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Alam
part eccentric ... part fun .... stubborn .. but not stuck up ... very open to different views, ideas and possibilities ... varied interests ... engineer ... mba ... trying-to-be-a-good-entrepreneur ... ex-software ... ex-quality ... ex-tobacco ... ex-alcohol ... trying-to-be-ex-cancer
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Sunday, December 31, 2006

Saddam dead - Winners in West-Asia rejoice

Yesterday the whole world saw gruesome pictures of Saddam's assassination. I found broadcast of the pictures a disrespect to the dead. Today morning's Hindustan Times confirmed that most Indians also didn't like this version of victor's justice and its crude public broadcast.

We Indians have grown up on stories and mythologies of far more gallant treatment of the defeated. Most notable is the story about Porus, the king of Punjab(it was called something else at that time), whose army lost to Alakshendra's (Sikander). Sikandar asked Porus "how should i treat you?" and Porus is rumoured to have said " as one king treats another "...and Porus was treated like a king...his kingdom was restored (he was installed as a governor of Sikander)

Even in mythology - When Ravan was dying...Ram sent Laxman to go to the dying man and ask him for his knowledge...and when Laxman did this rudely, Rama instructs him to treat the man (guru at that point,cause he was the source of knowledge) respectfully.

No wonder Indians didn't like the circus show that is being put on by Bush/Maliki and being passed off as justice.

Interstingly the Iranian's and Israelis are rejoicing. They have their reasons too

Iran's chief enemy is gone..the men in power in today's Iraq were trained by Iran ...Shia/Persian Power has increased, Sunni/Arab power has decreased ...they have gained access to the holiest religious sites of Shias . Very importantly, they have gained a strategic significance due to which they can talk to America from a position of strength.

Israel on the other hand is happy to see the adversary who bombed them dead. One of the strongest Arab countries lies wasted. Muslim world, especially in west asia, is more polarized on shia/sunni lines and more likely to fight amongst itself than against Isreal. Americans have a ground presence in the region..another plus for Isreal.

I think Iran and Israel are rejoicing because they are the real victors of Iraq-America war.

Funny Day

OK the result is out...the second biopsy say nothing conclusive.......neither confirms TB nor any tumour/cancer..doesn't even deny either....The pathologist seems to have learnt her art from the politicians...her whole report contained nothing useful or meaningful.

I am confused.....how am i going to be treated when no one knows the disease that i have....my strong suspicion is that i will be the guinea-pig in guess-the-disease experiment run by the doctors.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Ouch

My last post would have given you the impression that I would never go for a repeat biopsy.

But lately, the doctor whom I am consulting for a second opinion (Yes Uncle, i went to Dr Kuplati... finally) has dropped some serious sounding words "thymoma" and "Thymic Lymphoma". This has scared me enough to get a second biopsy done. Thankfully, this time the biopsy-doctor was better skilled than the neanderthal-butcher who poked me the last time.

Results will be out in another 3-4 days.

Monday, December 25, 2006

My Parrots have flown away

Ji haan

" Merey toatey ud gaye hain "

aur un ki udaan ke peechey ek kahani hai.....

So this is how it happened:-

For the past six months,I was in a low health phase. Falling sick had become a monthly routine. So, when i ran high fever again (about a month back) someone had the bright idea of getting my chest X-Ray done....That was a genius idea cause the x-ray showed something abnormal in the lungs. Being a rational man, I took the next logical step and got a CT scan done. Scan showed enlarged lymph nodes right next to the lungs and the heart.

This put doctors in overdrive....They asked me to get HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis and god knows what tests done. Nothing came positive

Then i had to get an FNAC and a Biopsy done. For the benefit of inexperienced readers- Not only do these procedures sound scary, they actually are scary- some guy pokes a needle into you chest and then puts you in the CT-scan machine to check his aim. After checking the distance he missed by, he corrects his aim and pokes the needle again (in your chest). And thus after a little trial and error, CT-Scan monitors tell him that he has reached the right spot. Now, this man pokes really huge needles, injections and contraptions deeper into your chest and withdraws fluids and tissue to examine. All this while you can feel/watch him, under light sedation of local anaesthesia.

At this stage i started marvelling at the wonders of the "exact science" called "modern medicine". Now, I thought, these guys will run complex tests, spectrum analysis, rocket science etc etc and soon remedy my ailments.

Alas! this was not to be.....I was mistaken .....it seems modern medicine is not that exact a science after all. There are big elements of art, luck etc involved.

So, instead of giving me the cause of my lymph inflammation, the nincompoops at cytopathology labs (of no lesser places than AIIMS and Gangaram) gave me two reports, one contradicting the other. They asked me to repeat the scary biopsy procedures..ha ha ha...

What a bunch of incompetent quacks. Thankfully they did not wear leaf-skirts and human skulls and also saved me the trouble of watching their evil-witch-doctor Jhinga-la-la dance.

Finally, i decided to ditch the repeat biopsy and one of the doctors is treating me for the most likely cause....suspect TB (ji haan mai tapedik ka shikar ho gaya hoon). I take four different medicine and an injection daily.

Quite a sad situation..But take it from me....if you had to go thru what i am going thru.....then your parrots would also have flown away too....