What’s Happening!?!

Rukhsana Khan's pending birthday treat

News of Mallika Kagzi being hospitalized with an attack of dengue came as a rude jolt to us last Saturday (ref post of October 22). The very same evening, we were informed that Najma Sayyed had been admitted to Criticare Hospital, Juhu with a broken leg. Now we are told that Kiran Prakash is running high fever for the past two days and went to get his blood tests done this morning.

Kiran Prakash

The report is expected in the evening.
What’s going on?
Like most dengue patients, Mallika had ignored the early warnings of fatigue, body ache and excessive weakness from her trip to Surat and had even turned up at the Garden last Tuesday and Wednesday.
She did not exercise though and merely complained of “not feeling well”. A casual blood test at the nearby Millat Hospital revealed symptoms of dengue and soon after, she was rushed to Arogya Nidhi, Juhu on October 21 evening.
Mallika’s platelet count continues to hover in the region of 20,000 mcL (as against the norm of 150,000-plus mcL), but that is only expected till such time she responds to the medicines being administered intravenously. She has lost appetite, become nauseous and irritable and needs to be given mild sedatives to rest. According to her daughter-in-law, Heena, she is beginning to show signs of recovery from this morning and has stopped vomiting.

Tara Chand Seth (in white) is back from Delhi

She has also been able to sleep last night, but the weakness persists.
Najma’s condition is not so encouraging, largely because of her obesity. She had lost her balance on the way out of her house and the fall resulted in her thigh bone splitting into two. According to her sister Nadira, the surgical procedure that followed has been successful, but for a person who has never taken sleeping pills, the pain killers and sedatives could be having a counter effect.
The doctors attending to her say that all her vital organs are functioning well, but because of the nature of surgery and her constitution, she is unable to even shift position in bed, thereby leading to “accumulation of carbon di-oxide” in the body. They are trying to shift her to ICCU the moment a vacancy arises. Meanwhile, she is drifting in and out of consciousness.
Do remember these ladies in your prayers.
Lt Col Angad Singh (from Mohali):
It is unfortunate that a number of our worthy members have thought of falling sick simultaneously. Dengue requires special care. The best medicine is papaya leaf juice which helps in increasing platelets. Or one can take the juice of the leaves of haar shingar (night jasmine). This is very effective. It is worth trying. I hope our members recover soon and return to the Garden.