roughly 540 neutrophils in 2000 WBCs. We want ANC to go above 1000. And my body just whispered to me, "dude, don't worry - we will get there!" :)

WBCs In 2000 Club!

Rewind back to 31st July when I had just stepped back in home. My WBCs' stubborn stay on 700 was still there. Forward all the way to today the count has risen to 2000. What's more gladdening is the fact that the last WBC inducing injection was given on August 9th - a good 8 days back. So my WBCs were left to grow pretty much on their own. Isn't that a great progress? I have a long way to go though. The next milestone is that the neutrophils (infection fighting WBCs) should be at least 1000. The technical jargon for this is ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count). Tomorrow I will come to know where it stands right now. I know platelets have been having a hard time growing but I am still patient with them. They have a little stage fright and I am giving them pep talks to make them perform :). In the meanwhile tomorrow another kind soul is going to donate me his platelets. God bless him! In other news I started working on office work after an unduly long break. It feels wonderful to be on my laptop surrounded by my tools of trade and talking nothing but techno-babble with my colleagues. Here's wishing the WBCs reach the normal range quickly, now that they have gathered momentum. Stay tuned for the ANC update tomorrow.

Mystery of the Wavering Hemoglobin - Part II

When Watson walked in he found Holmes sunk in his armchair. There was infinite bliss, like that of sage, on his face. The smoke from his pipe was dancing in front of his face. His eyes were shut as if he was in a trance.

"Watson!," said he. "Pray sit down, my dear friend. How was your visit to the countryside this morning? And I know you are anxious to know the outcome of my Indian mystery."

"Holmes!" said Watson incredulously, "how is heavens did you know that I had been to country side and that I was dying to know about your Indian client?"

A smirk appeared on Holmes meditative face. "The smell of the grass and moist mud from the soles of your shoes suggest you were out of London and in the greener pastures, Watson. And today you opened the door with more urgency than you usually do which suggests your anxiety about something, dear friend."

"Ha, haa!," said Holmes and drummed his long fingers on the side table. "You have cracked the affair of mysterious hemoglobin, haven't you Holmes?" Watson said with twinkle in his eyes. "Yes!" said Holmes and paced towards fireplace. "Mr. Kartik's hemoglobin was at a healthier 8.3 and not a paltry 6.7. The WBCs also were much livelier 1600 than the bleak 1000 which the suspicious report suggested. This time the blood was drawn through a prick in the hand and not through the central line."

"So it was the diluted sample which was the cause?" queried Watson.

"Unquestionably!" said Holmes stoking the fire, "the bad sample had traces of the anticoagulant which might have crept inside the blood sample because only 5 ml of blood was disposed before taking the sample instead of the conventional 10 ml. My only regret, Watson, is that my telegram arrived a bit late I couldn't prevent Mr. Kartik from undergoing an unwanted blood transfusion." Holmes settled back in his armchair.

"Well what's important Holmes is that you brought relief and smile on the faces of family members of Mr. Kartik, who probably had a harrowing time seeing a report which was out of place."

Holmes had suddenly became more reflective and said, "yes undoubtedly. Rindanis are breathing a sigh of relief. However, Watson, there are so many things which my logical reasoning fails to see sitting here, seven seas away from my client. For instance, why weren't eyebrows raised by doctors on seeing this dip? Why was patient not asked questions that would ascertain if he was bleeding or not? Why a new sample was not asked for? Sitting here logical deductions will not help me find out if this lapse was due to sheer workload pressure on doctors or due to apathy? Regardless wasn't it imperative to have these checks done for a patient in such delicate state as Mr. Kartik?"

Mrs. Hudson walked in it with supper before Watson could answer Holmes. "Come join me for supper Watson. Mrs. Hudson has made some fine baked oysters, cream soup with broiled fish with Mrs. Hudson's piece de resistance - plum pudding." "Mr. Holmes, please ring the bell if you find anything malodorous in the courses!" said Mrs. Hudson with a mischievous smile. Holmes chortled knowingly.

"Watson, I have two tickets for immersing ourselves in the divine music of this new violinist from Vienna. Let's forget everything and anything related to blood for the next two hours. I am not taking a no for an answer, Watson."

Mystery of the Wavering Hemoglobin

The breakfast had gone cold much to the dismay of Mrs. Hudson. She gave a look of disapproval to Holmes who had immersed himself reading a pile of documents. They had just been delivered to him a few hours ago. They were from his client - a certain Mr. Kartik all the way from India. Watson stormed into the room excitedly to share an episode that took place with one of his patient when Holmes gesticulated him to stop by waving his arm and thereby making the storyteller in Watson livid.

