Last Week In India For Amanda

August 12th, 2007 at 08:23pm Amanda Boxtel 18

Saturday, August 11th

Thank Goodness I have a US Passport!  When the toilet overflowed this morning my purse was sitting beneath the basin next to the loo.  I can’t help beginning this installment with another reference to the golden throne…except my throne is far from golden.  I woke to a flood in the bathroom.  Every important document I own is soaked through (birth certificate, travel itinerary, cash in three currencies, business cards etc.) with the exception of my US Passport, which was damp but not saturated…and the photograph still looks like me!  My Aussie passport is a paper mache mulch of red, blue, and black ink stamps.  Only I will ever know that I’ve traveled to t he ends of the earth on that passport—Australia, Europe, Iceland, Chile, Argentina, Antarctica, and India.  Dale, Gabrielle, CP, Jane, and Jennifer—the stress with obtaining my US passport the day prior to my departure from the US was worth it!  Like a relay baton, Dale received the passport via express mail and handed it to Gabrielle who safely passed it on to me in Delhi.  I am a proud US Citizen with my very own US passport that is now only slightly damaged…in fact I kinda like the worn look…and boy oh boy am I ready to come home with it!

Afraid of arriving with prickly legs for my morning physical therapy session, I thought I’d better shave.  I always shave my legs for Chavi and I wasn’t about to let a small flood stop me.  With one wheel propped over the tiled ledge of the shower, I worked up a lather on my left leg.  The phone rang.  I dropped the soap, razor and hand held shower, which snaked around the whole bathroom, spraying me and everything that wasn’t yet wet.  I snatched at the mobile with soapy fingers, “Hello?”

“Amanda?  What’s wrong?” 

“Just a moment Mum…**@#! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Shower…and *&$*@#  Toilet…. And *@#&* INDIA!!!!!!!!  Can I call you back?” 

I then hung up the phone (sorry Mum…you bore the brunt of my frustration, but only you and Gab would truly empathize with the irony of things constantly breaking in India and my absurd bathroom situation).  

After I blow-dried most of my documents with my mini-sized travel hair dryer, I proceeded to get dressed and noticed my face covered in red pimple-like lumps.  My knees and thighs have also broken out in a rash.  My first thought, Dale arrives in less than 48 hours and he’ll freak out at the sight of me, turn around and leave!  Oh My G-d!  The day before I had an attack of nausea and light-headedness, which we think was related to an allergic reaction to a medicine I was taking for a ‘female thing’ totally unrelated to my stem cell treatment.  We are assuming the rash is also a reaction.

So I am sitting alone in my little apartment room, covered in red dots that aren’t the painted-on kind, with the power off anxiously waiting for the lights and air conditioning to fire up for the umpteenth time; and fingers crossed, the internet connection will be restored.  Internet has been down since Tuesday morning (almost five days) so I have truly been alone this week with zero contact abroad.  I’ve learned to type my emails as word documents so that when email pops up I rapidly cut, paste and hit send holding my breath that it sails off into cyber space without a hitch.  And life goes on in Delhi.  I’ve learned to be patient, take a deep breath…and wait.  Indians are good at waiting, so I’m jo ining in, embracing waiting…and consciously choosing not to fight the inevitable waiting game.  Instead I’ve used my time wisely to meditate, breathe, read, and become an expert at Mahjong Titans.  I’ve also been very disciplined having completed my second rewrite of my book proposal and synopsis…in preparation for the Maui Writer’s Conference August 29-September 4.   I have three editors/agents interested in seeing my manuscript so I have been diligently tapping away refining and reworking chapters.

Regardless of whether my red lumps fade or not, I will make one last trip to the market tomorrow to purchase groceries and fresh flowers for Dale’s visit.  He will bring his beautiful light and fill me with the colors of the rainbow (stem cells get ready!).  He arrives at 6:15 a.m. Monday morning and I will order a taxi in my best Hindi praying the driver shows up at 5:45 a.m. (rather than p.m.).  After Dale’s arrival and a long overdue hug and kiss J, we’ll head directly to the new hospital for therapy with Chavi (and yes, with clean shaven legs .  We’ll have a light therapy session as we will then shuttle over to the old hospital for a two-day spinal cord procedure.  Dale will be thrown into the thick of my treatment program and I can’t wait to share the whole experience with him.

Monday’s procedure will involve inserting another catheter into the outer sheath of my spinal cord.  The catheter will remain taped to my back until Wednesday morning and I will receive another gazillion embryonic stem cells.  I am excited to have this procedure again as I saw radical results with my first pee after the last three-day procedure. 

