Erb's Palsy

Thanks Thinkpad Risha is doing Great! Getting close to D-day when her cast will be removed...March 24th....

For most of you, who are wondering as to why my daughter has undergone surgery....here's why....She had Brachial Plexus Injury or commonly known as Erb's Palsy at the time of birth. Couple of reasons why it happens...could be due to prolonged labor, the way the child is positioned or it is subjected to force or traction. Difficult childbirth basically. This usually happens when the arm and shoulder are forced down while the head and neck are stretched sideways in the opposite direction. Additional force ruptures the nerves.

When she was born her left arm was absolutely dead and as suggested by Orthopedics, we supported her hand by keeping it folded inside the shirt like a splint...no surgery or physiotherapy was recommended as she was too young for it. We left it at that but after coming here we started diagnosis again and found out that surgery or physiotherapy could have been done when she was born....Anyways the panel of doctors here recommended surgery after CT Scan which showed that one of the muscle is tight, as a result the surgeon did a Sub scapula Muscle Release and Applied Spica Cast.

Now I just hope that this is the first and last surgery for her. Its traumatic!

One on One!

Its all about me today!

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

First thing you'll notice about me: My height

My idea of perfect happiness: My kids and hubby in good health, going happy go lucky

Most treasured possession: My angels

Idea of a perfect date: Long drive...and miles to go....

Happiest Moment: 16th June,1997 ( when I met him for the first time)

What brings tears to my eyes ?: Onions

My favorite holiday spot: Montreal for now..hope to add many more

Favorite One liner: "I want three things in life Books, Books and Books" by Leo Tolstoy

Favorite pastime: Gardening in the summer, long phone calls, activities with kids etc.

How would I like to die?: In my sleep

Cheers!

Adventures in Immigration!

The mere thought of landing on a foreign land is exciting and a "dream come true" for many but it isn't the same when you land to start afresh right from the scratch. Its a new beginning though and takes a lot of courage to move into a new country specially couples having infants. Its a challenge!

It takes a lot of time to learn what to expect and what is expected out of you. Just shortly after we arrived in Canada, we had high hopes and expectations but tension crops in when you see families who arrived months before you, are still jobless or still looking or barely making something. We felt frustrated, confused and depressed. We dealt with different kinds of experiences and feelings. At one point even thought of going back...thinking this is not worth it....why take all these struggle when we already climbed the "ladder of success"....but thought to oneself....let's give it a try...Eventually you do become comfortable, may have few good experiences, some less enjoyable ones but the "feeling of being at home" takes time.

Babysitting is another problem that most families experiences. Finding the right one and then your child adapting well to it, is another point to be taken into consideration. Its more of a concern for those moms who never left their child with anybody and as a result kids are more attached to their mom as well. But on the other hand kids are very adjustable and they well adapt themselves with every situation. For example my daughter never cried when I first began to leave her with a Spanish babysitter on a trial basis... in fact I had tears in my eyes!

Medicare in this country is again so different from your own native land. How it works here is that you first have to register with a family physician and then get referred upon, depending upon the nature of problem. At the first sight it sounded ridiculous to me but it took good 4 years for me to understand the system and now I would proudly say that medical system here is par excellent! It looks silly in the beginning as we were so used to directly approaching a specialist in our hometown. But here its very systematic. Again needless to say we have heard about people having bad medical experiences as well and which is everywhere!

Coping up with weather conditions specially when you hail from a warm country is another challenge. Best way to overcome the severe winters is to be prepared and be well-layered. Summer is undoubtedly beautiful. What is worth mentioning is that during "autumn the city looks really beautiful when the leaves change colour, turn yellow and red and falls on the ground".

Lastly and the most important one is Job Hunting. Its the hardest part to handle and most of us loose self-confidence in the process, gets demotivated, low energy and financial hardship. This is the only country which doesn't recognize any International Qualification and the idea of studying all over again is kinda difficult. Not that immigrants don't do it but for me it was next to impossible. At that time "Sustenance" was more important than anything else.

Overall the journey wasn't too bad. Though the journey is still on and we have a long way to go. For most of you will be glad to know that we finally made it. On that note I would like to conclude that "There is light at the end of each tunnel"

Remembering Yesteryears!!!

Now that snow storm is over and sun is shinning bright, its time for some “Fresh Ideas inside and out”. Before I proceed any further with my thought process here’s some highlights that I don’t want to be overlooked:-

Thanks Maxey, it was you who inspired me to start my own Blogs. This is just a beginning and I hope to climb up the learning curve!

This goes to all of you- Thinkpad, Needs, Cathy, Rina, Ellisa,Mohit and Tanya….Thank you for your comments ..and continue to do so….it keeps me going….my thought process works even faster….And I do want to reply you all back but I guess my setting restricts me to do so…I’m trying to work on it and the moment its fixed….I will write to you all!

