SAD NEWS FROM KHAR

On October 4, 2011 we had a very sad occurrence in Mumbai with one of our original girls. 14 year old Kokila was cooking and the propane stove exploded. She has received massive burns all over her body and is in a very dire state.

The story of Kokila is copied below. Tania updates the story as often as she can.

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Tuesday, October 4, 2011 (Day 1)

Message (Approximately 11pm): Julie received an urgent phone call from Tania with some devastating news.

One of the schools young working students, Kokila was cooking and the propane stove exploded. She has received massive burns all over her body and is in a very dire state. Tania et al have taken Kokila to all of the local hospitals and everyone is refusing to help this beautiful young girl. They have been waiting for over six hours to get some help, her life, literally is hanging by a thread.

Update1 (Approximately 12pm): Tania is extremely appreciative of everyone’s concern – here is the latest update as of 5 mins ago. Kokila is now getting treatment, however not in a proper burn unit. Tania has to decide whether it is good to move her or not. The only burn center is over an hour’s drive away from the hospital they are in. It is a difficult decision as they are not sure she Kokila will be able to make the move.

Tania will keep us posted.

Update2 (Approximately 12:30pm): Tania has advised that the incident has now become a police case and she fears that the process will be even slower now.

Update3 (Approximately 1:30am): Tania sent photos of where Kokila is being looked after, and we are sure that everyone will agree we need to move her as soon as possible. In her current state however, she will not survive the move. Kokila is only 14 yrs young and a very special young girl, well loved and liked.

Update4 (Approximately 3am):

Kokila is resting and in stable condition in the burn unit of the hospital. The plan moving forward is in 2-3 days that she will be stable enough to move to the national burn unit, admittance fee alone is $1,300. We can confirm that this vibrant 14yr old has suffered 50-60% burns over her little body.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011 (Day 2)

Kokila slept through the night and was taken for a bath (cleansing of the wounds) early morning.

Kanchan (Her mom) says that she was able to walk and stand on her own. She was chatty and coherent. At one point Kanchan got teary eyed and Kokila told her not to cry that she would be ok.

Vinita and Vijay Sir spent the morning and early afternoon with Kanchan who really loved the support and seemed to get stronger through it.

A bunch of the older children from the school went to see her at visiting hours but were not allowed in, it was good for Kanchan though to have people around.

Vijay Sir returned to the hospital around 5 and got the medicine needed and did some other running around. He was really worried as he saw Kokila briefly when he dropped off some medicine, “The swelling wasn’t going down”.

I arrived at 8 and immediately went up to see Kokila. Though only Kanchan is allowed to see her, being white has few advantages in this country and this is one of them. I walked right in and spent half an hour watching her sleep peacefully. Her face looks more than twice as bad as it looked yesterday. The swelling that was below her eyes yesterday was all the way up to her hairline today. Her eyes were only slits. She can no longer see.

However, when talking to the doctors, they ensured that where there was little to no chance yesterday, she had a 50% chance today.

I was not only able to talk to the intern that was the same one that was admitting her yesterday, but the main doctor in the unit. He was very pleasant to talk to and spent at least 15-20 minutes with me. I asked how many more days before she was out of danger. At first he said that he couldn’t tell, but then gave the impression of at least 5 days more to a week. I asked what he thought about moving her to a private hospital. To this he was very honest in saying that the medical treatment and testing that she would receive would be the same in both places. On his own he stated that the hygiene, cleanliness and quality of care would be worlds different though. He definitely understood moving her and seemed to breathe a bit of relief at hearing it. When asked when she could move, he said that as long as the ambulance was well equipped then she could move today. He even gave me his phone number and said he would call if there were any changes. But… no news is good news.

Tomorrow is Dassera – the final day of the Navrati festival. The streets will be ridiculous and crowds everywhere. We have decided that tomorrow is not a good idea and that we will move her first thing Friday morning. He has suggested Bombay Hospital downtown. Vinita (with someone helping her) will secure a bed there in the morning while Vijay and I do all that’s necessary at her current hospital.

