Another SB Story near our home - Saideep Singh

It was 16th December 2012 and I was returning home after the Sunday evening mass with my Sister-in-law. I urged her to take me to the house of her aquaintance who had had a baby with Spina bifida, and who resided in our neighbourhood. She readily agreed. It was just a 3 minute walk from our church. When I saw the mother, I immediately recognized her- we often crossed paths when I went to Vineet's school for his CIC. And she would always give me a beautiful smile.She herself was very smart and good-looking, but at that time she looked miles away from how I had seen her... And then I saw the baby- head gone big due to Hydrocephalous , legs deformed, and then I froze! - The Mylomeningocele on his back had Still Not been operated upon and he was going to be 2 years old in April 2013! I was speechless for a moment or two and then I asked what his name was . 'Saideep' came the answer. I asked how could he be in that state for so long? (And I was begining to get sick in my mind). So the mother answered - We took him to various hospitals and they refused to take him in, and those who did,asked for Rupees Five lakhs and Seven lakhs for the entire Package, and we don't have all that money. I couldn't believe my ears. Its true the repair costs a good deal, but after13 years also it shouldn't go so high that babies must be left to die...But this fellow? this fellow wants to live- he's been putting up with all those sufferings all this time...I don't remember what else I spoke, but I promised the mother that I would do everything that was within my reach. I asked permission to take Saideep's fotos and use them for online donations. I seriously didn't know where I was heading - I just knew I couldn't let a baby suffer thus...

SAIDEEP SINGH on 16th December 2012 before his surgery

I came back home and showed my family members his fotos on my mobile and unable to bear the pain, I burst into tears.Seeing me so, Vineet too started crying.I was unable to sleep that night and kept thinking what to do..what to do...I messaged a few friends and relatives about going online with his case for donations.There was a second line of action which was more important- the medical route. I researched about that one too, rang up doctors and friends. One friend said- Put up his page and leave the rest to God. I sat up late in the night on 17th and floated Saideep's page on Facebook. I urged and invited people to start liking and sharing the page so it would reach out to those who could actually help. 24 hours passed by and the Page had only 18 'Likes'. I was angry so to say- I had around 175 friends and all they had to do was 'Like" the page, and spread the word, and the right people would come along. Then I realised, this is reality- Everyone was not supposed to think the way I thought, or wanted them to think my way. This is our world and each one thinks differently. I was a little disappointed, but kept at it. On the other hand, one of my very good friends, managed to procure the phone number of the Neurosurgeon who had operated upon Vineet 13 years back in Kolkata. I was nervous about ringing him up directly, but I had to do it. The phone rang but no one answered. I thought maybe God is telling me, This is not the day, and left it at that. Then I went asked Saideep's mum for his previous Medical papers and she immediately brought them to my house. She brought along Saideep so Vineet could have a look at him. She seemed to be carrying him around well.

So the papers said that he had been diagonised with 'Chiari Malformation Type II' as well. There was also an MRI done. But all they did was do tests and refer to another hospital. At least they could have shunted him so his head would not have increased so much in size..but no...What has the world come to.... So I rang up Vineet's Neurosurgeon again the next day and finally got to speak to him. He said he was still doing meningocele repair. He told me to ring up the Hospital for the expenses involved. So then I rang up the Hospital and they said it would be around Rupees Two to Three lakhs. I was a little depressed- we would never be able to collect that much money. Then Vin's dad rang up one of his Doctor friends and narrated the story and asked for some other Hospital where we could have this Special surgery. He suggested- 'Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata". We looked it up on the net and found reasonably pleased with the site. So we decided we would first go to IN-K, check it out, and if it didn't work, we could always go to CMRI (Calcutta Medical Research Institute).

Christmas was at hand, and although I was dying to take Saideep to Hospital soon, Vin's dad made me understand that it would be better if we went after Christmas- everyone would be free and the holidays would make it easy. I agreed. Only, on 20th December, Saideep's mum rang me up and told me that his Mylomeningocele tumor on his back had started leaking!! She asked me if we could take him to a Doctor in Kolkata. I was in shock! I didn't know what to do. I spent the entire afetrnoon sitting on the stairs leading to the terrace not knowing what to do. I made up my mind that if I had to spend the money I had been saving for my kids, so be it. God will definitely help me find a way, of this I was confident. God bless my dear husband who was with me all the way- he helped me in his own silent ways...The ways looked so grim and hazy...