"Humbug!", said Holmes, "Bah!" "It defies logic," he continued unfalteringly, "How can hemoglobin dip to 6.2 from 9.3 in matter of two days, Watson?"

"Well, it could happen to a patient who has profuse internal or external bleeding, or, someone who is in the midst of chemotherapy," said Watson, who was noticeably taken aback seeing Holmes uttering jargon from his field of expertise.

"My dear Watson, you always impress me with your excellent reasoning," said Holmes. Just when Watson was showing a countenance of satisfaction Holmes said, "But I am afraid, my friend, on this rare occasion you are wrong."

"My client showed no signs of bleeding except for a couple of petechial spots and neither is he undergoing chemotherapy. Petechial spots explains the dearth of platelets but doesn't explain the huge drop in hemoglobin," said Holmes. "Watson, let's step out and wire Mr. Kartik to get his hemogram done again because I smell something really suspicious here. Can you please shout out for a hansom, Watson. Mrs. Hudson, please take the malodorous eggs from the table! I am already nauseated by something else which smells fishy," said Holmes and stormed out of the room wearing his deerstalker cap.

:) For all you know the drop in hemoglobin can be explained but you know the dreamer in me always finds a route which isn't always the logical one. We intend getting the hemogram done again tomorrow to make sure that the drop was genuine and not due to a diluted sample. Chances are it was genuine - and chances are really strong. Stay tuned. Rest assured Holmes will get to the bottom of this :).

P.S.: Writeup is heavily inspired from one of the Sherlock Holmes episodes that I saw recently (Jeremey Brett version - the best Sherlock Holmes portrayal in my opinion).

Miscounted Count, Discounted Count

Often mistakes made by someone irk you or even make you livid. Occasionally though they don't because the fixed mistake turns out to be favorable for you. Yesterday was one such day. In the morning when we called up our doctor to find out the blood counts he told us that WBCs had dropped from 1700 to 1300. When we looked at the printed report today it turns out that it wasn't 1300 - it was 1600! So the drop was insignificant.

In light of yesterday's report, the drop from 1600 to 1400 today is not bad at all. Platelets are also keeping themselves up and running wonderfully. Seeing the good behavior the doctor said that I need not come for my daily blood check tomorrow and come after a day's gap. I obviously agreed to that immediately :).

Health Update

Dear friends, you must have noticed the steadfast march of my WBCs towards a higher respectable number. In 9 days or so they have risen from mere 700 to a healthier 1700. In these 1700 WBCs the percentage of infection-fighting WBCs is also healthy.

Seeing this ascent doctors made a few changes in my day-to-day medicines. One of the antibiotics was stopped. Also, the WBCs inducing injection was stopped on Saturday. All of us will wait for the complete blood report (hemogram) on Monday with a bated breath. How will my body react to the absence of WBCs inducing injection? Will it continue its upward march nonchalantly or would it collapse like a castle made of out playing cards? My inner voice tells me the result would be the former.

Platelets violent rise and fall is the effect of transfusion and then donor's cells eventually dying. Though my doctor feels that my own platelets have resumed their manufacturing process.

Lastly, the counts table on the right of this blog post is accompanied by another table below it called "Transfusion Dates". This table will give the dates of the last platelet and blood transfusion. Thanks to my friend, Kaushik, maintaining the tabular data has become a lot easier. Thanks Kaushik!

Sunday is going to be uneventful. No trips to the hospital and no transfusions. And I am not complaining :).

Farewell Dear Father-in-law

Thursday turned out to be a day of sorrow for our family. Surbhi's father left for heavenly abode leaving us all in tears. His general health had deteriorated in past few months and God thought this was the time to call His virtuous son back to His home.

My only regret is that He didn't give me enough time to be in his company. There was so much to learn from his simple lifestyle. Surbhi and I spent first three years after marriage in US and we saw very little of our family in those years. When we came back his health had already started deteriorating. He could hardly speak. A man who was so active and could walk miles together tirelessly had trouble walking. But even in the midst of all these hardships I have never seen him lose his composure. His face was serene despite weakness and severe restriction in diet and mobility. Even in this weakened state he would unfailingly do the morning and evening pujas and other day-to-day activities. He never succumbed to his physical weakness.

He has taught me how to lead a simple life far away from all worldly pleasures, how to be softspoken and live for others.

