A quick in and out of the hospital

                     A quick in and out of the hospital

Prepped and ready for the OT

Its been a long time coming and finally Greg decided to go in for a quick procedure. 

Earlier we had gone to St Philomena's when my brother Mark was ill. But this time -- a friend is a doctor in St Martha's and he suggested doing the procedure there. I have never regretted the decision and the Doctor- Sunil Gowda was a star. WE went in one morning with a packed suitcase for 4 days and after explaining the procedure to me, even down to drawing it on a page, I was sent off to admit him. I strategically mentioned that Greg was Dr Silgardo -- an older admin of St Martha's godson and that smoothed the way forward.

That took a little time with all the paper work, but I was warned by a friend to take a shared room and we did. "People keep coming and going in a shared room, not in a single so its better that way."

The next morning on the dot of 8 am Greg was prepped and wheeled away. Just matter-of-fact, put onto a gurney and rolled away by a posse of nurses. "Wait till you are called to the OT,"said Sister Vinayaka with a smile and so Steve and I just waited patiently till he was wheeled out.

Dr Gowda came out smiling in his scrubs and said -- "All went well, he will be in the ICU for a day." ICU I thought really scared by the words -- thinking of my brother Mark being in the ICU for almost a month in St Philomena's where it was touch and go. "No Mum, they probably cannot irrigate him in the room, so here there is constant care fr the first 24 hours,"said Andy my doc son on the phone.

The doc came out with this ghastly botlle with pieces floating and smiling ly raised it saying -- "All done," I felt sick looking at it and realised the procedure was over and Greg would feel much more comfortable going forward especially when we traveled. It was a non-invasive procedure and instead of running to the loo all the time, he was back to being a normal person.

One thing about Greg is he never loses his appetite, no matter how sick he is and never gives trouble to eat any kind of food. Such a big relief, cause I ordered hospital food right away for him. There was no moaning and groaning and no trouble at all, while in the other bed I could hear a dreadful man harass his wife and daughter, complaining about everything, till they amputated his leg and he was silent after that.  The catheter was put in, the drip fixed and for four days he remained in the hospital with Steve spending the night with him and me getting in my exercise by jogging to and from the hospital.

The Jacaranda in the hospital premises was in its full glory. I remember the Jacaranda in California when I used to go there to Edit Tom Bates books. 

And the perfumed carpets of Honge flowers as I jogged on Nrupathunga rd,  before the sweepers came and swept them up . It was so much easier running to the hospital and back on a straight road, rather than get an Uber and miss all the beauty of a Bangalore at dawn.