Delhi State Cancer Institute Dilshad Garden

Since it was now obvious that the disease had come back as had been confirmed by the biopsy report received from the Apollo hospital, there was nothing but to go for the treatment whatever it was worth. Accordingly, we began looking for the best available option. The best in Delhi was of course All India Institute of Medical Sciences, having the best faculty and arguably the most modern equipment and laboratories. The only problem was that it  was a government hospital.There would be queues and crowds. More over there would be no admission during administration of chemotherapy. What I heard was that after getting the dose of chemotherapy the patient would have to go home.The other hospitals on the list of hospitals approved under the Central  Government Health Scheme were the Max hospital in Saket and the Dharmshila Cancer Hospital  in Vasundhara Enclave.The Max hospital at Saket was far away and the reports about the Dharmshila   hospital were not sanguine. Dr. Anil Agrawal had suggested that the Delhi government hospital, namely, the Delhi State Cancer Institute was a good one and that I could use its facilities which ,according to Dr. Agrawal, were very modern and up to date. Patients are grouped as "Private" and "General" patients.Private patients have to pay much more than the patients in the General category.In return the queue for them would be shorter and the rooms , if admitted , would be more commodious with a separate bathroom attached to each.
Twenty thousand rupees were required to be deposited in advance.The tariff for a day was five  thousand and one hundred rupees. The room was very commodious, air-conditioned and a toilet-cum-bathroom attached to it. A TV set and a refrigerator were thrown in for good measure. Of course, the administration of drugs was done by nurses and brothers (i.e. male nurses).They were available all the twenty four hours and were courteous and well behaved, Administration of drugs and other relevant fluids took several hours. The process was over by one a.m.
What caused a bit of irritation was the process of discharge, which seemed interminable. Repeated inquiries would elicit   the stock reply that the file was under submission. Anyway, around one p.m. did we finally get the green signal that we could leave. Later, we came to know that almost all decisions are taken at the level of the Director of the hospital-Dr. Grover
A meeting with Dr. Grover does not happen easily.I could meet him only by invoking my old associations.I requested one of my earlier  bosses--one Madam Kiran Dhingra, who was from the UT cadre to intervene. And she did.The staff of the Principal Secretary of the Health department Government of NCT Delhi arranged a meeting with Dr. Grover. Dr. Grover is a suave gentleman , experienced and worldly wise and has a total control over the Institute.When we three---Col. Saklani, Ankit and I met  him, we did not come out displeased.
The dose of chemo did have its side effects and I  had to undergo them. 

Transfusion and after .....part 2

The first day at the Shanti Gopal hospital was really bad.They did not have the blood and wanted us to get them the blood from some other hospital or a blood bank.For that they first wanted the patient to get admitted.He would then be examined by their doctors and then a request would be made to the concerned hospital or the blood bank.After the blood in question has been procured by our people,the same would be brought to S.G. hospital where it would be matched and brought to the room temperature.Finally, after completing all these requirements the transfusion would begin. Normally it takes between four and six hours but on that day it took seven full hours.It was torture of a different kind but then I had to undergo it. The good thing was that at long last I was able to go home that day itself,my residence being just a kilometer away.
This procedure had to be repeated many times ,every time the search for the required blood group would begin and following the procedure set out by the hospital the transfusion would start.Some day it would take five hours and some day it could go on for seven hours.Of course, every time they would first insert a canula.Inserting a canula in the veins of a person gone weak is itself a difficult task and if the nurse or the ward assistant happens to be inexperienced then the mere insertion  itself becomes a painful experience for the patient .And this was  the case at the S.G. hospital. Anyway, I got the requisite number of units transfused to get my haemoglobin level to more than nine.Getting this level was necessary
, otherwise the doctors at the cancer hospital would not administer  chemotherapy to me.  This process  was not completed in one week or one fortnight but took several weeks. Actually, chemotherapy is done in cycles--   one cycle comprising two doses separated by an interval of eleven days. However, every time before a dose is given, a blood test of the patient is done to ascertain whether the parameters are all right. Normally, they are concerned about three things,viz. haemoglobin count, total leucocite count ant platelet count.If any of these is not within the limits acceptable to the cancer hospital authorities the dose of chemotherapy is not administered.A kidney function test and a lever function test are also done and if any of the parameters such as blood urea number or the creatinine level is not within acceptable limits the next dose of chemo therapy is not given.The patient has to get' all these parameters back to acceptable ranges  before he can get the next dose of chemotherapy administered to him.You will read in the next post(s)  how chemotherapy was administered to me and in how many doses and  cycles.

Transfusion and after

Those of you who might have been following this blog must be wondering why there has been no entry after April 2012.Has the blogger been well?Or has he succumbed to his illness,dreadful as it is?
Yes, it has been a very difficult period for me. I needed a lot of blood for transfusion in my body because the haemoglobin count had fallen much below the safe levels.It was between 5 and 6 as against 13 and 17 required for a healthy male.Surprisingly, it was 13 in September2011.
My blood group which is O-negative is not easily available and it was needed  on an urgent basis. But human kindness is not dead. My daughter mentioned the fact that her father needed blood immediately and her office circulated the request amongst all its staff members and among all its associate offices.The result was that my need for blood became known to more people than , perhaps, was necessary. Anyway, people became aware and even volunteered to donate. Liplka, my daughter began receiving phonecalls and messages from different parts of the country.
My residential colony,on its part made an appeal on the public address system to residents to come forward to donate blood as a member of the society I.e. me needed blood.My wife started getting phone calls from the residents asking her to indicate the place where the callers could go to donate blood.Yes humanity is still alive. Many people came to the hospitals where An kit, my son -in-law had made arrangement for collection.Incidentally, only a few were able to make a donation of blood, as in a number of cases the blood group was O-positive and many other volunteers were themselves anaemic and therefore ineligible.The transfusion began at the Ashanti Gopal hospital. Continued in part...2.