October 22: A little setback

Friends, today is exactly a week since Sujata returned home from the hospital and I was hoping to bring you a smiling picture of her with a brand new, colorful head scarf. That will have to wait for a bit. We have run into a small roadblock in Sujata’s recovery process. She had to be re-admitted to the hospital today to fight off what appears to be an infection. We hope this visit will be a short one, just a few days until the doctors get her immunity back in shape.

The first few days at home were hectic, as you might imagine, with our lives suddenly taken over by a plethora of medicines, low bacteria diet and a constant vigil for the slightest signs of trouble. But for Sujata, being able to look out of our bedroom window and catch a glimpse of the last of the Autumn foliage, often made her forget that she is recovering from a difficult ailment. Many of our friends stopped by for short visits to cheer her up and Sujata, greeted them all with a smile hidden behind a protective face mask.

Yesterday, however, she developed a slight fever and became so weak that she was barely able to get out of bed. She stopped eating, and this morning she appeared very pale and was almost unable to speak. The fever did not go down. I called the hospital right away and they asked that she be brought in as soon as possible. It was indeed a monumental task to get Sujata out of bed and get her ready for the trip to Mount Sinai. Rahul met us at the hospital and helped wheel her in to the cancer treatment center, where the attending BMT physician took one look and decided to get her admitted. She apparently has an infection and is dehydrated. I just spoke with Anjali who is still at the hospital. They are running a series of tests to determine the root cause and should have a clearer answer by the morning. Hopefully, they will be able to stabilize her in a day or two and this whole incident will be behind us before Ma Durga says her goodbyes for the year.

I will let you know how she is doing when we bring her back home again. Meanwhile, please remember her in your prayers.

The picture above

I wanted to put a picture of Sujata from the hospital today, but she did not look well at all. Instead, the picture you see above is from last Thursday, when we were at Mount Sinai for her first check-up.