Tag Archives: Dr. Shroff

Testing day

23 Oct

I am running on adrenaline as I wake for the day I know will be filled with testing. Dr. Geeta is at my door before I am out of my pajamas. In my defense the door began revolving a good hour before her arrival. The morning blood pressure check, a doctor taking history, breakfast and even housekeeping.

Today’s testing agenda: SPECT scan (of course), abdominal CT and ultrasound and an extentsive blood. Basically poking and prodding. The scans are be done at Fortis hospital. To my dismay the singing nurse who has administered the tracer for my previous SPECT scans is not there. Instead the tech tells me “close eyes and close lights.” I cannot say it was a quiet room while I rested for the scan, but I was tired enough to take a nap. Dishes clanged in the background (presumably from lunch) and what can best be described as an air raid siren blared several times from the nuclear medicine department down the hall. From there I am guided to the next set of tests. The CT and ultrasound are involve more waiting but are straight forward. Once complete the Fortis man who drove us to the hospital reappears to usher my mom and I back to the car and drives back to NuTech. Usually test results have a quick turn around, hours to one day. But it is Friday so my results will take longer. Once in my room I get a blood draw and stem cell shots in the my arms.
My veins have been hard to find the last few years. They hide, they know what is coming. Luckily my body allowed my veins to show and each stick attempt today hit its mark. All of my main veins have been used in the first 12 hours of my treatment. The poke total this day is 8.

PRICING FOR TESTING IN INDIA: OCTOBER 2014
SPECT scan Rs.14000 $227.92
Full Abdomen CT Rs.12950 $210.83
Lower Abdomen Ultrasound Rs.1050 $17.09

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Home sweet Delhi

23 Oct

I am home again! 3 years away seems like a lifetime. Much too long. The Delhi airport is complete. Art and beautiful hand sculptures greet those entering through customs. Airport wheelchairs look to be abundant, good to note for those needing assistance during travel. The hospital looks the unchanged and foreign at the same time. In the lobby signs mark milestones for NuTech, 10 years and 1000 patients strong. We are taken upstairs to a room I know well. It is the same room I shared with my mom our last trip. Some of my favorite people have stayed in this room as well. Once settle my body does not care I am in an industrial hospital bed. It feels safe, comfortable even. The bed is nothing like mine at home, yet it is just as familiar. The sounds of Delhi come like waves. Horns and cars ebb and flow while drifting stray dogs bark protecting their territory. Half way around the world an ocean of a different kind lulls my traveled body. I sleep like a baby.

The morning brings faces, both old and new, chaos and a revolving door. I am welcomed home. Today I am allowed to rest and greet the sisters, tomorrow tests will be preformed and treatment will begin.

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