I'd
like to write of my healing experience in India with
Dr. Bala and his excellent team from another point view.
My name is Marshall
Cooper and I live in northeast Pennsylvania. I am in
the same boat as 47 million other Americans who can’t
afford health insurance or who refuse to carry it because
of the terrible state of the ‘most expensive health
care in the world!’ Definitely not the best. I
don’t know how the American people put up with
what is forced upon them. Hip resurfacing hardly exists
in America and who can afford the $50,000 to $60,000
price tag for a total hip replacement? Who can afford
good health care here except the very poor or the very
rich?
I also found Dr. Bala thanks to the
report done on ‘60 Minutes’ on Medical Tourism
last August. At the time I was sure I wouldn’t
need surgery and my body could heal itself.
I’m so glad I put that report
into my long term memory. By Christmas of 2006 I new
I had to have something done. I was being treated by
a local orthopedic surgeon, who was treating me with
Nsaid’s. I was also doing acupuncture and Reiki
and exploring other types of alternative treatment and
nothing was really helping.
I contacted Dr. Bala, along with other
hospitals in India asking about hip resurfacing and
coming over. He is the one who responded first, he answered
all of my and my local doctor’s questions; he
eased my fears and then said that I could pay for the
procedure in India when I got there. The other hospitals
and doctors wanted a money transfer before I would be
operated on. My favorite quote from Dr. Bala is; ‘Don’t
worry Mr. Cooper. I’ll take care of you.’
Of all the dumb luck, I found a compassionate human
being of a doctor on the other side of the world!!
I went to the Sri Ramakrishna Hospital
in Coimbatore to have my hip fixed. What I didn't realize
was how much soul and spirit had been damaged from the
suffering of the past year. In less than a year ‘a
very aggressive from of osteoarthritis' had literally
taken away two thirds of my femoral head that fit into
my left pelvis socket. I was quickly becoming a cripple.
I had too much damage for a normal hip resurfacing;
I needed stem along with resurfacing.
What I found in Coimbatore were helpful,
caring, sympathetic, warm, loving medical people. From
Dr. Bala through his assistants to the anesthesiologist,
the nursing staff and physical therapist, I was shown
nothing but how good a human being could treat another.
They’re putting more than just hips and bodies
back together! I had to travel alone, don’t do
it if you can get someone to go along with you. Dr.
Bala and his staff filled that hole. When I didn’t
have an appetite, Violana, the head nurse got me to
eat. She accompanied me on my first walks, where with
tears in my eyes I could talk about being able to see
a future again, dancing with my wife and daughters at
some future wedding, realizing I’d be able to
perform again on stage. I’m an opera singer. She
got me to sing everyday in the hospital, brought flowers,
brought more people for me to sing for, brought more
flowers! Dr. Bala would also show up two or three times
a day, not for my singing, just checking to see how
I was.
I went to a hotel my second week in
Coimbatore. To my surprise I received a call from the
front desk my second night there, I had visitors. I
came down to the lobby and who was there but Dr. Bala
and his family. I don’t know if he honors all
of patients this way, but I really appreciated it!
It’s only been six weeks since
my surgery, I’m back home with my family, getting
better daily, walking, not up to 2 miles a day, but
I get around the block! I’m doing my physical
therapy exercises and actually trying to not to do to
much. I even have my first contact to get back on stage
singing this summer! I still email with Dr. Bala. He
still finds time to write. He doesn’t forget about
you when you’re out of sight!
Obviously I highly recommend Dr. Bala,
his staff and the Sri Ramakrishna Hospital very much.
Write him. Write me. Help is there in many forms!
Marshall Cooper
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