1. Life Changes Fast

2/20/17

Sunday night, my 15-year Vraja started been throwing up continuously. I thought it was a stomach virus. I even called a few friends a little dramatically - like what do I do. Both my kids have had plenty of stomach viruses in the past, what with Dallas moody weather, but I had never before called friends for advice. Somehow, I just knew - something was wrong. Something inside me told me strongly; this was not normal. Call it intuition, the Inner Parent, Supersoul, Paramatma - I just knew.

When I came back from school and went to check on him, he nonchalantly said, “Well, I don’t know why but I am not able to read anything.”

What! This is serious! From there it was a mad dash to the hospital. We packed an overnight bag and all four of us raced to the car.

Even three years later, I remember the details like it was yesterday. The sign in the waiting area said: Moments to Consider. It was a sign about washing hands. He only read ‘Mom” (with the short vowel sound). He had reverted to preschool level reading. The nurse to check his vitals was named Delilah. When we told the physician and nurses on duty that he suddenly couldn’t read, you could literally feel the energy shift in the room.

Rupa Prabhu collapsed in tears outside the waiting room. I was still in “I have to be strong right now and Krishna is in charge” mode. It was all a little surreal. I was annoyed that he was upset.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back to work at school. We didn’t really know what was going on. We waited all night as they did a few CT scans and blood tests. Hospitals are busy places.

The next morning, Rupa Prabhu put up a Facebook post with some details of what was happening.

Please pray for Vraja Kishor - my brilliant older son. He has been doing so well this past year. Scoring excellent on his SATs, starting college when he was 14, and just being a wonderful person to both instruct and learn from.

Yesterday he was admitted to the ICU when he had some strange symptoms along with not being able to read properly. A CT scan shows a pocket of blood and pressure in the left anterior section of the brain. A second CT last night did not show the volume or pressure increasing which is good news.

Cause is unknown at this point -- hopefully the MRI we have scheduled for this evening will give enough information to determine that.

Please pray for all of us, but especially pray for him and keep him in your heart. I'm sure we'll get through this with Krishna's mercy. Also keep Gopi in your prayers. She is strong, but I'm sure can use the extra support.

I juggled internally about sharing this delicate news so publicly. Finally I decided; we really needed prayers and support from our greater community. So this was the first post I shared on Facebook.

Life changes fast. Vrajus in the ICU with a brain bleed. 😬 Its very weird.. He can spell, speak, move and even write long complicated words.. But he can't read. Yesterday he was studying for a college test in Geology and today he struggled over reading "the" and "same"..

I'm sure it will pass, as all things do.. And we can all get out of the hospital and back to serving with vigor. But prayers are a powerful factor. Our sweet Shyam loves them. Thank you.