5 th November !!!!

Post operation , she was busy with the physiotherapist , who would faithfully make her walk. He put in his best efforts but my mother was too weak and with the anaemia and total anorexia it was going to be a very tough and slow recovery . After 2 units of packed cell infusion and stabilisation of electrolytes and S Creatinine we took her home on the 1st October in the hope that she may recover faster , out of the hospital environment . Orthopaedically she was fine ,walking with and without the walker, of course with someone's support . She never really recovered medically and psychologically .

Her best day was on the 28th Sunday when my cousin brother Devang visited to invite for his wedding . She liked the sari which he gave and asked for the 'fall - beading ' to be done . She also had instructed to put her name on the cover so that it did not get mixed up with Shami's or Nisha's sarees. She also promised to attend the wedding on 25th Nov. But it was not to be.

On the 31st October , she developed sudden hypotension and urinary output started declining . It was indeed end stage renal failure . She was shifted to an ICU nearby their house on Ghodbunder Road .and was under care of Dr.Modi an intensivist and Dr.Gunjotikar a nephrologist . They tried their best to revive the dropping BP and renal function but there was no significant urinary output and she went into stupor and coma later on after 3rd November . We mutually decided not to go in for the ventilator as it becomes traumatic on the relatives to wean away from the life support later on. She also was not in the fitness for dialysis. Taking into account her overall condition we all gave the permission to the doctors to let her be in peace with minimal life support like oxygen , drips of Dobutamine and Dopamine to maintain the BP. and suction for the inevitable pulmonary oedema developing . She started sinking on the night of 4th Nov. and on 5th Nov. at 2.15 pm her tracings were flat . She was gasping but in coma , it was traumatic to see her in that condition and not do a thing . I broke down a couple of days later with her gasping face haunting me and I said ' How did I not do anything and stood there helpless being a doctor ' .My daughter comforted me by saying ' You have done the best you could in the circumstances '.

She had waited till the 5th to bless me on my birthday and also bless my brother Satish and his wife Nisha on their wedding anniversary which also is on 5th Nov. Dear Mom !! We will never forget you on a 5th of November !!!!!

Mom , I do miss you a lot !!!

My mom is no more .She passed away on the 5th November after a brief illness, at the age of 77 and 6 months --- acute on chronic renal failure .

My last post on 12th Jan 2007 , I had written about analysis on my mother's noticeable gradual decline in health . Actually it was indeed what was in the back of my mind --- chronic renal failure [ CRF ] and not what our early impression was. She had improved in health a bit and fit enough to go back to Goa to her house in the midst of the various trees she had nurtured over the past 12 years. She got her happiness being all by herself alone throughout the day till evening when my Dad returned from his work. He has kept himself busy even at this age of 78 , and they found comfort in each others company . They used to feel happy when we or other relatives used to visit them and also on their visits here about 3 times in a year.

A fall early morning on the 8th Sept near the toilet woke up my dad with a thud sound .He rushed to where she was lying in a pool of blood from a gash above her left eye. He could not move her alone so he dragged her on a bed sheet to her bed and made her comfortable. He noticed the painful movement of the left hip and asked her to lie in bed till he could get a doctor. A local doctor attended to her wound by suturing and dressing and asked for an Orthopaedic to visit .He drove to town to get a bed pan and all other necessary items for a bed ridden patient . It was at this time that he phoned me ---about 11 am--- to tell the news . Oh my God I said and enquired if she could flex her hip .Dad said NO and so I knew that what I was fearing till now---a fall at this age ---was there right in front of my imagination. Uppermost in my mind was how to transport her here. My brother Satish and Nisha his wife left by the night Volvo bus and reached next day afternoon. What a relief for my Dad.

On the 11th Sept they brought her by road in an AC Qualis. I had already arranged for her admission with Dr. Milind Patil , FRCS and specialised in joint replacement . They had left Goa at 7.30 in the morning and reached here at 10 in the night . After initial investigations and stabilisation the operation was fixed for 14th Sept.

That morning she developed a rigor due to the IV fluids and BP shot up to 210 / 120 . The operation was 2nd on the list but was rescheduled to 3rd. The situation was still dicey as the BP came to 180 / 110 which was not comfortable for the anaesthetist. We gave full authority to the doctors and they took up the risk. After the spinal anaesthesia the BP drops and so they were afraid of loss of coronary perfusion if it fell too low. After the operation Dr. Anjali ,the anaesthetist and Milind's wife said that the BP dropped to 150 / 70 and did not shift at all. This had no explanation medically except Providence .

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