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Day 2 at home and physiotherapist is pleasantly surprised to see two attenders. They start jabbering away in Telugu and worked out an understanding on how to go about the sessions. I asked the physiotherapist if he could get me walking before my review meet with the neuro-surgeon in mid-November and he said it was possible given the muscle toning in my legs (thanks to all those years of football/soccer in school and subsequently the gym). I got my mobile phone back. Yay!! The days rolled on. I was beginning to learn a bit of Telugu with the help of my attenders. We had some fun moments together.
Oct. 15, 2014 and I was able to move around with some help using a walking stick and an attender. A few days later, one of the attenders decided to up the notch and suggested that while walking with the stick, I kick a ball with the other leg. I said Ok. I was willing to try anything. So, we started under the physiotherapist’s supervision. Believe, you me, I was gaining strength in my legs by leaps and bounds. This went on for a few days and by end October I was walking on my own with a stick without anyone’s help. I could go to the loo too without any assistance.
What a relief that was, I tell you. Privacy!!!! Now, I told the physiotherapist that we had about 2 weeks before the review and I wanted to walk into the neuro-surgeon’s office without the stick. I enquired if he could make it happen. By now, we had built a rapport and he gladly said Yes. Mom, kid brother and sisters-in-law decided to go back to their respective homes as they had to look after things there too. However, my kid brother decided he would make weekend trips to Hyderabad to ensure progress was proper. God Bless that kid. I sure needed his help. More moral support.
I was determined to achieve my goal and put in all effort towards it. I had to prove the neurosurgeon otherwise. 8 – 10 months!! My brother accompanied me on Nov. 15, 2014 and I opened the neurosurgeon’s office swing doors with my right shoulder as my hands were crossed on my back like some sort of inspecting authority.
That look on his face was (Mastercard) ‘PRICELESS ‘. He was absolutely flabbergasted that I was walking on my own (albeit with a bit of a limp) but being the doctor quickly diverted the talk to my hand stating that there wasn’t too much improvement. I reminded him that he had stated that I would walk only after 8 – 10 months and here I was walking in less than 2 months. So, there! Ha! I told him I would start earnest effort on my hand now. Gave myself a target of year end.
My in-laws came in to help in the day-to-day chores and to give Kavitha & me moral support. They were there for a few weeks before returning to Bangalore. I decided to give homeopathy a shot in terms of medication as the prescribed allopathic drugs were quite expensive and funds were short. My savings were dwindling. Although my older brother was picking up the tab for most of the post hospital care and our day-to-day sustenance, I did not want to tax him. God Bless Him. Some friends and ex-colleagues also were chipping in on the side (with whatever possible) as I, obviously, was in no condition to generate any kind of income. My father in law (who retired, a few years ago, from a public sector unit) also started supporting us on a monthly basis, financially, a few months later. He was using up his life’s savings for me! God Bless him. I must have done some good sometime to deserve so much love, affection and support from all quarters.
However, destiny had other plans. Over the next few weeks, I felt the intensity (read aggressiveness) with which the physiotherapist was going about the sessions. It was getting increasingly painful. Despite my complaining, it didn’t make any difference until one day I could literally hear a tear around my left armpit. I screamed and cursed the living daylights out of the physiotherapist (using the choicest profanities in every known language to me).
Everyone in the house came in running wondering what was happening. I lost it and told the therapist to take a hike. Kavitha got me to calm down and told me to rethink and not make a hasty decision. Seeing her, I agreed (Hulk/Banner again!!). She had done some homework and found a rehabilitation and therapy center a little away from home. We decided to give it a try keeping this physiotherapist for my legs only. Around mid-December, we decided that only one attender was enough as I was managing quite well.
So, we let go of the professional attender that my brother had organized. As for the other guy, my school buddies insisted that we keep him for a few more months and not to worry about the payment for the guy. We agreed. A couple of months went by ferrying to and fro to the center, but I didn’t really see/feel much improvement. By now we were in around end February 2015. My target was blown in the wind. Sigh!! We checked out an ayurvedic franchise for treatment and the doctor and franchise owner said they could guarantee 90% improvement in 40 days.
I found it a bit far-fetched and decided not to pursue this. This rehab center too was getting cumbersome and expensive with very little improvement. Around this time, one of the shops from where we had gone to buy a sling for my left arm suggested another physiotherapist closer to home. We decided to check it out and it so happened the physio therapist was a young guy with similar interests in music as me and used music as part of his physiotherapy sessions at his clinic.
We started here with a little more improvement than the earlier center and the home physio therapist (whom we had stopped by now). It was sometime in early March that one of Kavitha’s acquaintances suggested we try Acupuncture as it worked for her husband. We had a lot of discussion on this and finally decided to give it a shot sometime in April. So, now it was acupuncture in the morning and physiotherapy in the evening. This included hydrotherapy/aqua-therapy, thrice a week, (in a community swimming pool), as suggested by this physiotherapist. It was getting tiring both physically and mentally. During one of these trips back from the acupuncture clinic we saw this banner of a Kerala Ayurvedic Center enroute but closer to home. I told Kavitha that we had to check it out. So, we did.
