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JUDITH LAWSON FROM NEWMEXICO USA.
I'm going hiking this afternoon in Santa Fe, New Mexico,
where I live (at 7500 to 8000 feet elevation). Next
week I'll be swimming easy laps in our
community pool. This summer near the middle of August
I'm planning to climb the rigging on the schooner Summertime
off the coast of Maine as a grand celebration of recovering
my life as a sailor.
NONE of this would be possible were it not for the skill
of Dr. Balasubramanian and the wonderful nursing care
I received at Sri Ramakrishna Hospital in Coimbatore,
India, where I underwent Hip Resurfacing surgery for
a severely degenerated right hip on April 7, 2006. Next
week I am thrilled to say I'll be working again as a
journalist and within a month as a part-time outdoor
adventure guide!
How can I ever sufficiently thank these people a half
a world away in India who have given me back my life
with a surgery I couldn't even find,
let alone afford in my native USA? By telling you, and
the rest of the world about becoming a "surface
hippy" with Dr. Bala in India!
As I hadn't been to India before there were things I
hadn't foreseen such as horrific jet lag and the loneliness
of being in hospital alone without a companion for a
week. Yet the night I woke up crying from a dream a
nurse was there comforting me, stroking my arms. Dr.
Bala brought his wife and children to the hospital to
meet me, and I learned that his wife (and the nurses)
had all been praying for me! Both Dr. Bala and Dr. Gerald,
the anesthesiologist (they're the silent medical pros
who hold your life in their hands) visited me at least
once a day, and these were not brief, perfunctory doctor
visits but real relationships. When he learned that
I preferred herbs and natural supplements, Dr. Gerald
said that was fine and that was what I was given.
The differences between my experience with Dr. Bala
and Sri Ramakrishna Hospital and what I've read and
heard of experiences of American patients having similiar
surgeries in American hospitals bears a far more detailed
presentation. I have always been leery of hospitals,
M.D.s and nurses, and now that America's medical care
system is beset by so many challenges and is financially
inaccessible to many, I was even more scared as I looked
at the Russian roulette fast coming at me -- have the
hip replaced after reaching Medicare age by a surgeon
I might not trust, or succumb to a life confined to
a wheelchair. I researched extensively, reflected and
meditated on the decision to have resurfacing in
India. Dr. Bala's name kept coming up with the highest
praise. As I had to borrow the money, the difference
between surgery with Dr. Bala and and the very considerably
higher fees in America, the UK and Europe was a significant
factor. I searched for -- and found, the highest quality
and skill at the best possible price.
At the end of my week in hospital I was driven up to
stay five days in a beautiful mountain village called
manjoor. Manjoor, was perfect for the peace and quiet
and clean air and homecooked food I yearned for. At
Manjoor I started to walk without a cane.
My recovery in India really needed to be longer as the
two days of airport waiting and air travel it took to
return home aggravated partially healed bedsores which
required treatment in Santa Fe, slowing me down considerably.
But that's behind me now, and I begin to feel strength
and flexibility and ease of movement flowing back into
my body and joy into my life. I may well be one of the
oldest singlehanded racing sailors to return to the
game I played so passionately in the l980s and early
l990s until a car crash started the long slide to disability.
My passions now turn more towards moving Americans to
clean, renewable, affordable energy and recreating a
health care system that's run amok. Whatever I do, I
can now do it on two strong legs, starting at the hip,
and whatever I do, I shall do with joy and love and
gratitude to Dr. Bala, "one hip surgeon!"
--Judith
Lawson
Santa
Fe, New Mexico USA
May
12, 2006
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