Miracle of technology and emotional support : Done on June 5th

Monday, June 22

Today was Chemo #4.....Miracle continues

Dipu takes good care of his mom

Lilavati Hospital

 Seven Thirty in the morning, we took the rickshaw and went to the hospital. The road is all too familiar now, even through there are no street signs. i know where the christen area starts, where the church is and what is written on the bill board. I know where Parsi's live and where is mostly Muslim area. Navigating through all that, we got to the hospital, in the check in and in the room. Everything routine, familiarity is comforting in a sad and strange way. I was telling Ritu that, " By the time we are done, we will be the experts of chemo, we will not need it any more and that is a good thing". We knew it takes them for ever to check in and get te paper work done, so we were mentally prepared. Dr. Smruti checked and was visibly pleased with the progress. She even smiled and said to Bina, " You are my miracle case" Bina was talking this time and she told the doctor, " You saved my life". To which the doctor replied, " NO, you have good relatives. they made quick decisions." Right decision at the right time, lots of TLC and ( somethings beyond our understanding) made all this happen.
Best news is that Bina needs only two more Chemotherapy for now, she will be done on June 5th.  We were all set for 18 Chemo sessions. This is the best news so far. We are all cautiously excited and are daring make plans.  
The strange part of all this is that I have been telling everyone and myself that I want to go back to California on June 8th and knowing that I will leave Bina in the middle of her Chemo sessions. I was not comfortable with the decision and yet I felt like I wan tot go back. Now, out of no where, Dr,. Smruti made it all possible. It is almost like she knew my desire to go back and did this. Not only that, now Kukki and Shekhar can all go on vacation ( previously planned for June 11th) and not feel any guilt  about leaving Bina and Ritu/Sonu dealing with Chemo alone....it is like Bina and her Karmas are  watching out for the family's needs. 😁😁

So, what happened? It seems like the ECG ( which is still abnormal) is not getting worse with Chemo and they think once we stop the chemo it will be back to normal. Large number of WBCs are fine, Chemo will kill them anyways ( do not worry) and main thing is Bina is alert, arguing with the doctors ( believe me that is a very good sign).

Found Starbucks

So, for lunch I braved a little adventure in the Sun and looked for something to eat. I did find a star bucks and had coffee and plain croissant. Here is a question: If the lunch at the cafeteria was Rs 100.00 and included two veges, yogurt, dal, rice, salad, three rotis and a dessert, how much a coffee and croissant will be at star bucks?
The answer is Rs 600.00 😲 This is India..you can live very nicely as long as you do not get into "luxury" and "west craze" . This was not even a fancy Starbucks..

Hidden church on the way to the Starbucks

 As usual, the hospital and insurance took for ever to start the 45 minutes chemo drip. Now, we know how to make the drip go faster, not to let the medicine get stuck and all the little dos and don'ts. Bina was awake, in great spirits and anxious to go home. But, we had to wait for another "for ever" to get the discharge papers and insurance ok. This will happen every time but thankfully there are only two more times left :)
Sonu drove me home at 9pm, we talked about funding a startup. He manages a big fund and is always looking for potential startups and ideas to fund. Let me know if you have one.....:)

Good night, this was the best day in my India trip so far.....