ELIZABETH MY BITTER HALF Mount Abu

Keith Grandson of Elizabeth

Keith

Liz, while playing with her grandson Keith, banged her small toe on her right foot; she paid no heed to the bang, thinking it would in time right itself. This little bang aggravated the situation even more. Midway through October, the pain in her leg was driving her crazy. She would for hours soak her legs in hot and then cold water to relieve the pain. She would get her legs massaged with oils and creams to ease the pain. By mid-November, the pain was even more intense, the painkillers, the massages, nothing seemed to work. And by the end of November 2003, the pain had become unbearable. Dr Sharma gave her a dose of shorts to relieve her of her excruciating pain. A few days later, I found her looking very flushed, so I encouraged her to come out with me for a short walk down the road to our friend’s place, Mike.

Mike

Mike knew I had bought Liz over so we could take her BP. After three attempts on the BP machine, Mike got a little worried. It seemed the machine had gone berserk; it kept throwing up error after error. After a few minor adjustments, we tried again and the shock we were in for was too much. I immediately rushed her home and called the doctor. Her BP had gone to 180+stolic and 110 diastolic. After giving her sedatives and medication doctor was also worried. Something seemed to worry him, as just plain arthritis did not fit into her pattern. There had to be something else that he had missed in his diagnosis. Liz went into a deep sleep and I really became paranoid the next day when she showed no sign of stirring, anyway I let her sleep that whole day. When she came to, she realized she had lost a day in her life. 

The final countdown to her real misery and grief for a long, long time to come began on “Feast of Christ The King”. The agonizing pain had taken on the tune of the fury of a storm of gale proportions of force eight. Dr. Sharma felt her feet and found out that her right foot was abnormally cold. The sensation of coldness in her foot sent alarm bells ringing. He immediately phoned his colleagues in Ahmedabad Sal Hospital and said he was sending them a personal patient for a battery of tests. He advised both of us not to delay and to head for Ahmedabad as soon as possible. She was to undergo a Doppler test and a host of other tests.

I wonder if we would have had different results if we left right away instead of delaying for our students' exams. Arthritis has all these symptoms. Who could have guessed what lay in store for Liz? Not even my family doctor had an inkling till the very end of what she was in for, more when I come to it. We kept Liz on a barrage of painkillers and other medication till we finally left for Ahmedabad on the 5th of December 2003.

On reaching SAL Hospital, a team of wonderful and dedicated doctors attended to us. After checking in, they immediately gave her a battery of tests recommended by Dr Sharma. Her blood tests were above normal or, as Dr Apurva (the surgeon) aptly commented, excellent. I wish I had an HDL profile like hers, way out.

The abnormalities in her right leg's Doppler test led to the doctors performing an angiography to identify the cause of her condition. It devastated her To hear she needed an angiography after going through so much pain and psychological stress. She refused point blank and was on the verge of packing up and getting the hell out of there. I had to cajole her and psychologically get her ready to undergo the angiography for her own good. Being the mettle she's made of, she finally got down to agreeing with the angiography.

The team of doctors at Sal scheduled the angiography for the 8th Dec at around 8 pm. Her elder daughter Christina also was present for the angiography.