Though we are still not out of the woods, with every hour that goes by, the situation gets a little less dire. We are now 32 hours in.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings,

Thursday, October 6, 2011 (Day 3)

According to Kokila’s mother Kanchan, the morning went well without too much trouble. Kanchan bathed her and the doctor did her dressings. While putting on the burn cream, Kanchan noticed that he missed a few spots. He wasn’t very happy with her mentioning it.

Brother Rakesh was supposed to spend the night and wait until Vijay Sir arrived at 8:30am. However, he left in the middle of the night and didn’t even say good-bye to his mother. He was missing in action all day; we are very disappointed in him. As a result, Vijay Sir was at the hospital from 8:30am until 10:15pm. He is remarkable in his commitment and passion for our children.

Kanchan had many visitors throughout the day. Teacher Leena, a handful of school children and a couple school moms. She was really happy with all the support.

In the evening Vinita Didi arrived followed closely by myself. A funny story happened. Vinita was being kicked out because she didn’t have the pass. I walked up just in time to throw the pass her way and walk right by the cops into the burn unit. They watched me go and didn’t say anything. I waited there until the cops were gone and all was well. Things you can get away with when you are white. Vinita is struggling with the whole situation so it was nice to be together for quite a while that evening. She still couldn’t bring herself to look at Kokila because she said ‘She was so pretty’.

I spent at least half an hour with Kokila that evening. The swelling had come down in her face and she was able to open her eyes. Talking was still very difficult and beyond throwing names at me asking how people were that’s all she could communicate. She was mostly nodding or disagreeing as I asked questions and told her stories. I asked her if she went a little crazy – she nodded yes. I asked her if she still was crazy – she said no. I asked her if she would do it again – she said no. She agreed that her mom is taking amazing care of her and that she worries when her mom cries. She said that she wasn’t in too much pain – but that was a lie.

I had a great talk with the doctor as soon as I entered. He wanted to talk, and talk he did. He explained the ward’s situation. He had 24 patients all on his own. No interns because it was Dassera (the final day of the Navratri festival). He had to dress all of them which takes between 1/2 an hour and an hour each. I think we all can do the math. He was a zombie walking. He said that Kokila was somewhat stable but really wanted to stress that we were lucky that she was steadily getting better day by day. She could just as quickly take a turn for the worse. He reminded that it would be at least two weeks until she was safe and that getting an infection was the main concern. We spoke again about changing hospitals and he understood. He said that we would need to hire a private ambulance because we would be discharging ‘Against Medical Advice’. He was not at all concerned about her safety in the ambulance.

Another funny story, I had to go in one more time to call Kanchan. I asked for them to call her, the doctor said just go yourself. I started walking to her room and he suddenly stopped me, telling me to put shoes on – which everyone is supposed to take off before entering the burn unit. Confused I clarified this at which point he took me to the OP room and gave me a pair of doctor’s shoes to wear. Walking in my doctor’s shoes, I called Kanchan, returned the shoes and carried on my way.

Just as we were leaving for the night, a nurse walked by and asked me what department I was in. Confused, I said none. She then said that I was a doctor. I said no. She asked why I was there. I said to see a patient. With a confused look on her face, she continued on her way. All white people must be doctors in her world. We decided that if I were to walk around the hospital with a stethoscope I would gain access everywhere and probably have a bunch of interns following my every step.

Rakesh was supposed to arrive at 9pm and didn’t until 10:15pm. He met a barage of yelling by many people when he arrived. People that seemed to care for and be more worried about his sister than himself.

Friday, October 7, 2011 (Day 4)

First thing in the morning, Vinita Didi and Honey (two time volunteer from America), went downtown to Bombay Hospital – a well known private hospital. We were shocked to find out that they don’t have a specified burn unit and recommended Bhatia Hospital only 15 minutes away. The reception at Bhatia Hospital was easy to deal with and they quickly secured a bed in the Burn Unit for Kokila. At this point, Vijay (with Bhavesh’s help) was informed to start the discharge process at Sion Hospital. This proved more difficult then first thought as all of the doctors were in surgeries. The ambulance was called and arrived within 20 minutes. The discharge papers were signed, but an intern was still doing Kokila’s dressings. We waited half an hour but then were ready to go. By 11:30am we left Sion Hospital by ambulance. With the siren blazing, very few cars moved out of the way so it still took half an hour.