And then on 24th morning my dear friend Linny called from US. She had already promised me help for Saideep, but the amount she collected from her community there was unbelievable!! Oh I was so full of joy and thankfulness to her and to All those who had so generously donated for Saideep. And of course, to my God...Now I was confident that with that money, my money , and with some money coming into Saideep's bank account(which I opened immediately so my friends could do money transfer) as well as cash, we could get him admitted to any Hospital in Kolkata. And then on 24th evening, Vin's dad slipped and twisted his ankle on the stairs. So we had to wait some more. Finally on 28th December, me,Vin's dad, Saideep and his parents left for Kolkata. We first went to Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata, and we were very impressed with this Speciality Hospital regarding Neuro cases. We met the Neurosurgeon in-charge, narrated Saideep's entire history and emphasised that we wanted surgery as soon as possible. There was another MRI done and the surgery was scheduled for 4th January 2013. Saideep's dad is an educated man and handled the Hospital errands very well. Maybe he was also used to them by now.So me and Vin's dad returned late at night that very day, while Saideep and his parents stayed back at a relative's place in Kolkata.

On 4th January, I left for Kolkata early morning and when I reached the Hospital, Saideep's mum was in tears.I was a bit jittery too. She hadn't had anything from the morning and no amount of coaxing would make her eat anything.Then Saideep was taken to the OT around 12 noon, and we waited patiently. While we were waiting, I went to have a look at the other patients on that floor (as is my old habit when I am in a hospital, you can say), spoke to some, and then I saw the SWEETEST, PRETTIEST, FAIREST ANGEL I have ever seen in my whole life!! She was an eight month old baby girl and she had Hydrocephalous( CS fluid in the brain). She had come down with her parents to have her 3rd shunt revision. I got talking to her parents and when the child's dad came to know about Saideep and Vineet, he said - Didi( sister), I request you to give me your phone number, so I can contact you when I have any queries. I did, and he rang me a couple of days back to inform that his daughter's head circumference was decreasing, but it was a very slow process. So I had to tell him that for Vin it took around two years to get to his normal size. So around 4.30 in the evening, Saideep was taken out from the OT and taken directly to the NICU. He was doing fine- we were informed. Praise be to God!


I had to be back with Vineet, so I left for home that day without having a look at Saideep, while others stayed back. I got some fotos and videos per kind favour of my Very dear friend, Germaine, who lives in Kolkata, and went to visit Saideep in the Hospital. Saideep was discharged from Hospital on 10th January and he stayed back some more at his Uncle's place in case any complications arose. Then finally on 14th January, Saideep returned home to us - cured of his pain and happy :)

And this is not the end of his story. Rather its a new begining for him as well as for his family. So much still to be done- the next step is to get his deformed right feet corrected by surgery- we all feel Saideep has very low sensations in his lower part of his body. How much, we'll know only when he starts to talk- and we are praying that God may help him do so soon. For now, we are happy that his appetite has improved drastically and his mum loves feeding him too. Its a good thing :)




SAIDEEP SINGH ON 14TH JANUARY 2013 AFTER HIS SURGERY

(FOR THOSE WHO ARE MORE INTERESTED IN SAIDEEP'S LIFE AND STORY, YOU ARE WELCOME TO LIKE HIS PAGE ON FB. I PUT UP UPDATES THERE NOW AND THEN. THIS IS THE LINK -

http://www.facebook.com/saideep.surgery#!/saideep.surgery

 

 

A newly renovated home with a Front door Ramp!!!

