It’s difficult not to sound whiny, but the past fifteen days, as the gum infection has been steadily drained and dried, have been quite murderous. I have now learnt to ask for fresh local anaesthetics as the first injections wear off…but still the deep pain has been quite unbearable sometimes…and being alone in the house is NOT very nice. To be unable, at times, to get up, and yet to know that I have to drag myself to the kitchen for even a drink of water, has been very hard.

But it has taught me how difficult it must be to undergo this kind of chronic pain on a regular basis….and surely, I will be even more gentle when dealing with ill people. I will be able to bear their crankiness, because I know how cranky one feels with constant pain; I will be empathetic to their depression, as I have experienced the lows that being unwell brings. Er…all these good intentions are there now…

These thoughts have been brought out by visiting a friend whose ailing mother is now with her, and she was describing the difficulties of caring for a very strong-willed elderly person…having gone through this a few years ago, I could really understand her problems.

Caring for the elderly is very similar, in the acts performed…feeding, cleaning up, full responsiblity…to caring for a baby…but it is certainly bereft of the joys of the latter. With a baby, one is watching a person and a personality developing…with an elder, it is the waning of a person, of a childhood without any appeal to it. An elderly patient is often cranky and wilful, and also often complains about the caregivers to all the visitors, and sometimes, it’s very hard to take.

I am taking a break for a month from the dental treatment, but will come back to get the root canal done…for the fourth (and hopefully final) time.

In the meanwhile, of course, I have tried to do as much as I can, and have thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with those friends who did make the effort to come home (alas, not all of them did!), went on wildlife trips, went to plays, and just….enjoyed being back home as well.

Well, a month in Chennai will bring me back even more appreciative of home….

But before I leave, a quick trip to Nandi Hills, with the BULBs is on for tomorrow! :)