While we were dealing with everything at Sion Hospital, Vinita and Honey met the Senior Burn doctor who gave them a small tour of the hospital and showed them the Burn Unit. They were very impressed with him and his facility and felt comfortable with Kokila’s new home.

The ambulance arrived (at the wrong gate of course!) and so we had to wheel Kokila through the lobby. Thankfully I was in first because Vinita was standing right there. I was able to shoo her away before she saw anything. She doesn’t want to ruin Kokila’s beautiful face in her mind. I understand, because it is now hard for me to remember her beautiful face, I am haunted by the images of this week.

She was taken straight up to her bed in the Burn Unit ICU and within minutes, the nurses were doing their thing. They had the IV and other gadgets set up immediately. Kanchan is not good at communicating anything – let alone hospital intake forms. Good thing I was there to answer their questions. The nurses were quite confused by her – but then again, aren’t we all!

Mass confusion broke outside the hospital when we realized that everyone and their dog arrived to ‘see’ Kokila – or be nosy and see where she was. For the past three days these people didn’t care but when word got out that she was being moved to a private then they all showed up. Like a creature in a zoo, they all wanted to go and meet her. This was ridiculous on many fronts – she is in ICU, she is a burn victim that can’t see anyone, her face is burned and she probably doesn’t want to show anyone. Vijay Sir tried to send them away. Vinita tried. Finally big bad Tania Didi had to come in and lay down the law and take the brunt of their anger. Of course there was no reason in their mind for me not letting them see her, I was just being a mean ogre. It’s ok, I can take it.

Honey decided that she needed to get the image of Kokila riding by on the stretcher in front of her on Tuesday (the day it happened), out of her mind and wanted to see Kokila again. Older student Sunil has a crush on Honey and everyone jokes around that he is her boyfriend. A couple days before the accident happened, Kokila said to Sunil in English “You are not her boyfriend, I am!”. They loved to laugh and joke; this has been very hard for Honey. When she saw Kokila from the door, she received a big smile. Though the image is still not good, Honey was glad that it was much better than the image that was haunting her mind.

Kanchan needed to be escorted around the hospital one more time so that she felt safe. I showed her the visitor’s lounge where she could sleep and the payphone to make calls and then we went to the Burn Unit so that I could say good-bye to Kokila. I asked her if she liked her new home; she nodded yes.

Kanchan couldn’t believe that she didn’t have to do anything anymore. In fact, she wasn’t ALLOWED to do anything. The nurses treated her well and you could see her relax a little more as each minute passed.

I then treated the five of us who invested time and energy (Vijay Sir, Bhavesh Sir, Vinita Didi, Honey and myself) to a special lunch at one of my old favourite places – The Samrat, bottomless Gujarati thali restaurant. Vijay Sir ate a week’s worth and we all just relaxed a bit knowing that Kokila was in a good place and in safe hands.

We then journeyed to school to inform the staff (both Khar and NS) and volunteers of the events of the week. It was a hard meeting, reliving it all, but important that everyone knew the truth rather than spreading rumours. Vijay was appreciated for the commitment he made to Kokila.

At 9pm, Kanchan called to say that we needed two or three people to give blood immediately. She was willing and asked us to call Rakesh. I did and planned to meet him at the station at 10:30am the next day. We also asked Bhavesh to come as a back-up and asked him not to tell Vijay Sir so that he could rest. That didn`t work! Bhavesh immediately told Vijay who immediately called Vinita and yelled at her for not involving him!

The day was finally over.

Saturday, October 8, 2011 (Day 5)

Of course Rakesh didn`t arrive when he was supposed to. The Nurses called in the morning saying that the doctor wanted to meet me at 11am, so I couldn`t wait for Rakesh endlessly. Good thing I didn`t, he didn`t show up that day at all.

Vijay and Bhavesh arrived on time of course, and brought a friend along to also give blood, just for insurance.

