We arrived in India, dropped off our luggage at someone’s home, went to see Roger and then searched for a hotel to stay in. It was scary to see him looking so fragile.
Our stay in India was difficult in so many ways
- The staff spoke in Hindi or Marathi
- I understand Hindi but can’t speak it, so I had to translate it in my head and then tell my husband what they’d said
- There were discrepancies between what some staff recommended and what was done by those in the following shift
- We had to have some difficult conversations so that we could understand and fulfil Roger’s wishes e.g. would he want to be resuscitated, would he want to be intubated, what would he want to happen if he didn’t survive and so on
- We realised that he didn’t understand what the diagnosis was or what it meant so we discussed that with him in the best way that we could
- Our routine over the 2 weeks was to have breakfast in the hotel and then stay in the hospital beyond 9 p.m.
- There was a battle with the finance department. Although the travel insurance provider had stated, in writing, that all costs would be covered, the staff were sceptical
- Therefore, when they felt he was ready to return to the UK, instead of wanting him to leave the hospital and go straight to the airport, they tried to have him discharged early. This was in an attempt to have the bill cleared before we left the country
The trip was, emotionally and physically, challenging.
Some of the terms used above are explained in this document: Critical_Care_Procedures_and_Treatments
Part 3 of 11: ‘Find out what had to happen before they gave us permission to return home’
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