I will be back on the operating table soon. I will be undergoing a minor surgery on Monday at 10 a.m. at Medwin Hospitals. This is unrelated to my kidney disease.


The surgery in itself is not major. The thing that bothers me about these surgeries (and I have had more than my fair share) is the part where you have to fast the entire morning until well after the surgery. The other bothering thing is the part when you wake up from the general anesthesia. For a while, you wonder why the surgery has not yet started and then when you start feeling sore at the point of surgery, you realize that the surgery is over. Then you have to wait until they let you go. This wait is horrible. You are feeling sore, there is pain, you start feeling thirsty. But you have to wait for a few hours before they let you go.

At the point of the surgery itself, there will be this stabbing pain that lasts for a few days. They will put me on pain killers and antibiotics. Slowly the pain will start wearing off and hopefully, the original problem I have been operated for will be a thing of the past.

I am going to Poorna tiffins this morning as usual. I will have a few extra idlis, however so that I can bear the hunger the following morning with fortitude!

Here is a link to some pictures from the Aashayein event. The pictures really bring out beautifully the entire event. I especially liked the pictures that showed the smiles on the faces of the patients - true, genuine, full blown smiles!

Here are a few incidents/comments/whatever from the sidelines of Aashayein:




I was chatting with a fellow dialysis patient, probably in his late thirties, during the lunch break. We discussed the lunch and that it was great. I asked him how many salt packets he used? (The lunch was entirely salt free and patients could take a salt sachet and sprinkle it over whatever they chose.) He told me he took two sachets since he could not eat food without salt. He asked me how many I took. I told him I also took two. Both of us burst out laughing! "Namak ke bina khaana aur woh sab - doosre patients ke liye hai, hamare liye thodi hai!", he said. (All the salt free food advice is for other patients, not for you and me!)

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One of the doctors spoke in English. Vikram translated the key points of his speech to Telugu. One of the patients called me and complained about why the speech wasn't translated to Hindi. I said that we were trying to have a mix of all three languages so that everyone would benefit. He wasn't satisfied and felt we were being partial to the Telugu speaking audience.

A little later, the next speaker started speaking in Telugu. I requested her to switch to Hindi so that those patients would also benefit. Sure enough, within a few minutes, a lady called me and complained that they could not understand anything and that we should be more mindful of the Telugu participants!

I guess you cannot satisfy everyone together!

Aashayein, the first-ever exclusive event for dialysis patients was a huge success! At one point, a few weeks before the event, Vikram, Sandeep and I were worried about how we can make sure that there are at least a hundred people in all that turn up for the event. In the end there were more than 600! And half of them were patients! By any standards, the event was a hit.

For the first time, 300 patient with a similar set of problems gathered together under one roof and talked to each other, heard people talking about their problems and most importantly - had fun.

The event kicked off with Vikram's welcome address where he described how we came up with this idea. I, as MC of the event, introduced the Hyderabad Kidney Foundation (HKF), its objectives and the plans and then invited the father of Nephrology in Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Gopal Kishen and Joseph Rajshekhar, on dialysis for the last 18 years to formally launch HKF by lighting the lamp.



Then we had a few talks by Dr. Gopal Kishen, Joseph Rajshekhar, Dr. Sree Bhushan Raju, Senior Nephrologist at NIMS, Dr. Krishnan, Senior Nephrologist at Apollo Hospitals and Dr. Haritha Shyam, Chief Dietician, Apollo Hospitals.
We also had Madhur Deep, a transplant recipient who shared his experience on getting a transplant. Srinivas Perisetty, husband of Monadipa who is on dialysis gave his perspective on how the family of someone afflicted with kidney disease should cope with this. There was also a Yoga demonstration on some simple but beneficial breathing techniques.



Every talk was interspersed with some entertainment for the patients. There was a mimicry show by Mimicry Hari Kishen, himself a dialysis patient who had the patients in splits with his jokes relevant to people on dialysis, a definite first in India! There was a skit performed by dialysis patients called 'The 7 o' clock shift' which poked fun at the various little incidents that happen in a typical shift in a dialysis unit.


We also organized some 'antakshari' type questions for the audience with a prize for each question.




The lunch was an elaborate renal friendly affair. Patient could eat everything on the menu for a change without worrying about how much salt it had or whether the vegetables were leached. There was a role reversal of sorts. Caretakers had a very simple menu - biryani and raitha whereas patients had a very elaborate menu! After all it was their our day!



After lunch we announced the winner of the best fistula contest and had some patients come and present their talent. Some did songs, some did jokes. In the end we had two rounds of Tombola. Every patient was given out a bunch of goodies which included injections, a bag customized for dialysis sessions and other stuff mostly relevant to dialysis patients.




After the event, many patients came up to us and thanked us immensely for organizing this. For the first time, someone thought about them and this touched them deeply.

Dr. Reddy's sponsored this event along with NephroPlus and full credit to both the sponsors for making this happen.

Its three days to go for Aashayein - the first ever event for dialysis patients. Am I excited or what? The tension is palpable. I can almost hear my heart beat. I can barely think about anything else. I am sure Vikram and Sandeep are in a similar state of mind! It is a huge event. The first time we are doing something on this scale.

The response has been overwhelming. We are already overbooked. People registering now are being put on a wait list. In case there are any last minute cancellations, they will be invited. The resources we have are limited. The space that we have is limited. So, there is no other option but to restrict the number of participants.

I took a few calls for registration. I could feel the excitement in the patients' voices about this event. It was the first time someone was thinking about them. There have been numerous events for doctors. None for patients.

The support by the nephrologists also has been excellent. All of them were very encouraging. I am hoping many of them will also come for the event, even if for some time.

Like any other event, there have been last minute surprises as well. Some changes in the speakers were also necessitated.

Yesterday, Sandeep and I went for a trial of the lunch. This was the first time the hotel was preparing food with leached vegetables and without salt. Today we are having a full rehearsal of the skit in the morning at the Banjara Hills center of NephroPlus.

Let's hope everything goes well!

And by the way - if you are a dialysis patient in Hyderabad, please come for the event!