I had a bit of Bombay belly that day and so was embarrassingly sweaty and uncomfortable. I waited about half an hour for the doctor to take a break from a surgery he was in, but it was well worth it. He didn`t seem to notice my sweat (phew!) and he was warm straight away and exuded a genuine and caring presence. The reason he wanted me to come in was because he had to give Kokila a really expensive medicine, Albufren (or something like that!) and that if we got it from outside we would save a lot of money. It turns out that it costs around Rs. 5500 at the hospital and Rs. 3500 outside. That`s a savings of almost $50 a day. He told me not to tell anyone because he was acting against the hospital. I was to bring in the medicine, saying that we had it from before. He also said that he would do any procedures bedside rather than in the Burn Unit Operating room. This would save Rs. 15,000 per procedure – about $380. Considering she will need multiple procedures, this is quite remarkable. He was really positive about the work and care that we were doing and really wanted to help in any way he could.

He said that she was in a stable condition, but his main concern was the extensive respiratory burns that she had. He said that the physical burns on the skin could be only 1% but if there are respiratory burns that it becomes critical. Kokila has both. He gave a better than 50% chance at survival but said that we wouldn`t be out of the scary time for three weeks.

As Vijay went to get the medicine, the rest of us (myself, Kanchan, Bhavesh and friend) went to the blood bank for our donors to give. We thought that it would be quite a simple procedure as is written in the hospital rules ‘Blood is given on a replacement basis. You give blood, we provide blood.’ So started the blood bank fiasco.

They actually didn`t want us to give blood at all, they wanted us to take a vial of Kokila`s blood to a private blood bank to ask if they had a match and if they did to bring the donation of blood back to the hospital. Yes, you read that right. We were to carry a vial of blood like a set of keys or a book in the trains and taxis and streets of Mumbai. Safe. Really safe. I tried to explain why this was so ridiculous to the blood bank guy to which he said ‘Yes, I understand, but this is the way it is,’ or ‘Yes, I see that it is dangerous, but this is the way it is.’ Fed up and getting nowhere, Bhavesh and friend then proceeded to do as told – take a vial of Kokila`s blood on the train and then a taxi to another blood bank.

The reason for the chaos was that Kokila has B+ blood which the hospital has hundreds of samples of. However, there was a factor in Kokila’s blood that was reacting with all the samples. Not one sample was viable.

Bhavesh and friend gave the blood and were told that it would take an hour and a half for the testing and matching.

Meanwhile, Vijay arrived back at the hospital with the medicine. I passed security without question (once again I will stress that I am white – by this point I was in and out of the gate 15 times and hadn’t even needed to show my pass once). I gave the medicine to the nurses who were ready for it. I asked the nurses if I could get away with not coming the next day (Sunday), they took down my number and assured me that all would be fine and that if they needed me they would call. I talked to Kokila from the door and got nicely scolded by the nurse ‘either put on your mask, hair net and gown and go in – or don’t talk’. I was very happy that she wasn’t taking any chances. I then waved good-bye and left Kanchan who was getting fully changed (they don’t trust her wearing her street clothes and so she wears nurses scrubs when she is with Kokila), to spend time with her daughter.

By this point it was nearly 3pm and Bhavesh and friend should have been arriving shortly with the blood. Vijay was comfortable waiting for them and told me to go home with my Bombay Belly. Confident that they would also be resting shortly, I left.

At 7:30pm, I got a call from Vijay who was still at the hospital. The Blood Bank took 5 hours to do the testing! There wasn’t a single match. Unsure what to do, they returned to Bhatia Hospital to ask. The hospital blood bank then called the doctor who said that they would have to find some other way – somehow. Vijay, Bhavesh and friend then had to return to the private blood bank for a refund and finally headed for home, worried, at 8pm. It was supposed to be a matter of a simple blood donation.

Sunday, October 9, 2011 (Day 6)

A quiet day on all fronts, Kanchan spent all day in and out of visiting Kokila. She still is treating her like a zoo animal though and had cousins, aunts and uncles looking at her through the window. She called at 7pm worried that I was sick. I reassured her that I was fine (which I mostly was by that point – spending most of the day in an almost comatose like state). She said that Kokila was fine and when she asked for me, Kanchan told her I was sick. The doctor was not in though he was on his phone with blood banks and haematologists trying to answer some of his concerns.

