Dear Friends,
It has been
quite a while since we updated you on Mum / Oma / Christa Eicher’s road to
recovery!
We were
able to bring Mum to our home at Asha Kiran Hospital in Odisha on the 11th
of March. Since then we posted 2 or 3 times….
and then radio silence.
No news, in
this case, is good news. Mum’s story has
been miraculous. In the first days, we
saw the dramatic improvement, where she was at the very door of death and then
came out of a altered consciousness. We
then saw her process the fact that she was paralyzed from the stroke – and had
to be helped in every way. But by God’s
grace we saw her regain the ability to sit, then to hold up her head, then to
use her left arm and leg, and eventually we were thrilled to see her regain some
gross power and mobility in her right arm and leg too.
Within 3 weeks of her stroke/fall (or was it fall/stroke?) Mum was starting to walk. Baby steps. With a walker. She began to be able to toilet and bathe too. Then we moved her to a walking stick (a quadrapod that ‘stays standing’ when you let go), and she even started making a few steps on her own without the stick. She was meeting folks in our home, and life was good. She was intent on doing the physio therapy exercises she had been taught in Mussoorie, and working on getting her right hand to work. First to get food into her mouth, and then to start relearning how to write.
All was
good. Sheba had started work again and was
caring for Mum at night. I was back to
the part-time that I had been doing earlier – able to work most of the day from
home. Things were looking good.
Then Mum
fell sick. A ‘simple fever’ – and a cough. It didn’t look like COVID-19 – and we know
since Sheba has treated lots of COVID-19 cases.
The fever subsided after a few days.
But the cough persisted. A deep, racking,
fruity cough. And Mum was just not her
normal self. Her energy was down, the strength
that she had regained leached away.
One afternoon
during this time, Mum got up from her nap and stood up and walked a few steps
over to the cupboard for something. Having
done what she wanted she turned back. At
that time her legs gave way under her.
She fell. She did not know how
weak she had become – and was not using a stick to support her. One of the grandchildren had stepped out for
a walk – the other was taking a nap. One
of the adults from next door had just checked in to see her 10 minutes earlier and
saw that all was well (at that time at least).
Mum lay on the floor. She called
out, but the sleeping grandchild did not hear her voice. It was a shock to find Mum on the floor in a
helpless state. She had been there for
about 10 mins and had bruised her ribs. But
when we did the Xray the next day (which we had planned since the cough was not
settling) we found that there were no fractures – and no sign of any pneumonia
for which we were very happy.
It took Mum
a good 3 weeks to recover from her illness.
She has now turned a corner – illnesses that used to be shrugged off in
2-3 days will now last 1-3 weeks. Recovery
will be proportionally longer. Its a
new normal for Mum – and is of course not an easy cross to bear.
One of the joys of this period of time has been to have Asha and Enoch with us. They arrived at the end of May – and have been a joy for the Oma – and for us parents too! And before they arrived we had the unexpected joy of having our foster son Yohan with us for 2 weeks (2 day overlap with Asha and Enoch). Oma has had a good dose of Grand-kids!
And so the days went by with visitors galore. Old friends from OM days like Dave H and Mike S. New friends from the Asha Kiran family like Sangeeta and Dipi, as well as auntie from right below us who only knows Malayalam and cheerfully chatters away, singing and praying for Mum. Then folks from Mumbai – with the Sainanis bringing Yohan to be with us. And various batches of medical students and junior medical officers. Of course there were many times of prayer. And evening coffee on the roof. And lots of mangoes as the season progressed. Lots!
Looking back we see that Mum’s road to recovery has thus slowed down in some ways (the illness being a good sized speed bump) and her other recovery parameters all moving down a gear or two. But overall she has been growing. She has had physical improvement, greater ability to do activities of daily living, and is processing and praying through the various soul challenges.
We are at a
point where Mum is able to care for her self in some areas – but not in
all. She can bathe and toilet, but needs
help at times with some of her dressing.
She has slipped at least once in the bathroom despite rails being made
all around. Her night meds make her very
sleepy and she wakes up at least 2 times a night to go to the toilet, so she
needs supervision.
And so we
tested the waters. After praying, we
touched base with our heart-brothers and their wives about whether different
ones would be able to spend a few weeks in Shanti Kunj to be there for
Mum. Two families immediately said they
would come. Two others wanted to come –
but the timings just did not work.
Thus we had the amazing experience of having Stefan arrive late night on July 3rd – and take Mum to Mussoorie early morning on the 6th!
Mum was as per
her habit already packing 2 weeks earlier, and on the big day everything worked
smoothly. Stefan flew with her from
Vizag to Delhi and then on to Dehra Dun – after which they went up to Sisters
Bazaar by taxi. Mum had been taken up to
the top of the hill by stretcher on March 10th – wondering if she
would come back to Mussoorie alive – remembering how we had taken Dad up the
same way. Now 17 weeks later, she is
happy at home in Shanti Kunj.
Rajesh and Usha
are the lovely family that is looking after Mum on a daily basis for the rest of July – and next month we
look forward to Manoj and Christina swinging by from Nepal to help out for the
weeks of August. And Vikram is of course there for at least 5 days of the week to help out too.
Sikkim too – and are now heading back to Asha Kiran (this piece was largely written at Kolkotta airport). We stayed with the amazing Dr. Cherring Tenzing. Stay posted - I hope to put some pictures of the amazing beauty we saw there!
We
apologise for the loooong gap between communications. Mum has so much appreciated the many
prayers and practical helps she has received over these days. She has cherished members of the Asha Kiran
family who have popped in at various time to pray and encourage her. We have been so blessed to have her with
us. We have of course discovered quickly
how much the Lord needs to shape us – esp. in the areas of patience - but we
are so grateful for this journey.
So the current
plan is for Mum to be at Shanti Kunj till the end of August (unless her health erodes
suddenly for some reason before). We
will make a call in mid-August about the next steps!
Please do keep
up your prayers. Mum reads email, but finds
it hard to reply. Whatsapp is her
current favourite means of communication.
Feel free to call up during waking hours on +91 9557267515.
