What would have taken me a mere forty steps from my prayer room to the landing on the first floor, turned out to be a struggle that night. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the loo. Agathiyar greeted me in the light of the agal or earthen lamp that is lit 24/7. As I stood upright on that particular night nearing thai amavasai or total darkness, I lost consciousness.
When I came to I could feel the cold concrete floor still chill from the coldness of the month of Marghazhi lingering around although we had jut moved into the warmer and welcoming Thai. My abdomen, back and limbs felt equally cold as I lay on the floor in front of Agathiyar and not on my single piece of comfortable foam bed that I remembered I had slept on.
I stood up again. Did not remember taking another step. When I came around I was back on the cold damp floor right at the entrance to the prayer room. I saw Agathiyar shine in the halo of the lighted room. I stood up again.
When I came around I was at the foot of the steps in my living room. I got up straight, again, and walked up the flight of steps to the landing. This I could vividly remember, calling out to my wife as I stood between the bedroom and the toilet door. The next moment both my wife and kids were calling me out with my head supported by my wife in her arms. I asked to use the loo. My wife reminded me not to lock the door from inside and stood watch outside waiting for me to emerge again. She lead me to the master bedroom and laid me down on the bed. I dozed off as if nothing took place.
When I came to I could feel the cold concrete floor still chill from the coldness of the month of Marghazhi lingering around although we had jut moved into the warmer and welcoming Thai. My abdomen, back and limbs felt equally cold as I lay on the floor in front of Agathiyar and not on my single piece of comfortable foam bed that I remembered I had slept on.
I stood up again. Did not remember taking another step. When I came around I was back on the cold damp floor right at the entrance to the prayer room. I saw Agathiyar shine in the halo of the lighted room. I stood up again.
When I came around I was at the foot of the steps in my living room. I got up straight, again, and walked up the flight of steps to the landing. This I could vividly remember, calling out to my wife as I stood between the bedroom and the toilet door. The next moment both my wife and kids were calling me out with my head supported by my wife in her arms. I asked to use the loo. My wife reminded me not to lock the door from inside and stood watch outside waiting for me to emerge again. She lead me to the master bedroom and laid me down on the bed. I dozed off as if nothing took place.
The next morning my daughter drove me to see our family doctor. I had been having a fever that would not go away over the weekend. As it was a Monday, his clinic was filled to the brim with patients, having waited to see him over the weekend. My daughter found a single chair available across the long bench where I was sitted with the rests. Suddenly I just stooped over, my hands reaching for the floor way ahead of me. My daughter leapt over to me and held me while a foreign patient to my right too lent me a hand to check my fall. He moved a bit to created space for me to lay my upper torso on the bench. My daughter requested him to hold on to me while she made arrangements to move me to the bed. She came out of the adjacent room shortly and led me to the patients observation bed.
Dr Jaswant joined us shortly and began diagnosing me. He indicated that I could be having the dengue fever or a viral fever. He gave me two packs of intravenous fluids, took my blood sample and ask to see him again the next day.
The next day my wife, daughter and another foreign patient helped me onto the patients observation bed. I received another two packs of fluid. My previous day's blood platelet reading stood at 130.
The third day Dr Jaswant took another blood sample. Later that evening I asked my daughter to drive me over to the General Hospital. As we waited, Dr Jaswant informs over the phone that my platelet count taken in the morning showed a drop to 99. The results at the General Hospital showed a further drop to 91. I was confirmed as having the dengue fever and warded. The intravenous fluids were continued and my water intake and discharge was monitored closely. After I safely skipped through the second and middle phase that was said to be mined with complications and dangers, the intravenous water intake was stopped. As my platelet stabilized at 76, and I started on my way to recovery, I was sent home when my reading achieved 83 and asked to work on improving the blood count by faithfully continuing to consume 250 ml of fluids every hour. (On Tuesday 27.1.2015, I had a platelet reading of 362 that was a good sign that I had recovered fully).
As I had several falls on one day, I was given a ECG check (An electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) is a test that checks for problems with the electrical activity of your heart. An EKG translates the heart's electrical activity into line tracings on paper. A natural electrical system causes the heart muscle to contract and pump blood through the heart to the lungs and the rest of the body - Source : http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/electrocardiogram) and a CT scan too (Computerized (or computed) tomography, and often formerly referred to as computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan, is an X-ray procedure that combines many X-ray images with the aid of a computer to generate cross-sectional views and, if needed, three-dimensional images of the internal organs and structures of the body. A CT scan is used to define normal and abnormal structures in the body and/or assist in procedures by helping to accurately guide the placement of instruments or treatments - Source: http://www.medicinenet.com/cat_scan/article.htm) before I left.
By Agathiyar's grace I was given a clean slade. As each doctor interviewed me during my short duration of stay at the hospital, they were both surprised and glad to learn that here was a man of age fifty-six, who had not been warded into the hospital until then, and were glad on seeing a clean CT scan even after taking several falls.
As I lay on bed and took in all the activities that were going on around me at the hospital, I started counting my blessings, for Agathiyar had saved me again. The Chinese Gods had kept their part of the deal when they asked that my mother give me away in adoption to them when she pleaded them to save me as a child from extensive purging and diarrhea. The caretaker at the Chinese temple looked into his big book of fortune many years later to inform me that the Gods were forever looking over my shoulders. The day I had the fall, numerous times, Agathiyar had held on to me and placed me on the floor gently. My elder daughter just came back in the nick of time for her semester break when I gave in to the fever. She was there to drive me around to the clinic and hospital and do the other errands too. Agathiyar and Thirumular came to the aid of my second daughter a year back when she was having the dengue fever and helped raise her platelet and come out of it.
How can I ever repay the kindness and compassion of the Gods, and their emissaries, missionaries, angels and guides? How can I ever repay Agathiyan?
How can I ever repay the kindness and compassion of the Gods, and their emissaries, missionaries, angels and guides? How can I ever repay Agathiyan?
On a lighter vein, I joked around that the very first time I stepped into the hospital at the age of 13 was because I was bitten my a dog. The very first time I was warded at 56 was because I was bitten again, this time by a mosquito.