I feel he is still very much here with all of us. I will get a glimpse of him every time I am with Surbhi and with all his wonderful family members who are laden with all the virtues of his.

We will miss you dearly, Papa.

Blood Counts At a Glance

Since I didn't want to bore you any further with my dramatic descriptions of the turbulent rise and fall of my blood counts I thought I would find another simpler way to share them with you. If you look on the top right hand side of this blog post you will notice a new section called "Latest Counts". The table compares the previous report's counts (the "Was" column) with the current report's counts (the "Is" column). At the end of the table you will find the date on which the counts were last updated. Here's hoping that this makes staying up-to-date with my most recent report easier.

I might still bore you with dramatic write-ups but I think going forward blood counts will not be a subject of such write-ups, unless of course I cannot contain my excitement regarding most recent report and I have to share it with you. :)

WBCs Drop a Little

Today's report told me that WBCs have dropped from 1300 to 900. Platelets are also living on the edge at 2000 (a healthy person roughly has platelets in the range of 150,000 up to 450,000 platelets ). So it looks like I will have my third platelet transfusion in span of 5 days.

Am I taken aback by the drop of WBCs? Not at all! Drop has happened in past during my chemo cycles as well. So I was mentally prepared for this. You know how sometimes when you have to jump over a short wall you realize that you are too close to the wall. So you move backwards so that you have enough speed to make the jump of the right height. Probably that is what my WBCs intend doing :).

I will have more updates for all of you tomorrow. Till then, all you good people, keep me in your prayers and hope for the best. I am cheerful and not at all affected by this downward slide. :)

Wind in the Willows

This is perhaps the first book review that I am writing. And aptly, just like my book reviewing experience, which is still in its infancy, I chose a children's book for review. When my good friend Rajesh lent me his copy of "Wind in the Willows" he told me that I will enjoy reading the book not just because it has been written so well but also because it is allegorical. And how right he was!

You know how some books leave that lingering feeling of joy and sadness after you have read them. You feel sad because a wonderful story has come to an end and there are no more pages to turn. And you have read everything there was in the book, including foreword and afterword. This book was such. Kenneth Grahame takes you in a world far away from ours where there is no deceit, cunningness, rivalry etc. The inhabitants of the riverside - Mole, Ratty, Badger and Toady - live in harmony devoid of all negative things in life. It is a tale of all the adventures (and misadventures) they have. In my opinion this is by no means a book for kids. Kenneth's narration is bejeweled with fine language constructs that only a grown-up would relish. Kenneth paints such a beautiful picture of the riverside, the woods and the day-to-day lives of the forest dwellers that it makes you yearn to find such a place.

I read this edition of the book. While there might be many other editions with more beautiful illustrations I liked this edition because its afterword by David Stuart Davies gives you a peek into the life of Kenneth Grahame, which probably influenced him to write such a wonderful tale.

So go ahead and read the book :).

1300!

And now you all know what I am talking about. Yes, it's the WBC count! I am still preening my body for the wonderful outcome :).

Platelets, however, have plummeted from 30,000-ish to 2000, even after receiving a transfusion last Saturday. But I am patient with my platelets. I know that they take time to uncurl themselves and grow and that they have a shorter lifespan than the other cells. So I am not all worried and am willing to wait.

So let's celebrate WBCs' entry into 4-figure land and keep rooting for them till they are ready to function with full gusto :).

Couple of Good News!

Well well well. Believe it or not I am sending this blog post from home from my comfy bedroom and through my zipping fast broadband connection. I got discharged on July 31st at around 6 pm. It wasn't the quite the kind of discharge we had scripted mentally but who is complaining? :) We wanted the counts to soar to a respectable level and then head home. Instead God had other idea in mind. He decided to reverse the order probably because I pressurized Him to be at home for Raksha Bandhan and this was the only way He could let me have the cake and eat it too at such a short notice. It goes without saying that I am elated by this new development and so are all in my family. So how did this all happen? Well He always finds a messenger to start working on your wish. This time it was Sandipbhai. Sandipbhai told us why we couldn't request doctors to discharge me given that counts were continuing to not go beyond 700. We could: 1) make sure that the surroundings at home are safe enough for my recuperation and 2) make visit to hospital whenever doctor wants us to for procedures that cannot be done at home? By doing this not only would I feel a lot better by being at home but we would also cut down drastically on daily cost of the private ward. We bit the bullet and asked this question to our doctor. His response was positive. We could work out an amicable solution so that I can have best of both worlds and I got discharged on the very same day when we proposed this. Isn't it wonderful?!

