Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Leopard and the new-born Baboon

Watch the transformations of a young leopard's emotions as life demands the more important natural call of duty from him. To save a life? Or follow your hunger? Touching and amazing!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Physical Therapy

Continuing from my previous post; I went to the Ortho with the MRI films today. He said what I had suffered was a Patellar dislocation (knee cap dislocation) and that my ACL was fine.

This means the main shock absorbers in my knee are fine. However, my knee cap could dislocate in the future again. Since this was the first time it has happened, he suggested a non-operative treatment with physical therapy for 4-6 weeks! Luckily, there is a therapy place close to where I am staying right now and I hope to join there. Till then, its one more week of rest and working from home.

Between all my visits to the doctors, I was able to get to know a lot of cab drivers. I learnt that almost everybody or someone in their family had knee dislocations and, a lot of them are unable to do anything about it since they cannot afford medical insurance! This was quite disturbing to me. One cab driver had torn all his ligaments and was living with it. Living with twice or thrice the pain I am complaining about. And for 5 years! He wears a double knee-brace, but he says he frequently dislocates his knee. I wonder why the US Govt. cannot give the poor free treatment. There are a lot of charitable hospitals in India. I like India for such culture.

For those who are lucky to not have had knee problems, its great, but please be cautious. Your knees are very important to you and also quite susceptible to injuries. They take 7 times our bodyweight during strenuous activity. This even includes climbing down stairs! To prevent knee injuries, make sure you do a host of knee strengthening exercises before any sports/strenuous activity. Its also good to do this generally. Take care!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

October updates...

October has been a nasty month for me so far.

Week 1: I injure my ankle bad enough that I had to take a day off of work

Week 2: I get involved in a car accident. Not hurt, car needs repairs.

Week 3: It hurts to even talk about it: I dislocate my left knee. Here's the scoop:

I was kicking around with a soccer ball and I suddenly felt something in my left knee and I take a fall. I look and find to my utter disbelief that my knee is dislocated. I mildly tried to press it to put it back in and it luckily did. I lied in some pain for some time and then I got up and try walking. Though it hurt too bad, I was able to walk ok. I couldn't bend my knee backwards too much since I felt something locking. I have no idea what the problem is.

I rested for a few hours, and the knee got swollen. I then went to the ER of Bryn Mawr hospital (many, many thanks to Lana for being with me from then and also helping me out finding the best available treatment!). A couple of quick jokes with the triage nurse and I was soon X-Rayed. No visible bone damage. I got immobilized with splints and was given crutches. Oh boy. I was then referred to an Ortho and spent my time trying to get an appointment with an available Ortho.

I got the earliest appointment on Tuesday - Oct 16th. Till then, I had to pass 4 days in bed, immobilized. I used this time to find the agonizing truths about knee dislocations. I hate to even talk about it.

On Tuesday, I took a long cab ride all the way to Devon to see the Ortho. As expected, he asked me to get an MRI. He said his gut feeling was that I have a Patellar (knee cap) Dislocation and a torn cartilage. Anyway, I was sent back to get an MRI and to then report back.

I am currently trying to schedule an MRI. The center the hospital suggested has no openings until next Monday. That would mean another 5 days of wait. A friend of mine suggested a closer option, and I have scheduled for the MRI there, this afternoon. See you after that!

[update] Scanning complete & back. Report will be sent to the Dr. tomorrow. I also got an appointment with the Ortho Dr. for Friday, Oct 19th.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Magic Show

Here are a couple of hilarious magicians. Normally I don't care about magic stuff, but I was wiping the tears away from my eyes as I watched this.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Orkut

8-10 years have passed by since I left my best friends at school. Suddenly BOOM they reappear on Orkut, with a pic in place for their profile. From weird parts of the world, doing something you never thought they'd. Some totally changed, some the same.

But the biggest of changes so far were to see all the still-so-young-and-childish-in-memory girls holding a couple of grown up kids and some new dudes by their side. I secretly naughtily cant help thinking - how on earth did they get there :) Few more years and I'd be seeing the guys from school holding their kids and secretly showing off their wives..ah and then I'd be thinking..lucky guy - he got that damsel, and oh poor him, how on earth did he fall for her..and so on. Sigh, now poking fun seems to be taken seriously all the more!

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Accidents

The most horrifying thing about an accident to me is that more than bodily injuries that can happen to you, you could be the cause of injuries/death to others. All because of a momentary lapse on your part, it could cause you or others life long trauma. Thanks to God, I narrowly avoided that and just inflicted minor damages to mine and the other car.