Things close to My Heart

There are a few things that are extremely close to my heart. So close that some of them completely overshadow my heart in X-ray films and CT scans. They are called lymph nodes, and they have gone berserk. My lymph nodes have been multiplying at such a great rate that i have a 14 X 10 X 8 CM mass instead of the pea-size nodes that normal people have.

This condition of the Lymph is called a lymphoma ( a kind of cancer of they lymph). I found out only yesterday that i have a lymphoma in my chest and that it might be in immediate need of attention. Now i am planning to go to CMC Vellore, one of the better medical facilities in India. There, i will get to know the exact nature and spread of my Lymphoma. Also the intensity and course of my treatment will be finalized.

Hopefully, regular chemo-therapy will put me back into good shape. Will keep you guys updated with this challenging and new phase in my life....

Short Update

Just underwent a diagnostic thoracoscopic surgery. Looks like I have a tumour, definitive answer in another few days. I'm Unable to type myself so taking help from Juhi. Will keep posting if possible.

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.

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.

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....