(meant to come back sooner!!! ..well, without further ado)

As the title rightly says : Ze road to hell is paved with good intentions!
(dad _keeps_ saying this!)

I can do virtually anything; conquer all my weaknesses, triumph, tomorrow. ;)
Ever notice this strange thing about our resolutions? They always, always, start at a later date/time then the present. (dunno bout yours, mine do!)
I will quit eating junk food, lose oodles of weight...lay claim to a great bod... tomorrow. (for now that pani puri / pizza / whathaveyou is tooo enticing!)
I will get better at replying to emails, calls and write regularly, tomorrow onwards! :-S
I will, really will, study like the dickens and get into a great grad school.. tomorrow.. next month.. next year. (wonder what’s wrong with today)

Hmmm, why haven’t I been writing?

Well, for starters I wasn’t well.
As in a little more serious then irritating lumps appearing all over my body.
As in I needed to be admitted into a hospital.
As in I have T.B. Yes, Tuberculosis. Cox.

Oh, plus I had pleural effusion (pleural effusion = water accumulation in the lungs). (had? ..well, ummm..truth be told there still is ‘minimal’ effusion) Which meant my pleura needed to be punctured to aspirate the “water” out? (_NOT_ fun)
Situation was a little too alarming for my family so my mum decided to come back to India to look after me however as luck would have it, her fractured leg began acting up. MRI results showed a small piece of bone had been dislocated and the only course of action for relief was an operation. Hrumph :|
So operation we did have.
This madness began in July (when i was alll alone in Bombay) – yup during the mad rains / floods that washed over Bombay.
Maybe in a weird way I was lucky to not have been well as that ensured I was stuck at home with a temperature of 104 degrees on the fateful 26th july. But then again, it also meant I was stranded at home in that state with neither water nor electricity. For over 3 days..

Current situation :
Dad – strangely enough, he, the one who is “really” ill (sorry akka, that’s how I feel..) is doing ok. Though has to take 2.. sometimes 3 pain killers to get through one day.
He is currently on a clinical trial involving 3 drugs. Alternatively you could call it 3 trials.
1 something like gemcite - the old chemo thing.
2 is a pill - tarciva
3 is Avastin
Of these the first and the third are in the form of drip infusion.

Mom – her leg is healing well. Hopefully on the road to a fully recovery. Though movement is largely restricted for now. If her visa comes through she will be leaving for N.Z come Dec 1st for my cousing Anisha's wedding.

Me – well, I am just too damn stubborn to stay ill for long (though the past 4 months don’t bode well for my track record!)
Have a “cold abscess” in my right chest wall – which has been aspirated twice. Still some pus persists. I’m determined to have the last word. We shall see...
Minimal effusion persists, but phoo to that!!
The induced arthritis (apparently TB medication can do that is some rare cases) is almost non existent now. Ahem, I didn’t mention that before? Oh well...
There was a period where life didn’t seem very worth living considering I couldn’t breathe without killing pain... never mind walking / leading a normal life.
Strangely despite all this I still sulk about having to take my injections – get shot alternate days. The current course is 60 injections – meaning 4 months. If the minimal thingy doesn’t go away.. it might become 90 injections!
Nahhiiiiiiiiiii !!! :)
(nahi = NO in hindi)

The upside? I have lost a wee bit of weight! Hooray! ..not enough, but it’s a start.

To better things!