Holla!! People write to celebrate anniversaries of blogging. I contemplated, the least I could do is write to celebrate one year of absence! Hehe.

Thanks to all for your concern but being the arrogant fool that I am, I did not respond to anybody’s GB entries.  That I was physically indisposed was another matter and of course an excuse.

Ok, here is the update:

I suffered from something called Cauda Equina Syndrome. Cauda Equina means Horse’s tail!! Beats me who came up with such an exotic name for the condition. Roughly translated, it stands for this. I had a herniated disk, and apparently few in a million cases of herniated disk cases get this. I lost all my motor and sensory functions below my waist. This was May 27^th. The next day, I was cut open and the culprit disk was removed from L2-L3.

Post operation, had no bladder and bowel sensations, no movements in ankles, toes, no sensation below ankles, foot, and back of the leg from hip downwards. (To put it medically, my L4, L5, S1, S2 and S3 nerves were not operational)

Recovery has been painfully slow. It seems the nerve grows from the base of the spine at the rate an mm/day at above the same rate as hair would grow. So that is about an inch a month or about a foot per annum. I calculated using a scale, complete recovery could take 4 years! And that too is dependant on muscles not getting atrophied. The present situation is my hip extensors and hamstrings have started functioning, marginal sensations have returned on the hip portion. Bladder and bowel sensations are better too.

After 8 months of sitting at home, I asked for and got a transfer from the company to the office nearest my residence. So, have resumed work. Currently, use two crutches for walking. Colleagues have been very supportive. Now, I am fairly independent as well.

Frankly, more than physical, the impact has been mental. While, I try to keep my spirits high (without the usual spirits, usual before the operation – sigh!!) and laugh and try to maintain a normal visage, still haven’t been able to come to terms to my current situation, I guess the word is ‘closure’. (That word I picked up from an ex-girlfriend who used that word a million times after the split)

 So, as they say, jaan hai to jahaan hai. Now, have returned but don’t know, for how long. Nice to know the iland is still as chirpy as in the past, if not more. Hope to see you more frequently.