LIFE WITH MOM # 3.0 [THE LAST DAYS-1]

I would like to start with the last days! Yeah, some very overpowering intuition made me express to mom that I wanted to take her on a pilgrimage – to Sringeri, to Shankarankoil – our Family Deity and to Tiruvannamalai. I was just waiting for the Production period to come to a close. I left for Hyderabad on the eve of 1st April 2011. As I travelled in the bus I just called my sister to ask about my mom’s health and to confirm that all is well. I was told by my niece that my sister has taken my mom to the clinic for she had complained of chest pain. This pain had lasted all day! After getting an ECG done the GP had recommended just a higher dose of BP medicine. There was this hint of an advice about getting an EKG done. My mother, her sister (My periamma) and I were to travel to Bangalore on the 3rd of April 2011. There was a DS to be performed at a friend’s place on 2nd April.
When I met my mom the following morning she was quite cheerful despite the episode of chest pain. I asked her if she was in a fit condition to travel. She replied in the affirmative. Mom and periamma and the rest of the family attended the DS function and partook of the luncheon. The net day we left for Bangalore, and uneventfully landed at Bangalore. For the next two to three days we visited some local temples like the Arumugar temple at Shringagiri (4th April 2011 eve), RR Nagar, the Venkateshwara Temple at Vasantapura(9th April 2011), and another Murugan temple in Subrahmanyapura(12th April. 2011- Ramanavami Day!)
After two repeat episodes of some chest pain on the 5th and 6th April I felt the advised diagnostic tests need be done at the earliest. So, we fixed up with Vikram Hospital on Miller’s Road and got the suggested battery of tests done. The Cardiologist Dr.Padma Kumar’s opinion was to get an Angiography done at the earliest followed by an Angioplasty, if necessary. That it was necessary seemed to be a foregone conclusion, even though the steps towards the conduct of an Angiography were being taken with some caution and after a lot of deliberation with my sister at Hyderabad and my brother at San Jose California. All the three of us had daily conference calls.
Having decided to get the Angiography done at Narayana Hrudayalaya we had a consultation with Dr.Ravi Kishore, on 12th April. I was advised get Mom admitted ASAP and that was supposed to be done on the afternoon of 13th April. The travel to NH was by my Civic car on Neice Road. That was when my mom got to know the comfort of riding this sedan. The Angio was done on 14th April –No Tamil New Year’s Day this year- we were going around hospitals. Mom came out of the Angio pretty cheerfully. Dr. Ravi Kishore had left a message for me to speak to him. He explained to me about the blocks in her coronary arteries. The right side had too many blocks,but could be set aside, he said, it was given to understand that the left side was to be studied. The doctor said the blocks were not in positions to be stented. Instead he asked me to check with the surgeon Dr. Praveen Kumar about the possibility of a coronary bypass surgery. But the surgeon in many words and winding arguments for and against the benefits of a bypass surgery, dissuaded us from attempting one considering my Mom’s age – 76 years – and the fact she was on a regular dose of insulin. My Mom had been a diabetic for the past 26 years and on Insulin for the past 3 years.
The angiogram was interpreted by the doctors as the progressive deterioration of my mother’s heart condition in the past 3 to 4 years. Yes! That was the time interval between the passing away of my Father, on the 17th April 2006 and today. My mother used to have weeping bouts where she complained of loneliness and her desire to die. My Mom and Periamma lived together at Hyderabad because, despite her wanting to be with me conditions at my home were not very conducive to peace of mind. The previous writings on Life with Mom would throw light on why Mom’s living with me was near impossible.
The NH doctors discharged my Mom, after throwing in a suggestion to take a second opinion from Dr.Padma Kumar of Vikram Hospital. We did that on the 18th April 2011, only to be corroborated by Dr. Padma Kumar and Dr Ganesh Iyer, the Cardiac Surgeon at VH, not to attempt a bypass surgery on Mom. The same was the opinion of Dr.Thimmappa Hegde Chief of Neurosurgery at NH. Thus being thrice dissuaded was enough for us to go for what is called as aggressive medication. A catch of about 7 tabs were prescribed, and we started administering them to Mom.
On the 20th April was my Dad’s shraddham and the following day my wife had planned what is called as the sumangali prarthanai(also called mangali poNDugaL). My Mom was not in her element; ate very little but was quite active in guiding my wife on the family practices to be followed. By the next day evening, my mom complained of severe constipation and difficulty in passing urine. So, as a first aid we tried administering an enema. Our trials not being successful we took her to RC Hospital nearby, and a soap enema done, sort of gave her some temporary relief. Earlier, say on the 19th April I had taken her to BGS Hospital as an out-patient to get a Nephro referral completed as advised by NH doctors. We had given blood samples for the basic tests recommended by Dr.Padmanabhan at BGS. But even before receiving the reports on the 23rd April Saturday, we were advised after a check at Casualty at BGS, to get my Mom admitted for in-patient attendance to set the “constipated bowels right” and to relieve her of the urine held back- by catheterizing. She was at the BGS for 5 days. She was discharged a relieved woman after the peglec[dose of laxative] and an unwanted, an unwarranted colonoscopy that relieved us of some money too.More about this in a Facebook blog.
We returned home - to continue with the cardiac medication. In the meanwhile we had done a bit of study on the side effects of cardiac drugs- all of them had nausea, loss of appetite or constipated bowels recorded as side effects. When I shared with Dr.Padmanabhan, he only said that even a lone occurrence of such effects in clinical trials would find their way into the warning statements of medical brochures accompanying patent medicines so that the drug companies are absolved of their complicity.
Beginning 1st May we were seeing Mom’s condition causing concern.