This is probably going to be my First post for 2013! Been busy..very very busy. Had been busy with Saideep's story first which started in mid- December and went on till 1st week of January 2013. All this, while we had already started the renovation process of our home since 1st week of December 2012. So we shifted to the first floor with the rest of the family. There were more wall cabinets added (to make more free ground space for Vin), a low basin for Vineet to wash himself on his own, a low kitchen cook-top ( for Vin to cook if he Ever will!!LOL!)'' i will never ever learn to cook'' --- this has been typed by Vin who was watching me write this blog :) And the BEST part - the front door ramp!! That was the Totally Coolest idea that Vin's dad got while the entrance to the front door was being shifted from one side to right in the middle. Only a small drawback arose - its a wee-bit steep and maybe risky for Vin to be on his own on it. The side railings are yet to be constructed but I'm putting up the foto nevertheless...

Thats the front door ramp (side view)

Ramp (front view) without the side rails yet
 

So now the entire problem of Vin being lifted up right from his bedroom to the car has been solved! :)) God is SO SO Good!! Thankyou Jesus for loving Vineet so much!! Now Vin can go anywhere he pleases around the house. He can also reach his school books cabinet, story books cabinet, toy cabinet, secret cabinet ;) , and now he can also go to the staircase basement and call out for his cousins on the first floor! Nowadays I see him go right up to the other door and he sits and watches people go by. Now he can go play cricket with his cousins or simply wheel around the by-lanes, even when me and his dad are at work. And for Vin ,the Bestest part is- Now NO ONE can hide from me! not even in the kitchen like earlier, while playing 'Hide -n-seek'!! :))

Vineet's School Sports and Class Drill on 8th December 2012

So finally on 8th December ,the much-awaited (by Vin n me) drill display took place at St. Patrick's School ,Asansol. I always get the feeling that people don't understand what a kid on a wheelchair could be doing in a sports event. But let me tell you that people on wheelchair are very very attached to sports of any kind.Just because they can't take part in them normally (apart from those who go the athletic way),it doesn't mean that their enthusiasm is any less :) Like my Vin- very attached to sports , whether watching it on T.V. or on the fields. He likes to watch the school Tournaments, be it Cricket or football or basketball, loves cheering his school's teams. He plays cricket with his brothers and friends, bounces the basketball, and today,yes Just Today, he learnt to wind  the Top with the help of his cousin brother Vivek who's only 8 years old. That too in 4 different ways!!! aaah! to see his widest toothy grin was a treat!! :))) So what I was saying was, Vin loves to dance. And if you observe him minutely, you will realise what a fine dancer he would have been with his legs.
      The second aspect of this topic is his school - I have no words to express my gratitude to the teachers,supervisors and especially the Principal, Ms Seema Paul. I hold them in great esteem and I am sure that later in life Vineet will realise the greatness of their support to him.
          Vin had confided in me that he always wanted to take part in a dance programme,like maybe on a stage thing, and I always consoled him saying, 'Maybe, maybe, some day...." And this was That day- well, not on stage, but on the fields and it was almost the same thing, coz here was Vin - DANCING, that too in those moves he Loved doing :) God is good! And HE loves Vineet! :)
                 Just 2 days before the Sports Event, Vin fell sick with fever due to cold. And I thought 'Oh no!" this can't be happening.But I made him stay back at home and rest, and he was better the day before. Which is why he couldn't do the Final rehearsals. But I was happy to see him, Happy.I myself applied his face paint and his class friends applied hair gel for him. It was a great day! :)

Vineet and friends before the Drill

Click here to see his Amazing Drill-Dance on youtube. The link to the fotos are not yet ready, so will add them later..

Well here's the link to the fotos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/57634602@N00/sets/72157632816250379/

Bed Sores and Pressure Sores

2 days back I checked Vin's back (as I always do- its become a habit now), and to my utter dismay found a small round bruise just below his SB site. For half a minute, all the memories associated with his previous sores came back. First I scolded him for not taking note of his back and then I thought why does it always happen in winter when the sore would take longer to heal due to layers of clothing . Then I told Vineet- We both can make it right, only you have to help me.ok? And he nodded his head in affirmation. Now I have to personally take charge of changing his diapers once in the morning before going to school and then again in the evening after lunch. But the very next day when I came home from work, I saw that it had increased in size.My daughter told me that he had acted naughty with her and the maid and had lied on it. I am at my wits' end. Now Vin has to turn around 6 times while wearing his pants- twice for the diaper and 4 times for the pants.Its going to be worse when winter sets in properly and he will have to wear warm inners along with his pants.