Monday, October 10, 2011 (Day 7)

The morning started off quite nice. I arrived by train at 9am sharp to find Kanchan pacing around outside. We went in together and she told me all about her visitors yesterday. I tried to explain about infection and ICU rules and Kokila probably not enjoying people seeing her – but it seemed to go in one ear and out the other. I tried.

I got suited up to see Kokila and by the time I went inside the nurse was feeding her first real meal since the accident. I asked if she wanted help and she surprisingly handed it over to me. A little shocked at first, it felt nice as it went on. She had an idli (rice cake), a boiled egg, a glass of mosambi juice (sweet lime) and a glass of tea. Kokila was very proud not to have to eat through the tube in her nose. She kept telling me that she would get them to take it out. I told her that if she listened to what they said and if she ate as much as she could they just might. We then talked about the day of the accident and the school and exams (which she was determined to write when she was better) and her family and … the list goes on and on. I thought that the doctor would come soon, but in the end, he didn’t show up until 11am and so I spent nearly two hours with Kokila. I enjoyed the time and for the first time really felt that I was with my old Kokila who I’ve known for 11 years. She was talking like a chatterbox again and her eyes and her nose looked like her old beautiful self. I was able to relax a little reminded of her beauty.

Unfortunately, the day turned sour from there. The doctor started out by saying that her vital signs were looking good and that the burns themselves are looking better. However, he had two bad things to relate. The first was that Kokila arrived with an infection – likely from either the Government Hospital itself or from the wait to get into the hospital. The infection is called Pseudomonas Species and is a very common infection for burns patients. It is dangerous, but luckily she is sensitive to all the medicines for it (they are working) and therefore it will likely be manageable. The second bad news was the real kicker. Kokila’s Haemoglobin level was steadily dropping and was currently at 8.4 where normal is between 12 and 16. He said that normally they would have already given her a pint of blood but since they hadn’t found a match (B+ or O+, they were trying to find O-), they were trying to put it off and see what happens. The haematologists were also very concerned and both were discussing the side effects of a mismatched Blood Transfusion – renal failure, the need to support it with steroids which then makes the infection worse and managing that. It was very complicated and the doctor was visibly worried…which obviously didn’t have a great effect on me. He said that he would do the mismatched Transfusion if her levels fell below 8 because he felt that at that point he didn’t have a choice.

He then buttered me up by talking about the work that we do at One!. He said that he felt good about the work that he was doing (free camps here and there) until he realized the commitment that I had made. Then he felt very small about his work and knew he needed to do more. He wondered if he could possibly come in to the school and talk to the children about burns and their consequences. He also commented on all the social workers that he has seen come in with money but not the time and attention that we are giving. They come and go but don’t actually spend the time with the patients and keep track of the details. He was shocked to see me feeding Kokila and the close relationship that we have.

Not that the praise is needed, but of course it always feels nice.

Worried, I headed back to the Khar school to relate the information to just a few not to create mass confusion.

We continued exam prep someway somehow, even though it felt so unimportant…

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 (Day 8)

I arrived at the hospital at 9:00am to find Kokila in a really foul mood. She was screaming of pain in her stomach. In the hour and a half that I was there, I was only able to make her smile once when I read her card from fellow classmate, Radha, which told her that she would never fight with her ever again. All of the Khar school children made pictures and cards for her. Kokila refused to eat anything and was force fed through the pipe in her nose. I waited for the doctor to arrive, but he never did. The nurse said that he might not even arrive until 2pm. I decided to leave at 12pm; the writhing in pain of Kokila was just too much to take. I needed to get some work done and distract myself.

The doctor didn’t answer my call or message but did finally call back at 5:15pm. He wasn’t too worried about the pain as it is normal with the severity of her burns. He also reassured that her Haemoglobin count hadn’t increased but also hadn’t decreased that day so he had ordered another test which we would get the results back on Friday. More than likely, the transfusion would be pushed back until then.

