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.