Goodbye Monique, Namaste Marina

Uncle is settling in. Well, that is what everyone calls Dad. From the nurse to the watchman. And the Docs as well. That's a change from "Juggatt". And Mom is Aunty. Hell, even I am Uncle. Painful. No more handshakes here for Dad. The nurses prefer a namaste. That is one change that Dad will need to handle - doing a one handed Namaste is not easy. Usually gets mistaken for the start of a karate move. Side effects include a vanishing nurse.

Dad got his MRI, echocardiogram and chest X-ray done Saturday morning itself. The provisional MRI report - which did not change later - showed no tumour and the possibility of a clot. They plan to repeat an MRI after 3 months to check for clot dissolution progress. No tumour has been a big relief. To the extent that we have started thinking that he is back to normal. His speech is improving, the right hand is showing very early signs of tonality. But there is long way to go.

His medicines are changing - some of the drugs he was on are very US/ Canada specific and one does not get them here. They are also weaning him off steroids - slowly. Nidhi, any clue if NSAIDS - non steroidal anti inflammation drugs - are as good/ better/ worse in effectiveness? What about side effects? Am not getting too much on the net. His cough is improving - again, slowly. He had a suction done to remove phlegm/ mucus and that has led to some relief.

Physio and speech therapy are in progress. They also tried to get Dad to stand up a couple of times. The right leg has not shown any recovery yet - so standing up on his own has not really been possible.

Thing to watch out for is a secondary stroke - apparently highly probable in the first week itself. The web also shows a rather high number for "within the first five year" period. Will be discussing that with the Doc here and more on that later.