Lessons and Insights From India

There are lessons you can learn only by living them. As much as I long to be in the sweet company of my friends and family, and eat all of my favorite things, there are parts of India I will miss and remember forever.

Every time I go somewhere here, I feel like new energy is breathed into me and life becomes brighter than it was just minutes before. The chaos and colors of the city captivate, distract and put me at ease all at the same time.

As my trip nears an end (I find out tomorrow when I’ll leave), I realize more and more that just “being” here has been a huge part of my healing journey. The feelings are entrenched so deep that I could not have accomplished them anywhere, but here, in this way -- and more or less, alone.

Here are some of the many things I’ve learned from this mystical country. Thanks to India for enveloping me in your spirit, so much so that if I ever come back, I know I'll feel closer to home than I ever thought possible so far away.

• No matter how much you prepare, always be prepared to be surprised
  

• Washing clothes and doing the dishes in the shower is really quite efficient

• Canned tuna in brine (instead of water) won’t kill you

• A baby’s innocence is universal medicine

• When seeing a Seinfeld episode for the 30th time is a treat, you know you’ve hit rock bottom

• Cows are undeniably peaceful creatures (ones you wouldn’t want to eat if you met them)
  

• A supermarket here is nothing like you could have ever dreamed up
  

• Whoever said you get used to the noise of traffic, clearly lied

• Being flashy is ok in India, because no one calls you that (it's just being pretty)

• A city with over 14 million people in a strange country can feel ten times safer than Los Angeles on its best day

• Karma is in the air and even if you say you don’t believe in it, you still don't want to risk finding out the wrong way if it's true

• Kraft Mac N’ Cheese can be made in a tea kettle (desperate times call for desperate measures); and take out leftovers can be warmed up on a space heater
  

• Ignorance can be pure bliss here (particularly while in the back seat of a car)

• Holding hands when you cross the street is still the safest way to get to the other side (Kindergarten taught us well)

• You can find yourself everywhere, and most in the places you least expect

• Always write down your taxi driver's license plate, or you will be gravely sorry when you go to meet him in the parking lot

• If the Fiddler on the Roof play (translated in Hindi) can be a huge hit in Delhi, anything is possible
  

• Natural, healthy white skin is better than a fake tan

• Your body is truly a temple, so be nice to it

• Clean air is a privilege (that isn’t just a cliché)

• There are really people hungry enough to eat garbage -- yet still kind enough to share with hungry homeless animals

• Bold is beautiful and no matter who you are, you deserve to be bold

• It’s easier to make friends outside of your element; and kinda sad that it’s so true

• Toilet paper is a luxury when you go to a public restroom. Bring your own -- or hold it till you get back

• People are experiencing miracles every single day; we just don’t usually see them
  

• You won’t really freeze your *ss off if you have to take a cold shower (but it sure does feel like it)

• Simplicity, not eccentricity is the spice of life

• Women love to shop, no matter where in the world you go or how poor they are

• Baby wipes are one of man’s best inventions (they remove stains like nothing else, and work when you can't take one more cold shower)

• If someone doesn’t understand when you speak English, screaming English won't work either

• No one knows what “nearly organic eggs” means, even the people who sell them labeled like that

• Being white is a ticket to get ripped off (get used to it and move on)

• Eating the local food in a foreign country can be cheap, romantic and admirable -- but pizza cravings are stronger than will

• Henna tattoos can cover up even the wost bruises from IV's
  

• There is no one that will pass up the opportunity to remind an American that, “You are so powerful but have bad, bad president” and “what a shame and mess he make of America.” (Thanks George. We are apparently famous for the lamest reason ever).

I have some anxiety in knowing that soon I will have a final return date (probably in about another ten days). My adaptable, mostly adventurous personality makes it far too easy to grow where I'm planted (or where I land). I thrive in the simplest of environments and going home means having to embrace the complexities of life once again -- but most of all the absence of daily injections of hope. I have spent years challenging a disease that despite many triumphs, has left me always wondering what will be. It's ironic that now too, I am still a stranger to my future -- although it feels different, in an unexplainable kind of way. Most of the patients here have gone home with a bittersweetness I understand so well. Here, we are doing something to get well. Watching the stem cells injected into our bodies and going to physio on a daily basis is a blessing I could never explain to someone who hasn't gone through it. As patients, we are often left to repeat failed attempts at getting better because it's all we have. At Nu Tech hospital, we have something more -- and being able to interact with it gives us a power we cannot carry on in the same way at home. The stem cells will keep working but being in the here and now of the treatment is irreplaceable. I am confident though we will each find a unique way to carry our lives here home, and continue our constant reach forward. Most patients have a protocol in which they know they'll be coming back in about three months. Since I'm virutally the first with my specific situation, I'm a "wait and see" case.

I will have to take extra care to remind myself that the gift I got here, my baby stem cells, will be going home with me. I won't see the needles that transfer them, but they are all still mine, safely tucked within my body.

In spite of wondering what will happen in the days and even years that follow my departure, I am eternally grateful to be at the end of my stay here. I want to brush my teeth with tap water, know my clothes come out perfectly clean after being washed, and see the faces of those I love so much. I know it will be like no time has passed when I see them, with the exception of my nephew. I am seriously afraid he thinks his Auntie lives in daddy's computer now where he watches videos of me singing until it drives his parents insane.

I want to smell the ocean, eat calamari, walk my dog on a leash even if he doesn't listen, and pull weeds in the garden. I want to drink wine out of a fancy glass on the couch (in moderation of course....don't worry Dr. Shroff). I want to drive my own car and not be at the mercy of the streets of Delhi. I long for a night's sleep where the honking of horns is not louder than my dreams.

For all the people living in intense pain, wondering if there is any hope, know there is no abandoning of this cause for me even as I move on from this experience. Dr. Geeta Shroff thinks one day, this treatment will be availalbe in pharmacies everywhere. I believe she will stop at nothing until that is realized.

I can't promise this journey is right for everyone. But, I am here to answer questions about my own. Just don't be surprised if it takes me a few days to get back to you once I leave. I have a list longer than my arm of meals I plan to cook that go far beyond the tea kettle recipes I have had to concoct here. For some things, there absolutely is, no place like home.

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About Amy B. Scher

A passionate author, pioneering patient, and sassy spirit with just enough sweetness to get me by, I live by my self-created motto: when life kicks your ass, kick back.Amy B. Scher's profile Amy B. Scher's blog