Slightly reassured, we retired for the day…

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 (Day 9)

I arrived a little late to the hospital at 9:30am to find Kokila in a decent mood which steadily got better and better throughout my visit. The nurses said that the doctor was supposed to arrive around 11:00am so I thought that I would just hang out with Kokila until then. We talked and talked and talked and she ate chicken. The doctor is trying to get as much protein and calories in her as possible so recommended that we make chicken at home and bring it. Joshua made the chicken and Kokila loved it! We then started calling everyone on speaker phone. She talked to Sunil, Vinita Didi, Leena Didi, Vijay Sir, Sangeeta, Rajeshree and Rekha. She was laughing a lot and was beaming from ear to ear when I left her room at 12:00pm. The doctor still hadn’t showed up. He had told me to call him from the Operation Room reception at any time. I went there and the receptionist didn’t quite agree with him. She was not willing to call him. I called his cell but of course he didn’t answer.

I left hoping that he would respond to a message. He did quite curtly saying that I should have met him at 9am at the operating room. Miscommunication again as that was not what I understood. Oh well. Since he didn’t say anything else, I understood that there was no news and I messaged him an apology and that I would meet him the next day at 9am at the operating rooms. In Hindi there is a saying ‘Maska Lagao’ meaning put on some butter and you will get what you want. I did just that, so let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Thursday, October 13, 2011 (Day 10)

I arrived early at 8:45am worried that I would miss the doctor again. Of course I stood around waiting for an hour as he didn’t arrive until almost 10am. The first words that came out of his mouth shocked me “I am going to do the blood transfusion today.” I was ready for it to be happening soon, but not quite that soon. As it turns out, her Haemoglobin had dropped to 8.2 yesterday and he was expecting 8 or 7.8 today. Rather than wait until it was an emergency, he decided to do the Transfusion during the day when there were all the professionals needed in case it went wrong. I asked the time frame and he said within an hour.

I then went up to see Kokila who was once again in a horrible mood. She was having trouble with her neck which was hurting no matter how she kept it. In talking with the doctor later, I found out that is the area that he is most worried about. She is not allowed to use a pillow as it will crush the skin together and cause problems. Kokila refused to eat again and was force fed. I wasn’t able to spend much time with her, and in the half hour I did, she didn’t smile once and didn’t even want to talk to anyone on the phone.

The nurses pulled me aside to sign the release form for the Blood Transfusion which (I hope you will all understand) I refused to do. Kanchan had left the hospital to work in the Thursday market so the family had a little pocket money, and so for the first time in 10 days, Kokila was without a family member. Vinita was at the charity registration office and so it was really difficult to communicate the needs. Rakesh answered his phone and said that both his parents were on their way and would reach in 15 minutes. I decided to meet them downstairs as they would be worried. After half an hour they didn’t show up. We got back on the phones to try to contact them again. It turns out that Rakesh had lied again and they were all still in Khar. They finally left Khar at 11:30am, arriving at the hospital at 12:45pm. The whole time I was just waiting and worried and waiting and worried some more. In the meantime, the doctor decided to retest Kokila’s blood in case there was a match or to take the closest match available. At 1pm, the doctor was in the burn unit and was trying to reassure me again that it would work out. He already had a dialysis machine in the room and everyone was aware of the situation and knew what steps needed to be taken. Unfortunately he then went on and on about how they could only do as much as they could and the rest was up to God and that sometimes people who were barely burned didn’t survive and others who were more than 50% did and how of course they had to do all that they knew how to do and that god wouldn’t do that but that the rest we couldn’t predict and that really no one ever knows just how it is going to go but that god is great and that he would determine and………. I phased out about halfway through and actually ended up feeling more worried than reassured. Oh boy… With a brief explanation of the procedure, Kanchan put her thumbprint as a signature and we were off – being told that the procedure would start within a couple of hours.

