Just a little unexpected "side trip"

So, we landed in India on Feb 2.  We went to Tirupati on Feb 19, nearly 3 weeks later. My feet have been a bit swollen ever since we landed. I'd put my feet up, I'd drink lots of water, drink coconut water, stopped at the doctor housed at the ITPL to make sure I didn't have DVT  got a little relief but nothing was really solving the problem. Well, it came to a head when we went on the road to Chittoor and Tirupati, climbed up and down a zillion steps, long drive back at night with one stop along the way, a very large Mall that Sunday, and then that night we walked to the local Chinese restaurant but were sent in the wrong direction so inadvertently walked quite a long ways on very rough and bumpy roads. Ever since I had the 2 ankle surgeries 2 years ago, the left ankle complains when it gets abused. After that walk, the ankle was not only complaining, it was threatening me with secession.  It's been since before the surgery that I had felt that much pain and I was afraid I'd killed it! 
Before I left the U.S., I'd been automatically enrolled into an international security service via our corporate security and health service. This service provides global security, medical assistance and international health care anywhere in the world by linking us to health care that is up to international standards. In case of political unrest or a major natural event, they would be the ones to ensure our safety and evacuation. So, I called them on Monday. I was conferenced in with a doctor in the US who advised that I be seen by a doctor and they would call me back with appointment place and time. I got the call Tues morning at about 9am and my appointment was at a hospital here in Bangalore about an hour away at 10:45am. So I had about 1/2 hour to shower, dress, figure out transportation. While bathing, I notice that from the knee down, the skin on both of my legs is red. Well, I was wearing capris out in the sun, so maybe that's it.  But geez, I'm puffier than I was before!  My feet look like 2 loaves of unbaked bread, and my ankles are the size of softballs. My fingers, my face, my wrists.. all puffy. Hmm..
I tell Lisa where I'm going, Madhav calls a taxi for me, we decide the taxi should take me, wait and then bring me back, and then I'm off.  And the cab ride is extremely uncomfortable and for an hour long cab ride I need to keep my left foot elevated on the seat and my legs are not feeling right.  = /
I get there, wait for my appointment and the jitters start.  Now, I know logically this is not a government hospital, which is a good thing as I've heard and read way too many bad things about Indian government hospitals.  So breathe. First thing I do notice is a brochure that states this hospital is affiliated with Harvard Medical International - Boston.  Okay ... I've heard of that place.  ;)  And while I wait a little longer, (cuz a couple of asshole men think they are more important and push their way into the doc office when I had been called and they had been told to wait.. assholes) that's when providence sends me a little more reassurance.  I need something to do, and there's nothing to do, and it feels like everyone in the waiting room is looking at me (cuz they are!) and a little girl stops in front of me and I smile. And she smiles. And then she goes away and comes back. And then her mom comes and smiles and sits next to me. Makes conversation by asking my name, telling me hers and her daughters', asks me why I'm there, and then tells me she, her husband and her daughter all came with her mother in law to this hospital for a checkup after her mother in law had had heart surgery recently.  They come all the way from Maharashtra, stay at a lodge here for a week just because they say this hospital is THAT good.  That's certainly reassuring!
Assholes finally leave, and I go in. Woman doctor (score!) and she's right down to business but she's also present and focused. I like her right away. She asks a bunch of questions, gets the story, then asks me to lie down so she can take my blood pressure. She takes it, and when I ask her what the reading was, she refuses to tell me. Okay.. is this the Indian way or is this a bad sign?  I don't know.  But she does say that she wants to take it one more time as the reading didn't seem right. Asks me more questions, does a little more poking around, then takes the BP again. This time when I ask, she tells me.  220/120.  She got the 220 out and I gasped. I asked her to repeat and it was really 220/120.  Both times.     I know that's bad.  That's in range of having a stroke.  Any second.  
She wants to admit me. Right now.  Only other option is to come back tomorrow to be checked again.  Well, if it wouldn't have been another 3-4 hours out of my day to come back, I just may have, but I also know that it would be risky and that I needed to be admitted, but for GOD'S sake, it's an Indian hospital!!  I have never done any research whatsoever on hospitals in India, the only thing flashing through my head is some passage from some book I read about someone being taken to an Indian government hospital and that's where you take people to die, you have to know people who know people who pay people to get care...  well I KNOW this isn't a government hospital, but c'mon!!!  it's 9000 miles away from my home!  and MY doctor.  And MY family and friends and comfort zone.  But I know I have to be admitted.  So she sends me back upstairs to the admitting area.  I call for my cab and tell the driver that I need to stay, and pay him and send him away. 
Now, I know that was just a cab driver that I'd only spent one hour of my life with, but when I sent him away, I was A.L.O.N.E.!  Empty, deep dark hole forming inside my gut that is echoing. I can do pretty much anything alone, but this is pushing the envelope, even for me. First thing I do, I pull out my cell phone and it's nearly dead. Oh GREAT!  I have my iPhone with me too, and THAT's only half charged but it costs a mint to use so I don't. Only in emergency.  Guess what this is?? but the numbers I need are on my cell phone. So I dial Naveen, my buddy, my project manager, the one I know who is responsible, has a cell phone and is responsive.  No answer.  By now I'm heading back inside the hospital, and am between the 2 entry doors. I'm not ready to go to admitting until I TALK to someone, so I dial again.  No answer.  That's when I started shaking. And I went and stood in a corner so that no one could see my distress, cuz I've just about had enough for one day and it's nearly 1pm and oh.. he's either in a meeting or at lunch. So I try to text him. You ever tried texting when you're shaking like a leaf and trying to not crumple?  Not so easy.. but that's when he calls me.  Thank God! I have now contacted the outside world, someone who gives a shit and now knows where I am. I can go be admitted now.

