Update on Mum’s Recovery – Saturday 12.3.2022

So the big milestone has been achieved - Mum is safely here at our home in Asha Kiran Hospital after that long trip across the country (borne by so many, many of your prayers).  

Today was a day of setting up the room for Mum - and of Sheba helping Mum in so many, many ways.  There are just so many things that we take for granted in our lives - for which we need help.   Mum is now sleeping peacefully - while Sheba is taking her Saturday evening Geriatric Course lesson on zoom.

Overall a good day for Mum, and she is very grateful to be alive.  Mum said a number of times that she is very ready for the Lord to take her home, but that she knows that God has a plan for her.  She also said that she is amazed that she has lived to be this old, and we are of course so grateful that she is still with us!  As the first visitors have come to welcome her back to Asha Kiran, we have already seen her minister to others - even as she is being blessed too.

Mum still needs much prayer, as do we.  Will you pray for Mum to keep getting stronger and learn to do her activities of daily living.  In the meantime, please ask the Lord to bring a lady to help Mum at home in the coming days.  Finding the right person is always a big ask, but the Lord can do amazing things.

As we ease into this new life here - for the next few months at least we think - we will probably start staggering our reports on Mum’s condition a bit more.  You may not be getting a daily update about Mum, but please do continue your kind prayers for her.  We are just humbled by all the love Mum has received so far… and know that the road ahead will have plenty of times when these prayers will continue to be needed. 

Thanks for being with us so far.

Onwards!

Blessings from Andi and Sheba (on behalf of the extended Eicher family)

Update on Mum’s Recovery – Friday 11.3.2022

Hello Everyone!

It’s 8.30 PM at Lamtaput Odisha!  We arrived here 2 hours ago after a looooong journey from Mussoorie - very tired of course, but grateful for the miracle of making it out here!

Mum has already had a bath, her supper, her meds, and after a short prayer of thanksgiving she is asleep. 

We are grateful for all the many prayers said on our behalf during this long trip across our country! 

We started out in the cold darkness of a Mussoorie night, exactly 24 hours ago.  We carried Mum up to Sisters Bazaar in a stretcher and then had her sleep on the pushed back seats of an innova.  Mum found this part of the journey hard, as she is naturally claustrophobic and being strapped in the seat and having the lights of cars and lorries shining on her all night was disorienting.   

We got to Delhi airport at 3 AM and were really helped by Mr. Sudip, from Indigo who assisted Mum with the wheel-chair.  Checking in was fast and we were through security soon - and came down to the exit gates only to realise that there were a lot of people there and no open chairs - and we had 1.5 more hours before take-off.  

So Sudip took us up by lift to another area where there were less folks and more chairs.  We put a shawl on the floor for Mum and she took a nap before Sudip came by at 4.15 to help us board.  What an experience to have Mum brought all the way to her seat in the wheel-chair.  

Mum sat the whole 2.5 hour flight - which is such a miracle considering where she was 10 days ago.  It was not comfortable the whole time but she managed.  

On landing in Vishakapatnam we were met by Victor and Sarah and drove over to Amma and Appa’s home which is only 20 mins from the airport.  

We imagined how it would have been if Amma and Appa were still alive - how excited they would have been to have us and care for Mum - and what meals Amma would have been cooking to welcome us.

The home stay for half a day gave us a needed rest.  After a clean-up, a breakfast, and some hours of sleep, we had delicious Andhra Thali lunch and then started our drive towards the Eastern Ghats and Odisha.   

We left Vishakapatnam just before 2 PM and drove up the now familiar roads towards Lamtaput: through the Andhra villages on the coastal plain, and then up the beautiful steep hills to Araku (the Ooty of Andhra Pradesh) and then an hour into Odisha to our home on the Asha Kiran Hospital campus.  

Sarah and Sheba and Mum were in one car (driven by our friend Rabi) while I drove Victor in our vehicle (which Sheba and I had left in Vishakapatnam when we drove down post-haste on the 21st of Feb).

