Hospital Date
Siddharth has managed to book my appointment with the specialist from the UK. He visits every three months and has good experience with YOPD.
As expected, his charges are high, but we wanted to go with an open mind. The next morning, we were ready by 6 a.m. and had to catch the train in 40 min from Tirupati to Chennai.
Sid took out his blue scooter, and I, with a sigh, since I hate scooty rides, balance issues, followed him out of the gate. I'm dressed in a black trouser and an orange T-shirt, coupled with a scarf, a nice change from everyday boring churidars all the time.
I was sceptical but managed to sit with one leg on either side rather than the traditional sitting in the chair posture on one side.
The roads were quiet and the wind was cool. Wow, it has been such a long time and I don’t remember when we went on a scooty. Refreshing, cannot say wind in my hair, mine was very short.
Reached the train station ahead of time, so I walked into the nearby tiffin centre. The café had traditional Tamilian décor with Lord Subrahmanyam pictures all over the walls. Steaming filter coffee served in a stainless steel glass and a small bowl was awakening. Unfortunately, Sid had a small gravel in his idly. Grumbling he spat it out and asked for the bill. As we sat at our places in the train, I realised the compartment was relatively empty. We got into an argument as to which seats needed to be booked, but this time it wasn’t an argument with raised voices and tempers flying all around. It was low volume, and surprisingly, each of us agreed with one another. Very unusual and enjoyable.
We were so engrossed that the ticket collector didn’t bother to disturb us. Soon, the grand central train station arrived, and we got off the train.
This was the first time I was in Chennai and was amused to see the striking resemblance of the station to London train stations, where all the trains end at one corner and there is no two-way traffic.
As we took a taxi to the Westminster Hospital, I was amazed at the huge hospital buildings. We reached our hospital, freshened up, and the initial history was taken by a junior doctor.
After ten minutes of waiting, we walk into the consultants' room, take our seats, and, after initial introductions, Sid announces that he wants to speak on behalf of me. I nodded and, after a few minutes, I was answering a couple of questions. Sid interrupted me again, and I was getting frustrated.
“You will not let me talk, will you?” I am very much capable of clearly explaining my symptoms as I am a doctor too.
Dr X, the consultant, intervened, "It's just that he is concerned that you may miss important information and wants to give a clear picture." After about an hour, we came out of the room with mixed feelings as Dr. X gave us a lot of hope and possible multiple treatment options. We walked into the nearest bakery, had our lunch, and were just in time for the train home. Tired from the long day, we slept, all the way home.
As soon as we were home I hugged and thanked him.
It has been so many years since we were out on our own. I work weekends and Sid on weekdays, and there were always kids, friends, or family along. It wasn’t the classic day out dressed up, he holding the car door to me, followed by candle lit dinner and exchange of heart shaped gifts, but more like dressed in comfortable clothes, he holding my hand when the floor is wet so that I don’t slip, followed by lunch at a quiet corner in a busy bakery and exchange of thoughts without any judgements and the best part -minimal phone interruptions. Our trip to the doctors turned out to be a pleasant date.
