Women loading gravel into sacks to carry on their heads.

You don’t dare cross the center line in this street on the way to Gautum Nagar Hospital.

We survived our first procedure over at Gautam Nagar, on 1/28 - 1/29.  Getting bent in half for 45 minutes so Dr. Ashish can locate where he wants to inject, then perform the injection, is a little tough on my non-pliable body.  After the injection was over it was back to our room where I had to lay on my back for hours, with the foot of the bed raised to a 2-brick level.  Finally at 8:00 pm they removed one brick and I could turn onto my side.  It felt like someone had super glued by lower back and hips, God I was stiff.  My body spasmed quite a bit from the procedure.  Hopefully there will be some progress and improvements in function from the procedure.  I slept OK, even with all of the back pain and the nurses coming in to check my IV.

At 6:30 am my body was wide awake, raring to go.  Dr. Ashish showed up very early, questioning me on my response to the procedure and whether or not I had a headache.  I felt alright except my back and ribs hurt to breathe from lying like I did for the extended time.  Since we had no complications he cleared us to head back to NuTech after breakfast.  We had ordered omelets for breakfast from their “canteen”.  This is a highlight for us, a real breakfast with eggs.  The sister told us we had “5 minutes” before the taxi was to be there for the trip back to NuTech.  I wasn’t even dressed and Kathy hadn’t done much in the way of packing or getting ready to leave.  We got around, went downstairs, signed out, loaded my butt in the taxi, and came home.  It is always an adventure to see how much the road construction has changed since our first trip in November 2007.  To us it looks as though the progress is stagnant, no changes.  This construction is on the new subway system being built from downtown Delhi out to the airport for the Commonwealth Games in October 2010.  I don’t think they are going to make it, but it’s interesting to see.

The man in white shirt is a shoe-repairman with a customer.  This man conveniently lives just above his shop — in the tree!

Kathy has been getting sicker with a respiratory problem brought on by Delhi’s high pollution and wet foggy weather.  She coughs and sounds like her lungs are filling up with fluids.  The doctor at Gautam gave her some medicine.  Her cough and congestion has worsened since we returned from Gautam.  Dr. Sudeep prescribed different antibiotics, cough medicine, and use of a nebulizer.  She coughs so much, nothing seems to be helping.  Her sinuses and head are very painful.  Something better start working and soon, she can’t keep going like this. 

Saturday was just a half day of physio, the therapists only work 1/2 a day.  Sunday is quiet around here.  Everybody sleeps in, if possible.  Some take day trips to see the sights and get something to eat.  I had an IV infusion (an IV w/syringe of stem cells injected into it) this morning.  Kathy is still battling her respiratory infection.  If she feels better this afternoon, we’ll go for a walk and pick up some fruit at the market.  Our diet has been too heavy with carbohydrates and starches, not enough fiber and roughage/salads.  My system is plugged up.  I’ve never had trouble here before with regularity.  It’s the first day it hasn’t been foggy.  Visibility is about a mile and the sky is finally blue.  Going to order some take-out/delivery food for dinner tonight.  Not sure what it will be, but it will be different than what we have been eating.

There are so many questions we have . . . what some people are doing, what we are eating, what people are saying?  It is interesting to be outside of your element.

Posted on January 31st, 2010 by admin
Filed under: My Entries