Good news number 2. After having spent little more than 12 hours at home my WBC count rose by 100! Skeptics might say just it is just 100 but I am so happy with my body's response. Over 10 days of stagnation at 700 has been broken and I feel it will rise steadily now. What made this happen? Change of antibiotics? Change of WBC inducing injection? My return to home? Your prayers? The self talk which I had with my body the other day? I don't know but I would like to believe a concoction of all of the above. I have got to continue having these self talks with my body and making sure that I make the most of my home stay. I am pinning my hopes on counts being at a respectable level on Raksha Bandhan. Wish me luck :).

Pep Talk

I just finished having a pep talk with my body. Picture a mother scolding her naughty kid who refuses to finish the homework. I told myself, "Guys we haven't budged from 700 since last 10 days and you still have more than double work still undone. We have to get it done lest you want to face the consequences in your immunity test. So move! Let's aim at celebrating Raksha Bandhan in the tranquil atmosphere of home with you having done your assignment. What's making it so difficult for you to tread forward especially when I know that we are keeping really well? Is it pure lethargy? Share your troubles with me. Talk to me. Give me a signal. All the other readings on your score card are showing variations. In "hemoglobin" and "platelets" subjects you have showed variations - sometimes on the bad side and sometimes on good, but you have shown changes. Then why have you languished in the "immunity" subject? Please get this ingrained in mind that knowing and excelling "immunity" subject is of paramount importance. It is something we will use everyday. So better hone up your skills. You are my son and I love you regardless of your score card with abysmal score. I will be patient but my patience should be manure for your growth and should not be taken as indifference. I will have such talks with you whenever I feel you are slackening. It goes without saying that I will always love you."

Wouldn't It Be Loverly?

My most recent bone marrow biopsy spurred that part of my brain which has an existence in the lala land, a land where reality is thousands of miles away and you have the license to build up anything you like however crazy or repulsive the dwellers of Rationalpolis may find it. Let me take you through an alley of my thoughts in lala land. This particular street's name is Chemo Street. Here is some graffiti that I found written on walls out there. The first one is terse - "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?". As we stride along you see more wordy graffitis and I share those with you.

Wouldn't it be loverly if:

• Chemo drugs came in form of drinkable liquid and if they are indistinguishable from your other beverages? Wouldn't it be nice if you had a choice of Cocoa-cola, Strawberry and Tropical fruits flavors? All you need to do is empty the bottle and then wonder why the dose prescribed just one bottle?
• After consuming chemo drugs you start showing side-effects which are more interesting? For instance the patient, hitherto a novice in mathematics, fluently speaks out the first 20,000 prime numbers and can solve even the most arcane of theorems, enough to make the mathematicians' jaws drop? Or perhaps the patient who couldn't even catch a ball 9 times out of 10 suddenly juggles all the 10 balls nimbly. Or maybe the patient starts somersaulting deftly over the saline stand, much to the dismay of the nurse. Maybe instead of vomiting the patient croons when side-effects are at their peak.
• The dearth of a particular kind of blood cell in you can be replenished by an off-the-shelf candy-flavored pellets? The coloring of pellets would be self-explanatory - red for RBCs, yellow for platelets and white for WBCs. And what's more, again, just like chemo drugs they come in your favorite flavors. Just pop them in your mouth, chew and in an hour your hematologist would look at your normal blood report with sheer disbelief.
• If bad cells could be wiped off using your favorite word processor? Simply enter the pattern that identifies the bad cells in the Find box, select all locations using the ever-convenient mouse and press the cathartic Del button.
• If we had an built-in junk cell filter like the one we have in our email boxes? The moment a bad cell (spam) comes into mainstream (Inbox) junk cell filter catches it and removes it before it gets naughtier.
• If transplanted cells could be labelled? That way hematologist will never lose track of cells with tag "Kartik" on baggage carousel.

Suddenly the writings on the walls on Chemo Street become indecipherable. Maybe something more will come up when you and I visit the wall again in the coming days. :)

P.S.: All the "My Fair Lady" movie fans would know where the blog's title came from :)

Break Time!

Kartik is not exercising his grey matter much these days so I have taken the reins of writing. He is on book reading spree though (mostly fictions) and watches TV once in a while.

Those of you who are interested in meeting Kartik, here is the closest you could get to meet him presently. He is posing for this photo while receiving a bag of platelets. He needs platelet transfusion once every 3-4 days.

