Those early days

It was the month of May 2012, I had saved enough to embark on my two month long solo trip across the European continent, had got my Visas and was so excitedly looking forward to this dream trip which was all set to begin on the 1^st June 2012.

The dampener to my excitement however was that my Mummy, aged 55 years was not feeling that well in those last days on the month of May 2012, she was suffering from bone pain, digestive problems and feeling very weak. I thought she was feeling low because I was opting to go solo traveling this long, her sadness does take a toll on her health so I had reasons to believe that this too was that kind of a phase.

I told her that I will cancel my trip if she does not get well, true to her nature she started ‘acting’ fine so that I do not cancel my travel plans and went to a Doctor in the neighbourhood (Doctor P-1 who was a General Physician) to get her blood test done and started taking the medicines prescribed by him for her indigestion related problems as she was having a consistent bitter taste in her mouth and vomiting frequently (gastric reflux as he termed it). There was temporary relief but not much. Her Kidney Function Test from the Diagnostic test performed at that very Doctor’s diagnostic laboratory did reveal partially high creatinine counts which the Doctor chose to ignore and he said to my mom, “It’s all fine, just take these medicines and you will feel better. Drink lots of water.” He gave her some antacids and broad spectrum antibiotics for a week long course.

In hindsight, I was probably able to decode why he said so to mom, perhaps because he was on the Panel of a Medical Insurance company that was renewing my Mother’s Medical Health Insurance at that time and my Mother’s insurance premium not going to that Insurance Company would have robbed him of his referral commission as well.

And 1^st June 2012 arrived and I boarded the flight to Heathrow and began my once-in-a-lifetime journey, praying that mummy and all my loved ones at home will remain fine while I live my dream over the next two months.