My god, I'm wordy.

I call the SOS people, and let them know I'm being admitted. They take over and I hand my phone over to the woman doing the admitting, and I see there are guys in suits behind her and people bustling, and I have faith that the SOS people are doing exactly what needs doing. Good thing I had my passport, my SOS ID, and my insurance card with me. I was admitted quickly and easily. Naveen calls me back and says he and Satheesh are on their way, and I'm okay. I can start to see again.
While being admitted, I was told there were only two types of rooms left available, - Executive or Royal. I had to laugh.. and say I don't need Royal. Executive is fine.  o.O
I was lead to my room, and this wonderful little nurse welcomes me and leads me into this HUGE room, with a bed, and a cot, and a sitting area and more cupboard/closet space than I have in my own home, and a refrigerator, tv, and huge window looking out into a courtyard full of plants and fountains.  Yikes.. what is this going to cost me and I hope insurance will pick it up as I've not had a lot of choice in this whole thing.. but here we are. I settle in, Satheesh and Naveen arrive bringing apples and juice and asking questions and kind of coming in and taking charge and I let them.  Even my inner control freak has its limits.  ;)  And someone comes in and asks me what I'd like for lunch  - scuse me, I get a CHOICE? - and someone brings me 4 liters of water, and other people are bustling in and out and everyone is SO nice and professional. The nurses call each other "sister" although they are not nuns or related :)  I settle in, and begin the process of seeing more doctors and taking meds, having tests run and scans done and BP taken hourly, and every time it's down a LOT.
All in all, amazing hospital stay!  The food was fabulous, the care was superb, the nurses really wonderful, sweet, caring, thoughtful, professional, everyone spoke great English, and when it helped to have the local language spoken Satheesh and Naveen were there. Spotless, organized, orderly, LOTS of staff, air-conditioned, nice smelling!, just amazing. Through the night they did fill completely every bed, and were very busy but my care was never compromised. The doctors were, each one of them, top notch - caring, personable, knowledgable, great bedside manners and thorough, never bustling or too self important.
Naveen and Satheesh took the time to head to my apartment to get my phone charger and a few other things, which really helped me feel more at ease. And then my phone started ringing.  Many people started hearing and were checking up on me. But that's when I found out how really well this security SOS service is!

I got a phone call from the SOS office in Delhi, checking on me.  And I got a call from the security desk at the home office in Minneapolis. Both checking on me, asking how I am, if I need anything.  I thought that was nice.  But it was when I got the phone call from my V.P. was when I found out how REALLY well it works!
Seems they woke her up at about 3am to let her know one of her employees had been admitted to a hospital in India and they did not know why, but that she should know.  The "not know why" kept her from falling back to sleep so she went into office early, saw emails that had been flying already where our Ameriprise General Counsel in New York had been alerted, who had in turn sent an email to the CIO, who then sent an email to my Senior VP and VP asking what was up, and the TCS folks were also in the same communication flurry and most of the staff both here and in Mpls was hearing, and I HADN'T EVEN CALLED MY OWN MOM OR DAUGHTER YET!  :D  I just didn't want any fuss... I'd call them tomorrow.  HAH!  No fuss..  So I called them both. 

Honestly, was an amazing experience.  Everything worked.  I've been taking it easy since and have been on some medication that's pretty much knocked me on my ass, so my BP HAS to be quite low. A door slammed LOUDLY earlier today, where normally I would have jumped.. and I didn't even react. I'll be calling for a follow up in the morning.

In the meantime, i was afraid of the cost of this wayyyyy out of network hospital stay.  Took hours for the insurance and billing to get settled, but that happens everywhere. And the stay itself?  With the Executive room, all the meds, the tests, the doctors, the whole thing that probably would cost $5000 -10,000 in the US, came to 20950 Indian Rupees.   $450.00.  I had to pay 80 rs for the 2 waters I drank.  that's like $1.75. 

That's it. I'm sold.  If I ever need hospitalization again, put me on an airplane for Bangalore!  

and the best part?  One of the nurses, very late at night/early am, doing what she needs to do and says, you foreigners are so much nicer than our local people.  You are so NICE!  :D