Neil Update

Just got off the phone with Neil. It is Sunday night in India and he is back at the MGM Quality Inn Resort after his Pondicherry excursion. He is set to head back into Chennai tomorrow midday. He will be getting a check-up from Dr. Bose and it looks as if an interview with Good Morning America is on tap. He doesn't have any details about the interview. The trip gets more and more interesting.

He will be flying out of Chennai early Tuesday morning. Ken - Neil's flight is set to head out next Friday but he will explore opportunities for staying the weekend.

Sunrise over the Indian Ocean

One of the highlights for me was getting up early enough on the day I was leaving to see the sunrise.

If you look closely, about a 1/3 of the way up and a 1/3 of the way from the right, you'll see a dot. That dot is actually a fisherman. They were just starting to take out their boats for the day.

After the sunrise I took a walk up the coast.
I walked about 1/2 mile up the beach and found this abandoned village. My assumption is that this village was destroyed in the Tsunami but I never did confirm that. You can see a utility pole in the foreground.

If you look closely in the middle you can see a well camouflaged little crab. These guys were all over the beach. At sunset the beach came alive with them, as they scurried to and from their burrow, depositing dirt in an organized pile about 5-10 inches from their hole. (Apparently they were adding a nice addition to their burrow).

On the Move

Wow,
I missed the whole Cary Grant thing. I'm just reading it today, Thrusday.Feb. 9. Obviously, I got lost thinking I had read everything. Another possibility is the drugs during and following the surgery.

So this news will interest you all in terms of finding this exchange. The show Good Morning America is in Chennai and is doing a segment on the Apollo or maybe medical tourism in general. The hospital called me today and asked me to do an interview with these people at the hospital on Monday. At first I said no but have decided to do it if it works out. Sounds like it is a little difficult to predict with certainty when it will happen. Get ready Peter; Mohan is talking about contacting you as well.

I am now in Pondicheery at Coffee.com with there high speed internet and inexpensive ,as well.
Was pretty uneventful journey- just the usual dodging of cows, goats, bicycles, etc. etc. Until we got to Pondicheery and the driver pulls over on one of the main streets, asks the address of the place we are going and disappears down the street for ten minutes. No help. Turns out this is his first time in Pondy,as well. So two more stops and a phone call to the hotel that I had to take because english was the only commmon language we could find . So with some landmarks and my map we set off and Voila! we suceeded.

I have arrived in anew place that was a French territory. I need a french speaker now. This town is much more "normal" or famliar at least. Better organized, better signage and recognizable businesses and homes.
I am staying in a old colonial home with a courtyard. The room has 10-12 foot ceilings, a phone that works and breakfast included.

I hope folks find this post- I will return to the latest catagory and direct you here.

Pictures from the MGM Quality Resort

Here is the bungalow where we stayed (and where Neil still is).

Neil and the beach. This location is about 25 yards from the bungalow.

This is taken from Neil's position in the previous picture.

The BEACH!!!

The good life. This was much tougher than it looks. I actually had to expend energy to lift the glass to my mouth.

Key Apollo Personnel

Here is Neil with Dr. Bose. Dr. Bose was the chief surgeon who performed the surgery. Neil, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he has performed over 500 of these hip resurfacing operations.

Neil with Mohan. Mohan was in charge of customer relations. He did a great job. If he said he would take care of something, he did. He was able to book me into the Savera with little notice (and got a great price) and was able to place us at the resort. The only complaint - the cab ride he set up for me to the hotel one night (I'll blog on that later.)

Back on American Soil

It took me about 36 hours to go from waving goodbye to Neil at the Quality Resort to arriving at my home in St. Louis. 21 hours of that was on a plane and 15 hours was spent sitting in airports. Wow, that is exhausting. I am finally starting to return to normal. I need to stay up all day today to finally lick this jet leg. For me personally it has been harder on the return trip. I think that is partially due to the letdown of finishing the adventure. The one pleasant surprise is that Kieran didn't punish me too long for my absence. I had the opportunity to talk with Neil on Sunday and look forward to more conversations. Like everyone else I am now living the adventure vicariously from afar.

Now, to the promised pictures...

Arrived at the Beach Just as My Adventure Ends

So let me get this straight. I get to hang out in a hospital room for 6 days and get to spend a day and a half at the beach. Last time I book with that travel agent.

I am taking advantage of my 36 hours. 5 minutes after arriving I was sipping on Kingfisher, gazing out at the ocean (to answer Dennis). The very place I was sitting had to be rebuilt following last year's tsunami. Neil has posted a comment to the previous posting describing our first 24 hours.

The computer I'm working from is fairly old so I can't post photos now but I will on Sunday when I am back in St. Louis. I watched the sun rise over the Indian Ocean - that will be near the top of the highlight list for me.

The India portion of my adventure is coming to a close. I'll post more later when I have some distance and perhaps some more perspective on the trip. This blog has been a blast and the best discovery was the two-way communication that it facilitated. All of your comments have been appreciated and helped both of us through this adventure. More from me on Sunday as I recover from 'jet lag' and watch the Super Bowl (and no doubt missing Cricket).

Pete

The sun sets...

We are in the final night of our stay in Chennai. Outside I hear the incessant honking of the horns. On the T.V. they are discussing the India/Pakistan match. India has fallen. Geoffrey Boycott, the crusty old Brit commentator (and what decent Cricket match doesn't have a crusty old stiff upper lipped Brit) , doesn't have much good to say about India's performance. Neil is reading a comment book where previous hip resurfacing patients have left their feedback. We are all set to head out in the early afternoon to the Quality Hotel MGM near Mamallapuram to start the next phase of this Indian adventure. I don't know what this 'Resort' has in store for us but if it is like the rest of trip we will have some surprises awaiting us (it's part of the fun).

I probably haven't been paying attention but I noticed my first yellow center stripe in the middle of a road. Here it's more of a suggestion than a rule. Less like 'You should be on the correct side of this line at all times' and more like, 'Go where ever you want but once that bus heading straight for you is within 10 feet you might want to get back over to the correct side'. And this is one tough place for pedestrian. No nice walk/don't walk signs. The driver taking me to the hospital yesterday morning cut off a family of four (within a foot or so) walking to school. Sorry, no free pass for the kids either. Also, the police in America could never cope. They would be spending all their times ticketing parents on scooters for lack of proper child seats.

Here Neil is with Chrislin. Chrislin was the best English speaking nurse we had. She also helped us to decipher our first Bollywood movie.

A Big Thanks

I wanted to give a big thanks to Terry for coming over to St. Louis this past weekend. Both Becky and I really appreciate it. You were a big help and made it easier on me for being away. Becky really enjoyed the Vegas wedding video. Can't wait to see it myself.

History has shown that Murphy's Law kicks in with regards to Kieran everytime that Becky or I leave town. This time has proven no exception. Becky has had one trip to the Emergency Room (Kieran's first) when Kieran fell on the playground and bit through his tongue. He is recovering nicely but sent a scare into Becky. There is no more helpless feeling than being a half a world away when something like that happens. Kieran has also had one trip to his normal pediatrician with a fever. Hang in there Becky.

Here's a picture going back over a year and a half but it's one of my favorites...