Feb 1 10:41

Dr N pronounced he was pleased with all the walking Baba's been doing. He's scheduled an X-Ray to look at his handiwork tomorrow sometime. If the X-Ray pleases him, Shanks could be home by the end of the week. Fingers crossed. Or maybe plaits - those million tiny plaits with beads would be good....

Feb 1 08:41

Shumita was massaging his cold toes yesterday - how very nice that must be! And this morning, he walked to the loo, brushed his teeth and SHAVED! Even though he has a multi-pronged canula sticking out from under his right ear - that's the colorful set of plastic baubles hanging on his right shoulder.

I thought I'd send this out before Dr. N arrived because Shireen - one of my friends from class 5 who is following every post carefully from Mumbai - wanted an update.

More after Dr. N's morning visit.

Jan 31 18:06

My aunt Ruma sent me this picture of Shanks sitting in a chair. Not that interesting in itself but astounding if you know that he walked to that chair. 3 days after a major 6 hour surgery - that is amazing. TW. When Dr Nundy descended on us this morning with his gaggle of young docs, he looked over Shanks and then fixed the gaggle with a beady eye and barked "Thyagarajan, why has this man had such a good recovery?". And into the silence that met that question, he said "Exercise!. This man walks 30 minutes every day. That's the only reason". He sneaked a look at me for confirmation, beamed at everyone and left.

For all you sedentary types: Get up and start walking. Now.

Jan 31 7:14

Here's a morning picture of Jins, the male nurse, and Shanks.

CP is being ferried to the hospital in Lalu's car. Which by the way has been absolutely invaluable. Lalu and Rajdeep, who had arrived to see Baba on the Sunday before the surgery, offered a point person (Surinder Nagar) and a car. Both have proved to be an absolute boon given the sudden scarcity of drivers in the PV clan: Baba's driver hurt his head and CP's driver absconded the day after the surgery. L and R have also rallied around by dropping in to see family and Pops. Thanks cuz(zes)!

Today is a sibling day for Baba: the sisters (CP and RP) in the morning and his brother (Kaku) in the afternoon. Joey and Ammi roll up in the afternoon/ evening. I've developed a little sniffle and likely will take the day off. I'll post second-hand news EOD.

Jan 30 19:58

Some friendly doctors arrived today and said they plan to remove his various tubes (including the on-tap epidural) and get him to walk tomorrow. If all goes well, he should be home within the week. Baba's delighted with the news. He's disappointed not to be able to have visitors in the hospital but since he's on the phone now, is happy to be connected to the world.

My mother's getting the house painted. Father's room gets painted first so it's ready by the time he's back. She arrives with newspapers, daily updates on the house and doggies (Batty the dogette misses Baba) and lots of food for all the caregivers: sandwiches, fruit, parathas and large quantities of green chillies (for me).

A night nurse (male - much to Baba's disappointment) has presented himself. LOL. More tomorrow.

Jan 30 12:30

Dr. Nundy arrived in the morning towering over his gaggle of young doctors and pronounced that Baba could move down into the room. Within the hour he arrived and here you can see him re-united with his trusty companion - his phone.

Jan 30 08:55

The morning started with a call from the ICU. Guess who was at the other end asking for his morning newspaper. He's talked the ICU nurses into bringing the phone to his bed - LOL. He now knows all their names - Shiney John, Manju Matthews etc. He's looking good. Distinctly chirpier and is looking forward to leaving the ICU. It's likely the doctors will let us know today as to when he can be shifted into his room.

In preparation for the move, we're organizing masks, sanitizers and gloves for the caregivers and the housekeeping folks. We'll probably look like bio-tech lab workers.

Here are more messages I got this morning. I thought this first was really sweet - Thanks Mr. C!

Bal Raj Capur:
Dear Ela,

Please convey my good wishes and "A Speedy Recovery"! to your Dad.

Your Dad was my manager in Caltex. Last I saw you was when you were learning your alphabets in Bhubneshwar and, now, I am reading your blog!

Please also remember me to Viji.

All the best.

Bal Raj

Chandu Mhatre:

Though we could not meet. Our thoughts and best wishes with you , Dada for a speedy recovery" love Vineeta, Mallika and Chandu

Jan 29 20:22

Last check: He was making friends with the ICU nurses.

I thought I'd post some of the email comments from friends (most of whom claim to be unable to post on to the blog) :

KC Sivaramakrishnan
I am happy to note Shankar took the plumbing interventions well. I look forward to sharing with him the salient comparisons between what public health engineers and surgeons do .I salute his spirit which will be fortified in due course with appropriate libations.