And so we have come full circle.   We are home. Back to Asha Kiran after 2.5 weeks.  We left in haste, not knowing what would happen.  We are back with the miracle of Mum alive, mentally alert, and responding to the physiotherapy needed for her to overcome the effects of her stroke.   

So many prayers have been answered - and as we learn a new normal as an immediate family of 3 for the next couple of months at least - we cherish your on-going intercession on Mum’s behalf (and for the extended Eicher family too!). 

A very thankful good-night to all!

Andi and Sheba Eicher (for the Eichers all around the planet / and in heavenly places)

In the air!

4.57 AM:  

And we have lift off! thanks for your prayers, just about to leave Delhi airport for Vishakapatnam. Mum has done really well, but is obviously tired.

11.47 AM:

We are safely at Vizag and are at Appa's home near Autonagar.  We did not sleep much last night so have taken some rest. Victor has done to get lunch. We will leave after lunch for Lamtaput

On the road!

Hi Friends, 

We have started from Mussoorie. Mum is sleeping peacefully in the taxi. We are in a small traffic jam, but have budgeted plenty of time to get to Delhi airport for our 5 am flight. 

Thanks for your prayers as we go forward on angels wings! 

Will keep you posted! 

Blessings,

Andi and Sheba Eicher

10 minutes later....

 p.s. we are out if the traffic jam... smooth sailing now thanks to our cool headed driver Shiv!

Update on Mum’s Recovery – Wednesday 9.3.2022

Friends,

Night has fallen, and the lights of Dehra Dun can be seen glistening like diamonds on black velvet from the windows of Shanti Kunj.   Mum has had her supper and taken her medicines and has drifted to sleep in her room.   We are just about to make a big shift in Mum’s life, as this will be the last night that she sleeps in her beloved Shanti Kunj home for some time.  By this time tomorrow evening we will be driving to Delhi and then catching a 5 AM flight to Vishakapatnam (God willing of course).

Things can change very, very quickly.  We know that, but have seen another instance today.  For the past 3 days, the wonderful Dr. Raja has been paying Mum morning visits.  Raja is a psychiatrist with a very, very big heart.  His cheerful yet deep way has helped Mum so much.   This morning we got a whatsapp message from him saying that his father had suddenly been admitted to an ICU and that Raja was already travelling on his way South to be with him.  

Sheba and I know what it is like to rush across the country, with our parent in an ICU and facing an uncertain future.  Please pray for Raja as he is with his father in Tamil Nadu, and for his wife Jessica and their children here in Mussoorie.

It’s a new world for all of us.  One chapter of our lives are closing, and a new one is opening up.  We so appreciate your thoughts and prayers for us as we make this journey and learn to adjust to a new life.  Do lift up our dear foster brother Vickey who has so faithfully been caring for Mum for these 5 years since Dad’s passing away, as he too steps into a new chapter of his life.  We are hoping that Mum will be able to return to Mussoorie in June, but have to take one day at a time.  Pray for Sheba and myself as we learn to care for Mum in Odisha.  We are all being stretched – and that is a good thing.  But we need much wisdom, buckets of patience, dollops of good humour, and an overflow of the love divine.

In the meantime, here is a picture we took of Mum today.  When we think that just 10 days ago she was on the very brink of death, we are just so thankful.

Each day is a gift.  Let us love not in words and in speech, but in actions and in truth (1 John 3.18).  So much to learn.  Onwards!

- Andi and Sheba (for Eichers everywhere)

Update on Mum’s Recovery – Tuesday 8.3.2022

Dear Ones,

A quick despatch to say thank you for your prayers: Mum slept well last night for which we are so grateful.  Overall it was a quiet day for us.  We are slowly getting things organised for the trip to Odisha. 

The small trickle of precious people who come to visit Mum continues – and we started the day with a home visit by her dear psychiatrist Dr. Raja who brought in his huge smile and his warm wisdom.