I continue to feel strong and the lower half of my body is firing up with life.  Every exercise I execute with Chavi each morning feels stronger.  I have more control with my leg movements and I am learning to isolate different muscles.  I can raise my knees up in a bent position from lying straight on the bed and amazingly, my ability to crawl backwards is consistent and powered by new muscles that have been asleep for fifteen years.  With the slight use of my hip flexors, since my injury I have always been able to balance on my hands and knees and crawl forwards, but never backwards.  I am astounded by my strength and new abilities.  Although I am not kic king yet in the literal sense, I get a kick out of examining my limbs as they reclaim life.  My hamstring on the left leg works when I least expect it, and occasionally in front of an audience.   Call it performance anxiety, but I figure that muscle has been hibernating for such a long time, it will take a little while…and some more ‘waiting’ to bring it back to life in the normal sense.

Three other Australian patients and comrades will also leave Delhi next weekend.  Luke, a handsome young twenty-something paraplegic will fly out with his dad, Glenn; Martin, the blind diabetic who is regaining his sight and beginning to see colors will leave with his wife and mother-in-law (Martin is the most courageous of us all and has spent most of his time in India alone); and Andrew, the tattooed Bandito with a heart of gold will depart with his gorgeous wife Sarah and their loving seven-year old daughter, Jorja (Jorja’s cuddles have been a Godsend—she is full of love).  All three patients have shown signs of improvement.  Luke is a water ski champion in Australia and was injured four years ago in a high speed fall.  He has shown results of new sensations in his leg and is able to feel a light touch on his skin.  I catch him pulling at his hairy legs reveling in his new tickly sensations.

Each day I hear languages and accents spoken from all over the world—Iranian, Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, Korean, Chinese, Australian, and Indian.  I have been the token patient from the US…and already new patients have signed up from America.  My hope and personal mission is to create more awareness in the US so that we can all have the opportunity to visit Dr. Shroff and be a part of her revolutionary treatment.  New patients will replace us and Dr. Shroff’s new hospital facility in Green Park will open its doors and fill its beds for the first time on Monday, August 20th.  All patients will be accommodated in her new hospital from this date forward.  Congratulations Dr. Shroff on such a fi ne-looking, clean, and aesthetically beautiful building.  You are phenomenally phenomenal (and I will continue to do my best to get you on Oprah!).

As the minutes and seconds tick by…I hold on to my vision of standing tall slow dancing with Dale, heart to heart, eye to eye.  For now, I am equally content with him wrapping my legs around his waist and being twirled around the room. 

We will fly home a week from today—Saturday, August 18th—and my miraculous journey will come to a close.  I will leave with a heavy heart bidding a grateful farewell to my Indian family of doctors, nurses, therapists, and patients.  As I fly out from Delhi’s Ghandi International Airport, I will know full well that I will be returning within two or three months for a ‘top-up’ treatment and some more hard work.

On Sunday, August 19th I will see Tucker and give him the biggest cuddle ever.  I will shop for groceries in a clean spacious store (I never thought I’d get so excited about grocery shopping); and I will eat crunchy salad greens, wild salmon, and Swiss chard for dinner with a huge drink of fresh water.  I will pee on my own loo and use soft toilet paper.  I will brush my teeth with water from the faucet and I will have a long piping hot bubble bath with lavender oil and candles burning.  I will sleep in my soft bed with feather pillows with my head on Dale’s chest and we will wake to freshly brewed French Roast coffee with a splash of half and half.  The river will be roaring and I will be home.  Aaaaah… I will close my eyes with these thoughts as I breathe the Life Force into my legs and countdown each sleep until next Saturday.

Namaste as I watch the sun go down in a lavender and saffron sky, Amanda xoxoxoxo

P.S.  It’s now 7:10 p.m., the power is on…but still no internet.  Still waiting…………….

Sunday morning…8:07 a.m. and I am still waiting…red lumps and rash still visible and Dale has boarded his flight.  He woke me with an early phone call.  In my morning fog, he sounded excited but tired having worked all day prior to flying.  It is real.  He is coming to India.  I am excited…and nervous.  I feel like I felt when we had our first date.

The sky is overcast and a breeze is blowing the branches of the neem tree outside my window.  A family of crows squawk perched in a nest amongst the branches.  I think the little chicks learned to fly this week.  I love this tree.  It is old and wise with a thick gnarled trunk yet its leaves look delicate and fresh.  I feast my eyes on the green.  It gives life to crows, pigeons, squirrels, a peacock, and a monkey…and it has brought me serenity these past two months.  The neem tree is my friend and brings me comfort.  Together we have watched many hours pass by.  And I am still waiting…
–
Amanda Boxtel

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Email: ABoxtel@comcast.net
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