On WBC's front, it is still status quo. The more we worry about the growth of WBC's, the more they make us worry. So I guess it is not worth brooding over. We leave that to doctors! The doctors do not seem to be perturbed. However, instead of speculating things, they are planning to conduct Bone Marrow Examination so that they could get first hand report on the marrow.

I thought I will sign off by showing you a short video of our surroundings. Here is the video clip which we captured a few hours back.

Pune remains mostly clouded these days. Showers are the frequent and regular visitors these days which is evident from the flowing waters in the river. This is Deccan Gymkhana /Karve Road area of Pune which is always bustling with traffic. The weather does sometimes reminds us of Seattle.

Patient is Patient

The recovery is taking a little longer than expected. This time WBCs are too stubborn to budge from their position. After several pushes they have soared to 700 but still going slow. Otherwise, Kartik is doing absolutely fine symptomatically. The doctors say that some patients do take longer time to recover.

So we just wait and watch the WBCs soar high!

Room Shift

Yesterday our doctor surprised us by telling that I am to be moved from isolation room to a normal private ward. With 80% of my WBCs being neutrophils (infecting-fighting WBC) doctor feels I can weather the hostile environment of a normal room. Today the isolation room would be occupied by another patient who is in dire need of it. Hospital has only two such rooms.

I couldn't be happier by this move. I get to see more people now and people who aren't masked. Surbhi and Papa don't have to inconvenience themselves by putting surgical gown every time they enter my room. I hear more hustle-bustle in the corridor which makes me feel closer to reality. And most importantly I can meet my family members. Yay! Another week or so and I should be able to invite more people to my room.

Having said that my sojourn in isolation room wasn't half as bad. The room was peaceful and the folks taking care of me - doctors, nurses and maids - were excellent.

They just collected blood few hours back. Let's see what WBCs have in mind today :).

Pit Stop at 400

It seems WBCs have decided to take a breather this weekend. After all their host diligently observes 5-day work schedule, so why should they be discriminated? :) They have a lot of work to do in the coming week and so the rest is well-deserved.

I have been keeping myself busy seeing a lot of TV these days, especially movies. Here are some movies that I saw this week from which I thought couple of them were worth discussing for one or the other reason.

• The Jane Austen Book Club - I saw only the last 3/4 th of movie. It is about a bunch of Californians who decide to study works of Jane Austen. They pick a book for the month and then discuss it. A time comes when they realize that their situations in real life relationships can be compared to similar situations in Jane Austen's books.
  I liked the movie because I always wanted to be a part of such a book club. It's such a wonderful concept. Who knows I might start one or participate in an existing one after I am out of here. And I don't mind starting with Jane Austen's books since I must shamefully admit I haven't read any.
• Cool Runnings - This is a movie based on true story of four Jamaican sprinters who could not qualify for the Olympics sprint event and hence decide to become the first bobsled team from Jamaica in Winter Olympics game. It was quite entertaining and inspiring movie.

I saw quite a few movies this week but most were forgettable. Besides movies I watch "Whose Line is it Anyway?" quite regularly. Aren't those guys brilliant?! And how could you not watch the legendary battle between two great cricketing nations - the Ashes?

I hope to catch up with some lost reading in the coming week. I left Mr. Paul Theroux midway when he had just started his wonderful narrations on Bed and Breakfasts in Europe.

As always thanks for all the encouraging words you all are sending me. Believe me they are helping me big time.

Leap of 100%

Yes! The WBC's are showing an upward trend. They have boarded a local train though and not a super fast one. : -) Today the counts are at 400. Overall Kartik is doing good. There aren't any fresh complaints of fever, headache etc. However, in the entire ordeal, he has lost a few kilos which we would make sure he regains it back in the coming weeks. One of the reasons is that the chemotherapeutic drugs not only hits the unwanted cells but also the normal cells as well as other tissues and muscles of the body. The best treatment I can perceive right now is as prescribed by Sanjay Dutt in Munnabhai M.B.B.S. - "khavanu, peevanu ne majha ni life".

Thank you all for your best wishes and encouragement. Keep them coming!

Groundhog Day

I don't know how many of you have had a chance to see a wonderful movie called "Groundhog Day". In this movie the protagonist, Phil, is cursed to wake up everyday into the same day - Groundhog day - a day of celebration for local residents and a day which Phil didn't look forward to before he was cursed. There is no tomorrow for Phil. Every morning he wakes up with the same date on the calendar, same news on the radio, with same weather and with same people on the street. Exasperated by his predicament Phil tries various ways to get out of the vicious circle, sometimes even taking extreme measures. However, he still wakes up on Groundhog Day. Eventually instead of ruing over his condition he decides to use the time more constructively. He starts thinking with a more positive mindset and betters himself as a person. And finally the tomorrow dawns for Phil.