WHY DOES IT HAPPEN  
Well, Vin's backbone is curved right in the middle - his SB site. It is called SCOLIOSIS. So it is prone to scraping and bruising. The dry winter makes the thin skin over it easily breakable. The tumour did not have a skin in the begining at all. The Doctors took skin from elsewhere and and grafted onto it. I don't know if they could have done a better job or not, but its quite unsatisfactory for me.....



PREVIOUS HISTORY


Vin had his first back sore when he was in Prep school at the age of  4 (?). He had come back one day from school and there was this small round wound and at that point I didn't know what to do. We took him to the Doctor who prescribed an antibiotic cream and another one. It took a very long time to heal is all I remember. Then it happened again and this time we used a particular ointment that a Doc had prescribed to heal Vin's burnt feet (he had accidently gone on a bike ride without his shoes in our absence, and the exhaust cylinders had burnt his feet), and it worked just fine. Then happened the Third sore and it took our patience away - it stayed for a year and half!!! We tried every possible kind of treatment, but nothing would work! It healed only when we went to Vellore in 2007, and the Doc told us - Keep the wound moisturised with ointment or coconut oil and leave it open all the time. It was the month of June- July (rainy season with high humidity) and when we returned from CMC, Vellore, I followed the Doc's advice and BELIEVE IT OR NOT, the bedsore healed exactly within a month!!!!

So last year when he had a small one again, it healed after 2 months(I think), because of the winter clothing. And now this.......

 

 (I AM WAITING EAGERLY FOR VIN TO TURN 18 SO WE CAN HAVE HIS BACK SURGERY AND IT CAN TAKE CARE OF A LOT OF PROBLEMS......and then the Doc has also told us thats its going to be a MAJOR  RISKY Surgery and Vin will have to stay in bed for 6 months!!! :(((( Its certainly a big price to pay for.....for what?? 'HIGH ESTEEM' , as an SB gentleman, aged 40 or so said in an SB Group.....)

 

I would like to share this link with all SB-associated people. Have a look-

 

Phenix Rod

 

 

 

PRESSURE   SORE now I think that a pressure sore is different from a bed sore, or is it?? Well actually I want to talk here about this particular clot I noticed on Vin's soles in the right leg sometime last year. At first I thought that it was because of his new AFO's that we had just got for him. I thought that the cast had been defective. So I stopped putting them on. But it stayed on and at times it used to go very dark. Then I noticed that when I was putting him to sleep on his left side, the right leg's feet was tilted at an angle so that the heel's position stayed in the same position till he turned around later in the night. I wasn't sure about this being the reason , so I discussed with my brother who is a Doctor, and he said 'Try putting a pillow under his legs and see what happens. See if it improves..". I tried it, and within a week the clot had turned pale and I could see colour returning there :)))  I AM A HAPPY MOM NOW!!!

 

 



About Wheelchairs

Suddenly I find FOUR wheelchairs in my house - of different sizes , colours and make, of course. I keep shuffling them according to 'when' they are needed, and the living room sometimes resembles a parking lot! LOL! So as the story goes, Vin had his first wheelchair when he was about 5 years old. It looked like this

Vineet's First wheelchair (2004)

 

I had cried when it first rolled into our home..it tore my heart,but, of course. But for Vin, it was like a 4 wheeled car! He could not wheel it, but it was enough for him that he could be moved around everywhere. It was the Best option we had in the year 2004, because it was the only one which had the smallest rear wheels.We couldn't be bothered about the front wheels as such... We hardly knew anything about wheelchairs!! It was bought from a shop in Kolkata's Chittaranjan Avenue -its a very long road with Medical Equipment shops on both sides. My daughter Vinisha was just born, and must have been a few months old when I had gone with my husband to check out the wheelchairs there. We ordered this one for the seat dimensions,etc, and since we wanted a foldable one with built-in potty, they said it would take them some time for them to deliver. So Vin's papa went and got it some days later when it was ready. It was made totally of iron pipes, and as we realised later, the foldable part was hardly of any use - it got jammed because of the iron nuts and bolts :( Vin had already made it apparent by then that his favourite colour was 'green'. So I painted the wheelchair green(all by myself, of course, haha), coz the silver looked a bit sickly for a vibrant kid like my Vin :) So now it looked like this

 

Phew! It was hard work!!

