Posted on: Jan 23, '08
A Blessed Life ...
Kaushal Goradia woke up at 5 am as he always did on winter mornings. He loved the 5 minutes he could lay awake before the incessant clamor of - that most hated of western contraptions - the alarm clock made him get up from his cozy bed. Invariably in these moments, his thoughts turned to the blessings in his life...
He gave a thanks to God for keeping him alive one more day. He was thankful for so many things these days. The little bundle that would snuggle in between him and his wife somewhere around 3 in the night, the young wife that had known sorrow so early and still adjusted her life around his "issues" with a smile, the understanding office manager, the car that never failed to start even on the coldest of days, so what if everyone snickered behind his back for driving a Hyundai...
Today being Monday, he had to be in office by 7.00, so that he could leave by 3.00 pm. A quick shower, a breakfast of eggs and toast and a peck on the cheek for the two girls(Reshma was 6 years younger to him-so he called them his girls ) and he was on his way to work. He had just left the gate of the apartment complex when he remembered that he had not packed his sleeveless sweater for the evening. He shivered at the thought of going without the sweater and made an illegal U-turn to head back home. Then he called Reshma on his cell phone and asked her to bring the sweater out to the road so he did not have to get out of the car to go get it...
By the time he got to work, it was past 7.15. There had been more than the usual rush on I-64 and at least one fender-bender to delay him further. His team-mates would not arrive at least until 8.30 so he had ample time to chart out where he was on the schedule and what work he and the team would tackle this week.
There were already emails from the VP asking for updates and status reports and also requesting help with interviewing some people for the company. Did this guy ever go home? Home office always had extra work for you which you could do free of charge. But if you needed to take a half day off to better your skills, it was to be on your own time, he thought with chagrin.
After discussing what needed to be done for the rest of the week, Kaushal turned back to his work when he started feeling the oncoming dizzy spell...
For the past 2 months, right around 11.30 am, he would feel dizzy and unable to stand up. Initially, he had to lie down on the floor until the feeling passed. His team members were instructed to call 911 if he passed out. His doctors were at a loss as to why this should happen. In about 20 minutes, he would be totally normal again and resume work. Like many other things in life that he could not explain, he took this in his stride. For some reason, this never happened on the days he was at home.
Today, like most days the dizziness had come on around 11.45 am. At 12.10, he was back in his seat having lunch. Lunch was just some rice and curry with no salt in it. His doctor had warned him off salt. entirely.
Lunch at the desk had become a habit long ago partly because he could not eat anything from the restaurant and partly because he chose not to put himself thorugh the long walks to the cafe.
At 3.00, he left the office and began the tiring trek to the parking lot. This meant a walk through two flights of stairs to the sixth floor and then go across the bridge to the parking lot. His car was parked on the sixth floor though a little farther than usual as he was late to get to work today. He silently blessed the creative genius who had thought of the sixth floor bridge between the two buildings.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, this walk would have meant less than 5 minutes, but on other days it took nearly 15. He would walk with a shuffling gait with one leg dragging behiind the other. Then he had to stop on the staircase after every 3 steps or so to catch his breath. It was like wading through chest deep water carrying a very heavy backpack. He finally made it to the car and flopped down to catch his breath with relief.
After changing into his sleeveless sweater which left his left hand bare up to the shoulder, he dug out the numbing cream from the dashboard of his car. He thanked God again for the guy who had invented the numbing cream and applied it liberally on his left shoulder equidistant from his elbow and shoulder. He would arrive at the center in about 15 minutes and that should be enough to numb his arm enough for him to receive the needles with minimum pain...
Kaushal had been without kidneys for 2 years. The only reason he was still alive was the dialysis treatment he received once every 2 days.
... to be continued
The author invites your comments on this story.
Tags: difficulties, blessings
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