I then had the wonderful job of explaining the risk as simply but clearly as possible to Kanchan, Bhola and Rakesh. Everyone has different blood and Kokila’s doesn’t have a match and they have to give the closest even though it isn’t perfect and her body might not like it and then there could be problems but the doctors will be ready. And more than likely it will be ok, but just in case you HAVE TO BE HERE.

Completely spent, I left for a couple hours break with all intention to return. On my way home in the train with the wind blowing against my face I realized that I was in no state to return.

I arrived at Khar school at 2:45pm and collapsed in a chair. Vinita brought me water and took care of me and we planned for Honey (always ready for anything) and Vikas (just as ready to do anything) going to go to the hospital just in case anything was needed.

As Honey and Vikas were arriving at the hospital at 4:30pm, I got a text message from the doctor asking for us to get a medicine from outside immediately. “Lipidem” would increase the immunity against infection – a boost needed during the transfusion. The transfusion hadn’t started because her fever was too high. He sent the drug distributor’s phone number and Vinita immediately called and tried to arrange for it. The distributor was not ready to give the medicine without a prescription. Vikas and Honey then tried to get in touch with the nurses (that in itself taking nearly half an hour) and then convince them to call the doctor for the prescription. This was somehow very difficult and so I called the doctor directly who told me to tell the distributor to call him directly. What a mess. The distributor refused to call the doctor but finally said that he would give the medicine but would not give a receipt. For f(*&$#@’S sake. Did it really have to be that difficult! Finally at 5:40pm Vikas went to get the urgent medicine.

While Vikas was gone, Kanchan was dragging Honey all over the hospital – burn unit to visitor lounge to reception and back around again. She was anxious, worried and fidgety. She kept hugging Honey and saying thank you and being simply appreciative and wonderful. Honey felt that she didn’t deserve the thanks but was glad to see the love in Kanchan’s eyes and the commitment to her daughter. Honey was able to spend half an hour with Kokila who was still in no mood to laugh or smile. She was telling Honey how everyone wanted her to come home soon and that they were sad. Honey told her that they were worried and that everyone loves her very much. Kokila asked where I was with a sad face. Honey explained that I was very tired, Kokila said it was ok. Kokila asked if I would be there in the morning. Even though Vinita is planning to go, Honey said yes to reassure her. Vinita convinced herself that she needed to deal with the situation and saw a picture of Kokila on Wednesday. It was hard for her, but being the strong woman that she is, she is determined to meet Kokila and face her own fears tomorrow.

Vikas arrived with the medicine at 6:30pm. The nurses curtly took it and said that the fever had reduced and they were about to start the transfusion. She also told everyone to go away except one person – that she would call if anything was needed. This is likely not completely true since they were supposed to call in the afternoon for an update and didn’t. Still, it was already a long day for everyone and waiting seems to be endless and the majority of the time futile. Honey and Vikas returned leaving Kanchan with her lovely daughter at the hospital.

It is currently 8:30pm and the transfusion has been running for an hour and a half of the scheduled 4 hours without call or alarm. No news is good news. Let’s hope the phone doesn’t ring through the whole night…

Thanks for all of your love and support and warm thoughts, Tania

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Our Board of Directors and various committee members have responded beyond our dreams to donate money allowing Kokila’s transfer to a Burn Hospital in Mumbai. You will notice from the most recent update Oct. 13, 2011, the challenge now is blood transfusions, and fighting the infections. Kokila will likely be in ICU for 3 weeks to 1 month. Although the Doctor is trying very hard to give us some financial breaks – having us purchase medicine outside the hospital – he is limited in what he can do, and the care is expensive.

If you are able to contribute, thank you – any donation will help. If you are unable to do so, please do not feel bad as we know all of you already help us with the schools. We also welcome your good thoughts and prayers for Kokila.

The best and fastest way for us to help financially is through Canada Helps.Org. We are registered with them and the funds donated will go directly into One’s bank account.

Follow this link: http://www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?CharityID=s79287 / Donate Now / Fund designation: Kokila Emergency Relief Fund  (cut and paste link)

They accept credit cards and debit cards.
All funds raised will be used for the Kokila Emergency Fund. The costs to date have been almost $3,000.

With deepest and sincerest gratitude.
Marilyn