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)
No comments:
Post a Comment