I am technologically backward and dont know how to post a comment on the blog. Hence this em to you

Should he be reading HT . Is int Outlook more digestible my best wishes Sivaram

Vasudha:
i have been away and off email from 17th. this is my first access to email.
so i have missed all the anxiety you have felt.
pictures were a lovely idea! i am very very glad it is all safely over. lots of love to shankar and yourselves.
vasudha.

Nippie Singh:
I was at St Stephen's this morning

The Principal wanted the family to know he is praying for Shankar

He also wanted to know the room no. so he could visit , but I have discouraged him

from doing so for the next few days.

Shankar looks fine in the blog pictures

Ruma 's coming must have really cheered him up

Indi Robbins:
for some reason can't post comment. sending good thoughts.

Rehana Sen:
I am forwarding this to Shankar and Viji's good friends Penny and Richard Alford in England. I am certain Richard and Penny will be as concerned as are we all who love your parents so deeply. Please tell your parents, that Richard will soon be on his annual trip to India, and my family will be in touch with them to fix a convenient date for a get-together at K-1467. Shankar needs to be up and running ( as I'm certain he will be) within the month to share a whisky and a garrulous catch-up time with Dick.

Jan 29 16:43

This is Shanks in the ICU. He asked for his specs and the newspaper this morning. This is him with both.

He's likely to be in the ICU for another day or two and then back to the room. He's still not allowed to drink water - just sip enough to keep his mouth and throat wet. The doctors like his progress - let's continue to keep fingers crossed.

Jan 29 05:30

Last night I met Baba in the ICU briefly (about a minute). He went through the list of medicines he was supposed to have, yanked off his oxygen mask saying there wasn't enough coming through and made me promise to make sure his discharge from hospital would be quick and easy. My compliments to Dr. Nundy. He's managed to get him through a tough 6 hour surgery with his spirit intact.

I forgot to mention the kind folks who donated blood for Baba:

> Rumapishi's driver, a large Himachali who after having driven her to hospital every day, volunteered to donate
> Mac, Viji's sister's son-in-law (work that out!)
> A young lady in Mac's employ
> Anando (Shanks' grandson - picture later)
> Joseph (the son of an IRMA classmate of Joy's - Thomas Joseph.) Anando and Joseph are friends and hang out when Joseph comes down from Jo'burg.

And here's a picture of a Wu-lu. CP (Shanks's sister) bought this from a Feng Shui shop as it is meant to protect the health of the patriarch of the family. It hung on his bedside before he came to hospital and now hangs on his hospital bed.

January 28 18:32

Rumapishi (sister), Anshu (CEO of Charkha and friend) and I went to see him in the recovery room. Therefore the delightful gowned and capped pix. He's chatty, smiley and fortunately not in any pain. He's just been moved to the ICU and will be there for another day. Then he will be shifted to the room.

Docs have advised no visitors when he is back in the room as visitors will heighten the chances of infection. So please folks, come and see him when he's been discharged from hospital.

Thanks again everyone for all the good wishes and healing.

28 Jan 13:35

Surgery over. Dr Nundy said he's taken it well and is stable. The colon was NOT malignant - phew - even though the stomach was. The anesthesiologist will decide in a while about whether he should be in the ICU or in the room. Thanks everyone for all the good wishes. Thanks Manjula for posting the interim updates.

Jan 28 8:26

Wheeled off for surgery this morning. How cute is that?

27 January 20:11

Am standing in a yellow corridor watching food trolleys being wheeled about while not-so-public pre op procedures are being carried out on Shanks. Dr Nundy breezed in and estimated that surgery would be around 9 ish tomorrow morning. He's got 2 all-clear results from the colonic biopsy but is going to look at the mass and decide for himself. All the diagnostic techniques seem to only provide guidelines to the surgeon as to where to look and broadly what to expect. He will only believe what he can actually see during the op.

Nippie uncle: we asked for a sanitizer for which we'd been billed and now are the happy owners of a new bottle of micro guard.

27 January 16:47

So we're in the room. You can see Shanks looking cheerful (V sign, wave) and yes, the microwave as well.

So far so good. The doctors seem moderately competent but as with previous hospitals we need to remain vigilant and ensure the correct (and complete) information flows between nurses, doctors et al.

Info on the time of the surgery will be provided to us post 9pm tonight.