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WHEELCHAIR NO.2    

 

 

 

 Errrrr...wheelchair no 2 was hardly ever used. It was totally miscalculated because we thought that with small wheels, Vin could not reach the wheels and wheel it himself, so let us get him one with big wheels with small dimensions.(By now, the shop was ready to make custom-made ones for us - It was a great thing for us back then...) So now we had big rear wheels, Vin's seat size, a little bit bigger front wheels, etc. Vin's dad had gone to order for this one, I made the dimensions myself, but when it came down home, it was a total failure :(  It was just TOO HIGH. We used it for school when Vin started school in April 2005,but when the third wheelchair came over in Feb 2006 , we kept it aside for emergencies as the first one was getting old now. We began our hunt for another decent one as Vin was now was going to start regular school. This wheelchair stayed with us for some time - sometimes people borrowed it for use(say broken legs, etc) , and in the end we donated it to someone needy. I have very few pictures of it. This is one of them

 

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WHEELCHAIR NO. 3   

 Aaaahhh!! What can I say about Wheelchair no 3...I just LOVE it...and so does Vin. One day I noticed an ad about wheelchairs in a small column of our newspaper. I don't remember if they mentioned anything special, because the next moment we had called them up and asked about their address in Kolkata. The person in -charge told us that his agency had acquired some imported wheelchairs from Germany(?) and we could have a look. He told us they cost around Rupees Seven Thousand - a very big amount for us those days...(the iron ones cost only Rupees One thousand eight hundred back then!!) but we still wanted to have a look.
So it was a sort of a warehouse in Kolkata's narrow lanes and the moment my husband saw it, he knew this was the one. But I was a little sceptical about the seat size- it was an adult size, but the gentleman was very very kind enough to call over his own son who was younger than Vineet, and showed us that even he could move it around. As we discussed, the gentleman and Vin's papa got an idea- the foldable wheels could be fixed with velcro straps and not opened fully.Then the adjustable rexine-leather seat and backrest could be folded inside. Of course that would make it a little bit higher, but otherwise, it was Super. The wheels just glided so smoothly and they had tyres you didn't need to pump air into- rubberised I think. Everything about it was just so fine. We were happy except the price part, but we had to invest in this one. It looks like this- we have not put the foot-rest because it was too low for Vin's feet and it was non-adjustable. We would have to find a way to put something there....

The pic date says 28th Feb 2006, at 7.11.a.m.
I think it came a day earlier and this was the first day of school when Vin went with it? But maybe not, as I see that the seat and backrest have been adjusted for Vin and the wheelchair is a little high. Oh! I don't seem to recollect...old age duh! So he was just finishing Kindergarten and about to go to Class I. About the footrest now, it had a clip-in system which was super, but not working for Vin as of now. So we got an iron-welder to fix  iron grooves on both sides like the one he had for his old ones, and put in one of the old footrest.We could put in only one of them because they were big and the breadth of this wheelchair was small.Both wouldn't fit together. It worked somehow...though I was always unsatisfied about this factor, but then we couldn't find any other way....Its the one we take for journeys and outings because because of its big front wheels,it easier to move about. Plus it just snaps shut with a raise of the finger!!:)

Touchwood, its still the BEST we have had till now..as if its blessed by GOD himself. Thankyou Jesus! Praise you Jesus! Its one of the many miracles we have witnessed in the path with Vineet...
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WHEELCHAIR NO  4     



 By now the first potty wheelchair was in bad shape and we needed another potty wheelchair for the house. So off we went to our favourite shop on Chittaranjan Avenue and ordered another one with our own dimensions for Vin. Oh what Super luck this time- it turned out just so fine and right in all ways.The arm-rests were lower as was the back rest.The arm rest was just about enough for a cardboard to be rested on it, so Vin could have meals by himself and even do some home work on it! Super!! :))

