Everyone who came to know about my mother’s death (now there’s a word that is so – final) kept praising me – about how well I looked after her. My mother was easy to be with, easy to look after, and fun. In spite of all the hardships she faced in life, she was strong, stable and sensible.

Recently she had to undergo a two month bedrest (Oct 16 –  Dec 16, 2009) for spinal tb treatment. Her doctor, Dr Raghu Hiremagalur believed that she could avoid surgery if she cooperated. And cooperate she did. The doctor was amazed, when the follow up X-ray was done, to see how well she had healed. Next began the process of mobilization, through his wonderful physiotherapist, Dr Rinkle Jain. Mom found it a little difficult to get up from the potty. When I consulted Dr Raghu about what we could do – he suggested rehab aids where you can raise the height of the potty. I browsed around and found a company that sells these. The one we wanted was a potty seat with clamps that could be fixed on the existing potty. It cost Rs.5,500/-.

When I told mom, she suggested we call our plumber and ask him how much it would cost to replace the complete set – potty and cistern. The logic was – we’ve been here for 10 years, so how about a spanking new set? Plus, it made sense to install the potty at a slight height – making it a permanent solution. She also said – ‘I am recovering – so I don’t want to see rehab aids’. In fact she even refused to use a walker to help her walk around.  What attitude! So I called the plumber, and he estimated it would cost us under Rs.4000/- to do what we wanted. And we got it done at Rs.3,700/-. Neat job – and mom was mighty thrilled to use it.

A positive thinker, if ever there was one. And now, she’s gone.

Vidya Sury

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