Cant imagine how days, weeks, months, years are passing by so fast….Speeding like a “Go Train” leaving all poles behind, by the time you look back, its long gone…At this point I want to rewind and take a trip down the memory lane. Probably go as far as AG days when I used to be a back bencher, fond of PT classes all the time, always looking for an opportunity to practice sports, used to be an active participant in every choir, elocution contest, painting or ads poof…at that time could lay my hands on anything…be it running , relay race, long jump, high jump, shot put, badminton or baseball for that matter. Athletics was my passion. Won awards for all the category and raising score cards for my house…still remember “ I belonged to Griesen House” or popularly known as “Red House”. High school days wasn’t that great and fun, it was only studies, career and all that. Then comes the so called “peak time” era when you get into University and all you hear about is right course for right career where many people believe that university or college is all about being serious most of the time..Well this theory didn’t apply to me ….there was no looking back ever since I enrolled into University…the best days of my life starts here….University days! I will always cherish forever….It was a heady time of freedom…. Friends, fun, bunking college, taking hitch to go home, U-specials, College Festivals, visiting rural places to complete Rural Management Projects, to name a few…..Luckily my love life was also blossoming at this time ( same person eleven years ago...now my husband)…..it was like an extra cheese topping on a cheese pizza….with him I “lived life king size” and on my own terms! Like someone wrote a testimonial for him..."A true diamond in this rhinestone world!!! Way more precious and totally out of the league for most. Yup, he is a treasure"!! No doubt about it....

Finally comes the days of “Independence”..I’m talking about “working life”….those were good old days….shopping in GK, partying at “Blues” and "Ruby Tuesday" is worth remembering….night outs in JNU Campus and watching how close can people get at “Djinns” are some of my fondest memories. GE Cafeteria laugh during dinner time will be remembered by most GE-ites ( now Gen pact) as we used to be the loudest….what else can you expect with me and Chidiya having infectious laughter…The “Sariska Trip”, its up-close encounters with wildlife, gaudy sunrise and sunsets and amazing solitude…all these and memories from the trip will always endure…Its something which will always “be with me, for me and by me” ! ….

Now its only “Orkut” that keeps me connected….but “Gone are those days…Only Memories remains”!

City in White!

While I was having a blast laughing inside this is how it looked outside....city was hit by another Snow Storm!


View far and near....completely snow laden!



Big backyard!



Not the greatest view folks...tried still! Enjoy

Laughed En-lightened!

As the saying goes that "Laughter is the best medicine" or even "Smile" for that matter as it "Cost Nothing", I can now sense it already. Feel so much better today after laughing on stupid things that me and my best friend were chit-chatting for good two hours. Talking about how people stress on certain words like "But"and make it sound like "Butt" in other words how accent makes a difference, husband talking about wife's labor pain indicating that in case wife doesn't deliver by due date then doctor will have to seduce her, should have used the word"Induce", friends asking "where are you calling from, sky-pe se?"( all Hindi speaking people would understand this) instead of saying "Are you calling from Skype"...now that was a "pun on the word". These are the few examples that we were laughing about. Indeed it is a blessing to have someone with whom you can share and talk anything and everything possible under the sun...What a feeling!.For the longest time didn't have a chance to laugh like this. Thanks Dcen. Like researchers say that "laughing can be a total body workout" I guess that's what I had today..."complete aerobic workout". For someone like me who often store negative emotions such as anger, sadness and fear rather than expressing them...the laugh today provided a way for these emotions to be harmlessly released. Feels good. Agree! Laughter is cathartic.

Think Spring

Thought no "tell tales" today rather KISS ( keep it short n' simple).

On an opening note special thanks to all those who commented for Risha's speedy recovery. Risha is getting better everyday. So happy to see her getting used to daily routine ( although her cast is still on), she's playing, eating, back to her "monkey business" basically. Managing all with one hand for now. She's brave. I am proud that she took it all in her stride. She's indeed special !

Daylight Saving starts tomorrow, already feeling the loss of one hour sleep everyday. Damn it! don't like the idea of setting the clock one hour ahead. But guess I have to being in this part of the world.

On an experimental basis, yesterday I was listening to the song "Jashn E Baharaa" ( "Jashn" means "Celebration" and "Baharaa" means "spring" ) from Jodha Akbar, I fell in love with this song. Love this song to death.Right from lyrics, music and above all the singer is mesmerizing. I know credit goes to AR Rehman but the singer ( Does anyone know who's the singer?) and his voice is out of the world. Its a Masterpiece. Now that Spring is approaching, this song fits the mood and as someone correctly mentioned, yup... it is the song of the season ,what a song!! The English Translation of the song is :

"Although its time of the spring festival, love is surprised to see that fragrance is annoyed with the flowers in the garden (hence the flower and fragrance are separated)
someone is hiding in the veil of sadness, all the beauty is hesitant, the threads of time are dormant, and there are unsure thoughts in the heart."

On that note "Think Spring" and "Happy Weekend Folks"