I see fotos of it as early as 30th April 2007. Although its potty is no more in use, Vin still finds it most comfortable for meals.
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WHEELCHAIR NO 5       



 Aahhh!!! What can I say about wheelchair no 5 ..... ITS AMERICAN!!!!! LOL!!! I'm laughing with pure joy because never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Vin would be able to have one of those wheelchairs that looked SO damn Fabulous on the internet. Its a Quickie G T i and I had known about it from various places and SB Groups on the internet even before this one came. Now that I am writing about it, I feel it was a dream of sorts - the homecoming :)
Maria Linny is my messenger from God - she's been sent to help me and Vin in all our difficult times...I became friends with her on the net via the Spina bifida group that I have made on ORKUT. I shall have to have a seperate place for her here later I realise now. Coz Vin's journey is incomplete without me telling you about Linny (hugs for you Linny). So Linny was coming down to India in June 2009 and was bringing down her daughter Teena's extra wheelchair which was battery-operated. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard about it. She was coming down to Bangalore and we decided we would meet there. It was so un-imaginable that someone whom I had never met in my whole life was taking all the trouble to get a wheelchair with batteries and two sets of wheels, all the way from USA. Till the time we both met in Bangalore, both our husbands were so sceptical about the whole episode! haha! They kept phoning each other up to ensure it was actually happening!! But then miracles do happen....

It has jazzy light-up front wheels (which amaze people here all the time :), a pair of back-wheels for support and to avoid toppling , detachable armrests and everything about it so USA-made. He removes the armrests when he's practising his Octapad. I sometimes can't believe there ARE people who make a wheelchair so lovingly....So one set of wheels can be 'hand-pushed', while the other has batteries attached. So even at the slightest push, it can go faster than hands.Now Vin got a scare the first time when he sat on it in Bangalore with the battery-wheels,so he's still afraid to try them out, but the hand-driven ones are his favourite as of now.He can even play cricket on it!! :) Yes, we have to pump air sometimes. The footrest was high with the 'pressure-seat' Linny gave us, and low without it. So now we have our own-made cushion seat for him. I decorated it with white ribbons for Vineet's First Holy Communion in 2010. :)

            14th November 2010

WHEELCHAIR NO 6        





Now Vineet's second potty wheelchair (the comfortable home one) was getting old and rusty. So we had to get him a new one. Now inspite of me tediously taking measurements, Vin's papa tediously taking it down on the phone, and ordering it , it came with one disaster - high armrest. In fact too high an armrest. Now Vin does not want to let go of his 'comfy-wheelchair'.


SO THAT IS HOW THERE ARE 4 wheelchairs in my living room!!! Hahaha!! Not that I mind at all ;P Its good for the other kids of the house who sometimes like to race!!

(A small note-
And now I have my eyes on the 'beach' wheelchair wheels. Recently I was going through my old saved fotos and I came across fotos of beach wheelchairs. It looks like this-

Most of them were motorised and out of reach for us. I thought let me see if there have been any new improvements in them. I googled and saw some videos ,and then I came across this site-
CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK TO THE WEBSITE HOTSHOT PRODUCTS

This guy Hank is good coz he's given the option to just change the normal tyres of a normal wheelchair into balloon tyres with the help of some attachments at a price we can afford. I'm very very keen to proceed into this thing because our family loves the beach and so does Vin. In fact he's told me -Lets go to Goa again!! So I have told my dear friend Linny to look into it, and of course she too is working on it :) Love you Linny!
 

A minor urinary bladder surgery in April 2012

It is not that Vin does not have problems...but then who doesn't have problems in this world?? :) Vin's problems are just a little bit different. Earlier this year in the month of January, it started to get difficult for us to catheterise him, coz there was a false passage in his urethra since the Vellore visit in 2008. By the end of Jan, it became impossible for the catheter to go into the bladder. Sometimes his dad would miraculously put it in, but then those were rare occasions. So we decided to go in for a test, and as luck would have it, we found a good Urologist surgeon in our town itself. Or else we would have to go to Kolkata for a Urologist earlier..He did the test and said he wanted to work on it surgically. Now Vineet was going to have his Class Six Final term exams in March, so we postponed it for April first week.

