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 :).