I liken my existing state to that of Phil in the movie. For past so many days I wake up only to learn that WBCs are still stuck at 200. I will get discharged only when WBCs exceed 3000. Daily Neupogen injections seem to be going in some void where there are no WBCs. The 24 hours' wait to know the next report is frustrating. Like Phil I hope I find some way to get out of this loop quickly. Maybe I need to use my sense of humor more to keep unpleasant thoughts away, maybe I need to write some code, maybe talk to you all wonderful people more and gain courage and maybe I need to pray with more earnestness.

Just At The End Of The Tunnel

And waiting for the light to enter! The ups and downs in Kartik's health continues. Kartik was a little low for last two days, however, today he seems to be a bit better. The bacteria were on a rampage for some time but I guess now they have been taken care of.

It is interesting to know the cause of infection. Infection spreads from inside the body and not from outside. The bacteria residing in the body themselves take up the swords and cause the riot. They have a free rein because our dear neutrophils have put down the swords! Neutrophils (which constitutes around 40-75% of WBCs) serve as a major defense of the body against a host of infections. However, neutrophils couldn't survive in the highly toxic environment of chemotherapeutic drugs resulting in Neutropenia (abnormally low number of neutrophils in the blood). Taking advantage of this situation various types of bacteria manifests in the blood causing the infection. But as Kartik rightly said, "God Bless the inventors of antibiotics" - the doctors resort to very high antibiotic doses to bring the situations under control.

In order to make the patient recover from Neutropenia faster, the doctors take help from an outside army of soldiers by a means of an injection known as Neupogen that stimulates the bone marrow to increase the production of Neutrophils. Most of the problems are taken care of when sufficient Neutrophils accumulate in the body. Kartik's WBC counts are at 200 today (Normal range is 4,000 - 10,000). Hopefully they should increase in next 4 - 5 days.

Latest update on Kartik before I sign off - he is pulling his hair apart - and quite literally : -)

(You sensed it right! - This one-liner is from Kartik.)

Mucocitis Waning

Location: BMT Room, Hospital, Pune

Two saline bottles tether me by means of tubes.  To a distant observer it would seem like the saline trolley is the puppeteer and I - the puppet.  And I would lie if I tell that I am not one. Rewind a day back and you would find me bedridden, with fever and high pulse rate, barely able to speak and making frequent trips to the bathroom because of loose motions.  Couple of antibiotics "strings" were attached to me on that day and here I am, writing to you, feeling much much better. Mucocitis in mouth has almost disappeared.  Body temperature and pulse are also normal.

God bless the inventors of antibiotics!

Mucositis Makes Kartik a Dull Boy

I know you all are eagerly waiting for the virtual voyage to the transplant room as Kartik had promised earlier. However, you need to wait a little longer and bear with me in the meantime. :)

Side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs have taken a driver’s seat presently. Kartik is feeling a little fatigued and listless mainly due to mucositis and stomach ache. His taste buds have gone for a toss, still he forces himself with whatever nutrition he could get. He is able to have soup, rice, milk etc. Don’t worry about this – if nothing else it is a consolation that drugs are working. These are the known side effects.

And what does he do all day long except being bored? He sleeps, makes frequent trips to the bathroom, watches TV, listens to radio and gives me company – after all we both have exclusive personal time in the hospital! :-)

The best thing - he is maintaining cool and taking all the challenges with a stride.

Post-transplant Hello!

Location: BMT Room, Hospital, Pune

Dear friends, finally I have reached the other side of the fence.  It took over a year, 4 chemo cycles and lots of positive thoughts, prayers and encouragement from you all to reach here.  I am doing very well.  The reports so far are rightly showing that my older blood cells are taking a plunge.  They will go down further.  In the 7-21 days' time frame stem cells will graft and start generating new cells. I hope the stem cells find the working manual lying somewhere inside the marrow!

Since last two days my appetite has markedly gone down.  There are early signs of  oral mucositis, a fancy name for ulceration and inflammation of mucous membrane lining the mouth.  However, it hasn't become annoying to the point that I cannot eat anything.  It's barely there.  Let's hope it stays that way.

Some of you might be interested in knowing what exactly happened during the transplant?  Let's talk about it in my next post :).