27 January 10:54

The hospital's asked us to come in by about 1 pm. We're planning to have an early lunch before we head out to the hospital.

Republic Day 630 pm

Baba looked at the picture and was appalled that I hadn't spoken of HIS dog or rather dogette - Batty - who is also his steadfast companion. She follows him everywhere - sleeps on a chair in his room, is a member of the Charkha basement community and has her own chair in the living room. So please notice the little black dogette in the corner.

Republic Day 3:45pm

Salman, bearing eclairs and chocolate cake, dropped by last afternoon. Today, Rajiv (aforementioned Chitra's brother) sent warm hugs from a distant shore and Rajni, who lives close to Ganagram Hospital, offered to feed the hospital volunteers. Mac and Lagan with their two children came across to say hello (they were staying the night at Ushapini's). Ay called and Gauri's coming over on her way back from the airport. Nippie Uncle wrote to say that LARGE bottles of hand sanitizers were to be kept and the fluid liberally used on every person (including jamadars) who walked into the room. I have visions of the family leaping on unsuspecting hospital personnel and forcibly massaging sanitizing solution into their hands.

Results of a CEA test done a few days ago to cross-check the benign-ness of the colonic mass has given Dr. Hansa Shahi good news. Reading off the report seems to indicate differently but then again, medicine's not an exact science.

The hospital will call me tomorrow morning to let us know what time to bring him in. Even though he has cleared the PAC (pre-anesthesia check) there are a few more tests to be done tomorrow.

Ammi, Shumita, Anshu and I will go to the hospital to check him into the room with the microwave. We should be settled by the evening. I will stay at the hospital tomorrow night. Shumita and I will be at the hospital from Friday morning through till Saturday morning. We'll see how the first 2 days go and then plan the rest.

I will post the scheduled time of admission once I hear from the hospital (Thursday morning sometime). Tata Photon permitting, I will post again on Thursday night from the hospital. It would be so good if the hospital had wi-fi for customers. Then I could even Skype from my phone.

Here are two pictures of Shanks in pink (if not the pink of health). One with his trusty companion (his phone) and another with his lifetime companions (Viji and little sister Ruma). Manjula, thanks for the suggestion.

25 January 315 pm

We met Dr. Hansa Shahi, his first gastroenterologist (also his endoscopist, colonoscopist and fan), this morning. She's one of those no-nonsense, straight-talking toughies who briskly discussed the possibilities of the colonic mass being either tubercular or having Krohn's disease and laid out some options for the surgeon. Net result of the discussion: she's veering towards Krohn's disease.

And then she looked him in the eye and told him how she felt he would come through this just fine, given how well he's tolerated the endoscopy and colonoscopy. She said it was just her gut-feeling (do gastroenterologists have any other kind?), but she's been right twice before - once (unfortunately) on the outcome of the first endoscopy and again on the outcome of the colonoscopy. So we hope she's right this time too.

And of course, Shanks has a date with her. They're planning a single-malt evening post the surgery. If anything's going to get him through the op, that's probably it.

Or maybe that plus all the goodwill. Chitra, Neela and Chander's daughter, sent him a pythonic hug. She's also called Kaa-la so you know her hug is s-s-s-simply the real deal. Kuki and Da (both in their 80's) gamely trekked 1 1/2 hours in and out to have lunch with him. His younger sister, Ruma, who adores him (and who radiates little waves of good cheer and kindness) will be here tomorrow afternoon. And of course the goodwill from all of you who have asked for unobtrusive updates.

More this evening. I think three updates is overambitious - looks more like twice. Stand by for more.

24 January 2011 10:12pm

Anando (my nephew) figured this was the best way to disseminate info about Shanks/ Baba/ Dadu. So we're giving this a shot.

Status so far: There are two lesions - one in the stomach and one in the colon. The one in the stomach is awkwardly placed and has been confirmed to be malignant. The first biopsy of the colonic lesion has indicated no malignancy - phew. This is being reconfirmed at the Gangaram Hospital lab. Results should be in just prior to surgery i.e. on Thursday 27th Jan.

Surgery is scheduled for Friday Jan 28th. No times are available yet. We will be told on Thursday morning when we should check in. He has a room in the new wing. We've chosen this room over one in the old wing despite the reservations (admissions) staff telling us that the only difference in the rooms is the presence of a microwave in the 'new' room. I think the new room has a few extra inches and a lot less people - we have booked it in that hope (and not for the microwave).

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and I (or one of my cohorts) will reply.