Day 70: The D-Day!

The D-day was here. All of us woke up bright and early, including little Miss Shukla, who was interestingly, quite excited to go to the hospital. Apparently, she had been missing the garden there and she couldn’t wait to pluck the flowers again! I love this ability of hers – that of remembering only what she loved and never about the painful times. It has made the repeated visits to the hospital a lot less traumatic for all of us.

We got to the hospital, was admitted quickly, she happily changed into her hospital scrubs, and we took off to the garden where she plucked the flowers and talked to the birds until they came to take her to the MRI room. 

Preparation for MRI was not too traumatic either. Usually we have a kicking, screaming child whom they insert the IV into but this time, they first gave her an anesthetic gas and then inserted the IV, so she didn’t know much pain. But then she went ahead and yanked the IV away during the MRI itself and they had to reinsert it into her other hand. Oh well! The anesthetist did assure us later that she will have no recollection of it, so I guess that's good. 

While we were waiting in the MRI room, I called her neurosurgeon’s clinic to know the next steps. I was told that while the scan results will be available by the afternoon, the doctor would be out on a surgery and hence, we were advised to come back on Monday to meet him. So I mentally prepared to let things go and not think of potential scenarios until Monday. 

Once she got back out of the MRI room, after some initial drowsiness, she was back to her usual chirpy self pretty quickly. She changed out of the scrubs and back into her own clothes, and insisted on a dab of lipstick for good effect (don’t ask!).  As soon as she had her food and showed no signs of any after effects of the anesthesia, we wanted to get her discharged. 

So I went to the ward nurse to start the procedure. First she asked me to wait until we hear back from the doctor. Apparently, they had sent the scan results for him to take a look even though he was in a surgery and were now waiting to hear back. So we waited, and after a while, she updated that doctor has seen the reports and wants us to wait for him and not get discharged.

Gulp.

These vague statements are what make you a nervous wreck in such situations. Why doesn’t the doctor want us to get discharged ? Why can’t his conversation with us wait until Monday? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Is it simply that he wants to meet Eka since he hadn’t seen her for three months? Or the best case scenario - does he simply want to share some good news with us as fast as possible? Or the worst of all, are we on an emergency situation (that has happened before too)? 

There were so many questions and no answers, so we just had to suck it up and wait.

So that's what we did. We waited. Thankfully the little Madam was in full form and ruling over us and the hospital staff and having a ball. She was probably as happy as she would be in a playground!

Post MRI, at the hospital coffee shop buying macaroons 

Soon the doctor came by and the first thing he says is “The scans look good”. Phew!!! So it was the best case after all - he just wanted to give us the good news as soon as possible! God bless him! 

He went on to say that the tumor is stable – it is still present but hasn’t grown, which is such a blessing! Also, the excess fluid that she had on both sides of her brain are more or less stable as well. In fact on the left side, it seems to have completely adjusted the levels. 

Which is all such awesome, awesome news!!! 

I felt like all the knots in my body released and felt several kilos lighter. My in laws, husband and I hugged each other in joy while Madam wondered what the fuss was all about.

The doctor did say that we cant leave the tumor alone – we need to get another scan done in six months' time and we will need to treat it via microradiosurgery some time next year when her brain is more developed. But for now, we can go back to our lives. Of course, we always have to keep an eye out for any symptoms, but I guess that is something we will have to live with for the rest of our lives.

So we returned home , a rather happy bunch of people! 

I thanked all the Gods and went to bed early. Because there was nothing more that I wanted – than just to sleep with a lightened heart.

Thank you to everyone who sent a good wish, a prayer across! I can't tell you how much I appreciate that!

430 more to go.