               No sooner had we checked into the Nursing home on 9th April morning, and Vineet went into his terrified-self :P As soon as the nurse came with the needle to do a patch test on him, he started screaming and crying and he started pleading to go home and said that hence forth he would remember to drink his water in school(which he doesn't mostly). But what had to be done, had to be done...It was painful to see him like that...as always....Then at around 12 in the noon, he was wheeled into the Operation Theatre while I stood guard outside it. I saw that he was scared to see the anaesthetic's mask, but the Doctor was very gentle and made him believe that it was a similar one to the ones he wore at b'day parties......just before the door shut.

                 Seconds, minutes ticked by, and finally he came out after two and a half hours immediately looking out for me and his dad when he came to his senses. The Doctor explained to us that there was indeed a false passage,but it did not lead to another path. Rather there was a fleshy constriction within the urethra itself dividing it into two.So he had trimmed it as much as he could and so now the passage was clear. Besides he had also made the bladder's mouth a little bit bigger. So, he said, there should be no more of the urinary problems. We were so relieved :) He also gave us a CD of the entire process to watch later...We were very impressed, happy and thankful to this wonderful Doctor. And of course to God...

                 By evening, Vineet was in the recovery room and wanting to go back home. After much persuasion, he agreed to stay overnight after we promised him to take home the next day. So he was moved in to his cabin and I stayed with him for the night. The next day started the injections and by evening he was fed-up of the mobile games as well. He wanted to go home. At this point, his dad noticed that the urine outflow had stopped. So we called the Doctor and he flushed the foley-catheter that had been inserted and out came a piece of skin/flesh?  that had been blocking the catheter. So we decided to stay back for another night. In the morning we went home.

                  The Foley was to stay in for 15 days, so no school for 15 days
                      

           

VINEET'S FIRST TRIP TO THE HILLS AND MOUNTAINS 2012

Its been more than a year since I blogged about Vin. Its not that there has been nothing to post about, lets say it has been my idling away of time on Facebook! Hah! too bad, I know. Then yesterday Vin's dad got an email from another father who had a son with SB. Of course he was very happy to go thru Vin's blog, but then I realised I had not been updating(say helping others) about Vin since a long long time. So here I am :)

          So recently Vineet travelled to the hills and mountains during the last week of May.He went to Darjeeling, Kurseong, Gangtok, and North Sikkim right upto ''Zero Point" , at the foot of the Himalayas, where the road ends!!! He had a great time with all family members and friends,especially because his cousins were there with him too!

          EXCEPT for the day when he could not go up to the snow part of the mountain at Zero Point, because it was very far off from the road, and the way to it was thru a stream with lots of big stones(as is the case with all streams of course). So there he sat at the road's side on a rock with his dad for company while I went to the snow for my daughter with tears in my eyes. And when my daughter asked me why I was crying, I told her- All throughout this time, we had been planning when we'll see snow, we'll play and fight with snow balls, and make snowman with Vin.And here we are,and Vin can't play with us''. And tears came in my daughter's eyes too...she's a darling and loves her brother too much...

             We came back to Vin from the snow and said it was very tiring(atmospheric oxygen was very low at Zero point). And I cud see it in Vin's eyes that he was sad, but he wouldn't show it. Then it struck me and I said - ''What a waste of time!!we chose the wrong place to see snow! we cud have seen more of it in Shimla or Kashmir, where you get snow beside the road!! Sheesh!!! We'll go there next time, okay Vin? what say?'' Vin, who was silent all this while burst- ''That is what I was thinking, we have to go to those kind of places''. And I added, -''There's another best option you know, study well, go to Canada, and you'll find snow at ur doorsteps every morning, so much snow that you''ll get bugged of it!!!'' And there was laughter all around again.... :)

            So basically I have to end this topic saying that hills are very ''wheelchair-unfriendly'' , and they can't help it - Thats the way they have to move about - via steps, gulleys, alleys- all rugged. It was a first time for me too, and I'll say - Good Experience.

    AND I DOUBT IF VIN WILL BE ABLE TO GO THERE AGAIN.....

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