Update and Status

Today marks a month of hospitalization since March 26 th when Sonali drove me to the Anne Arundel Medical Center while I was suffering from 104+ fever. This has been the most tumultuous period of my life especially following the recent passing away of my Mom in Jan’19. Though the diagnosis for Leukemia was made by March 30 th , I could not fully comprehend it well enough till April 1 st (what irony –on Fool’s Day) because I had spent the previous week in a sort of fever & drug induced delirium. By then I had also been moved to the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The kaleidoscope of emotions that I have gone through since has been amazing to say the least. The first was obviously Utter Despair when the news sank in. Like most of us, we do everything to live and survive but rarely, ever, do we prepare ourselves to leave the world . There were moments of Self-Recrimination and all I could think of and kick myself for, were the myriad issues that I had continued to kick down the roa...

So this was the 'A' Care team right when I got admitted and the results of Leukemia started coming in. Can there be a better team - Daughter, Wife and Sister looking after you. My sister Devanshi from Sydney was on the west coast attending a conference the same week and could change her program and be here with us. I am sure she was a source of great relief to Srishti and Sonali both, as our lives suddenly got jolted with the news. As an aside, most of you do know that I lost my Mom on Jan 2nd this year and my Dad has moved to Sydney, Australia and is staying with my sister. Didi has gone back Downunder and now it is the Srishti-Sonali team taking care of me. Maybe I am getting a little spoilt with all the attention, love and care 😜😆 Please do leave a comment below so that I can improve and make the Blog more informative. 😃 

Greetings family & friends, I've decided to publish this blog as a means of updating you all of my health and status. Some of you are already aware of my diagnosis which is ' pre-B cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)' . Now that is quite a mouthful? 😋😀 I started chemotherapy on April 8 and have been receiving treatments twice per week via Lumbar Punctures and Hickman catheter (an intra-venous gaping hole on my chest, leading straight into the largest vein and then my heart). So far side effects have been minimal (FINGERS CROSSED!) and I've been managing to run the Johns Hopkins kitchen out of food and accumulate many miles in my walks around the unit. Have had a minor hiccup - was walking 2 miles everyday in flat heels on a hard floor and got my knees inflamed. Lesson learned - ALWAYS wear walking shoes, the heel elevated by at least half an inch. So now down to just one mile daily, a leisurely walk as knees and ankles heal. Hoping to keep this pace up...