Yesterday Mum heard that a young man that she had been praying for had died.  She was earnestly praying with the young man’s mother (the family are dear friends of ours) for healing from the cancer, and did not know that his condition had worsened.  We can see how much Mum is grieving for him – and for his dear parents and siblings.   Needless to say, Mum was tired most of the day and napped a number of times.  We continue to see some small progress with her physio-therapy/rehab, but it is hard for Mum as she still cannot walk, and cannot yet sit up on her own or get out of bed (which she yearns to do).   And so to sleep for another night.

Tomorrow is a new day!

Blessings from Andi and Sheba (on behalf of the scattered Eicher clan)

Update on Mum’s Recovery – Monday 7.3.2022

Dear Friends,

Thanks for your prayers – Mum’s sleep last night was the best she has had for a while.  Really appreciate your intercession.  Her right arm has not ‘instantly improved’ but we know that your intercessions are being heard by our loving Father!

Mum is super organised – everything in Shanti Kunj has its special place (did I tell you that it was ‘spick and span’ too?).   Mum often told us that she would begin packing weeks before a journey so that she did not leave anything behind (yes – she will make at least one list).

But now the packing task is for us to do.  We are planning to have Mum with us for a few months at Asha Kiran Hospital in Lamtaput, so we want to help her pack for this journey. But this time she will have to tell us where things are and what she wants to take.  Any change is a challenge, and we know that even this process may be hard for her to take.  Will you please pray for her as we start this task tomorrow – that the Lord will give her courage and trust in Him as she faces this upcoming change!

We are all walking along new paths.  I just filled in the airline request for a wheel-chair to help Mum at the Delhi and Vishakapatnam airports.  The website asked me to state why she needed wheel-chair assistance, and I wrote that Mum had a stroke. This is the first time I have done that.

We have reviewed Mum’s case with a neurologist in Delhi and from Mum’s condition she has diagnosed Mum as having suffered a stroke in her brain stem.  The stroke affected the left pons (a part of the brain stem) and it is likely that the vertibro basilar artery which supplies blood to the pons was affected by an embolism (perhaps from her heart?).  The effect of this stroke on Mum has been a quadri-paraletic effect with her losing function in all 4 limbs.  She also has a left LMN facial palsy.  We understand that for many people such a stroke would be fatal.  We are so glad Mum has survived.   And the good news is that neurologist is optimistic that Mum will be able to  regain her strength and become functional again.  

As we go to Lamtaput, Odisha with Mum (God-willing leaving on Thursday evening) we face a big gap:  our beloved Asha Kiran Hospital does not currently have a physiotherapist or occupational therapist.  What a great need we have for one (or two!).  Sheba has helped develop our “Caring Communities” team who have identified 28 children with disabilities (most of them with cerebral palsy).  What a blessing it would be to have a compassionate physio-therapist who could help the families in villages look after these children.  What a blessing to be able to better help the elderly people who have suffered strokes.  We can see in Mum’s life how much of a blessing the our dear Pritam has been.  How much we wish other elderly in the villages will be blessed in the same way (and of course we would like Mum to be blessed too!).

So here is the request:  could you please pray that Asha Kiran Hospital will be blessed with a physiotherapist… and that she or he would join soon!  And if you know someone who would be willing to come and explore serving with us, could you please reach out to them and put them in touch with us?   

Next week we are excited that a wonderful team from the Anugrah project from Herbertpur (including a physio-therapist and an occupational therapist)  are spending 4 days with us at Asha Kiran – and will be helping us with the children with disabilities we serve.  Please pray for the Father to send forth labourers into His harvest field.  For Mum’s sake of course – but also for the many precious people who are not getting care which can reshape their lives in so many positive ways.

And so we sign off from cold Mussoorie with the lights of Dehra Dun glittering like an array of diamonds in the dark velvet of the night.  The Lord continues to be so good to us – holding us tightly as we go forward.  Thanks for your heart-felt prayers and encouragement! 

Blessings from Andi and Sheba (on behalf of the Eicher ‘Pariwar’)