05/10/2009 Letter from India: Happy Feet

Published on The Mantle (http://www.mantlethought.org)

Letter from India: Happy Feet

By Sandeep Pattnaik [1]

I was born with a physical deformity in both legs. Gradually, at age 2, I

began to walk with deformed feet, but with great difficulty. My childhood
was full of incidents of falling down on the village road, especially during the
rainy season on my way to school. The road was so slippery that I could not
balance myself. Every day I used to carry extra clothes so I could change
before class started and be clean and dry. I could never wear normal
shoes.

I went to college in a nearby town. It too was a very tough experience, as I

had to walk barefoot on hot, blacktop roads in the summer. The uneven,
stony approach to the college was very difficult to navigate. It was a
depressing period in my life.

One day in 1993, as I entered the chemistry department, a lecturer, Panda

Sir, called me and suggested that I refrain from entering the department
barefoot—I now had to wear shoes or slippers. Panda Sir suggested that I
meet a cobbler who made shoes for deformed feet like mine. I met the
cobbler who made a pair of sandals for me that helped alleviate the pain.
Gradually, my feet bent into a shape that enabled me to walk using only my toes. Now, in college,
I could walk quickly, ride a bicycle, play cricket, and more with the specially-made shoes. Over
the course of eight years the shoes were modified from time to time. By 2001 I had begun my
professional work, which involved visiting tribal areas in the hilly, interior regions of Central India.
But, all was not great: falling down and getting hurt, fatigue, and physical pain were constants in
my life.

Life went on this way for thirty years until I visited the United States on a fellowship for the
“Human Rights Advocacy Programme.” On August 15, 2007, I arrived at New York’s Columbia
University. I was enjoying the classes, making friends with people from all over the world, visiting
places, experiencing new foods. I was amazed with the immense cultural diversity compacted
there. New York is truly a potpourri, a melting pot. And then there was snow… Nothing the night
before when we went to sleep… and the next morning, when we opened our windows, there was
this huge expanse of powdery, soft, pristine snow. Whiteness everywhere… It was just so
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 05/10/2009 Letter from India: Happy Feet
beautiful. So my friends and I rushed out to enjoy the snowfall. It was a morning in December. We
all went to Central Park and had great fun feeling the snow, falling in the snow, hitting each other
with snowballs, running and laughing like kids.

I got tired and sat down to rest. I must have been sitting for about an hour. Then it was time to go.
I started to stand, but due to the severe cold my feet were totally stiff. I couldn’t stand and I
panicked. My friends got a taxi to take me home. In my room I sat before the heater and slowly
my feet thawed to regain movement. But the incident terrified me. I was afraid of even going out
of my room, let alone walking around. But I hid my fear from everyone. My loving colleagues
insisted that I consult an orthopedic surgeon. They said that the best medical advice in the world
was available in the city, so what was the harm in getting an opinion?

At the hospital a couple of doctors made me walk a few rounds.

After observing me, the Indian-American doctor there asked me
how soon I would like to be confined to a wheelchair. They gave
me 1-2 years in a cold climate like New York and 5-7 years in a
warmer climate like India before I needed one to move around.
That was all the time I had unless I received corrective surgery
immediately. They said the cost of such a surgery in the US would
be $30,000 (approximately 15 lakhs in Indian Rupees) excluding
other expenses. When I told them that it was impossible for me to
arrange for this kind of money, the doctor suggested I undergo
surgery in India, as the doctors are less expensive there.

I returned to India on December 16 of that same year. On January

1, 2008, I was admitted to Swami Vivekananda National Institute
of Rehabilitation, Training and Research (S.V. NIRTAR) at
Olatpur village in the Cuttack district of Orissa, India. After
diagnosis, the doctor said my deformity was a result of
“Neglected CETV,” (Congenital talipes equinovarus, or “clubfoot”)
which, in simple words, meant that I had delayed the surgery for at least thirty years.

On January 17, the Orthopedic Specialist, Dr. R.N. Mohanty, began surgery on the left foot.
Going into the surgery I had a mixed bag of feelings—nervous yet hopeful. I firmed up my heavily
positive attitude towards this massive process. At the time of operation, I couldn’t feel any pain
due to local anesthesia, but by evening, I was suffering unbearably. This continued for the next six
months, as each foot took three months and multiple surgeries to come into proper shape. The
procedures also involved the use of an aluminum frame where six pins are fitted around the
affected leg. The pins are inserted into the leg and pierce through the bone, emerging on the
other side. Every day the frame was tightened, forcing the bone into a straighter position. I
experienced sleepless nights and chronic pain for six months.

This was the most difficult period of my life. Irrespective of my conscious resolve, I got irritated,
and sometimes behaved rudely toward the very people who were kindly tending to all my needs.
To distract myself from the continuous, excruciating pain, I listened to music, watched movies
with other fellow patients, and read novels and newspapers. The only way to overcome my
suffering was to keep an extremely high morale (which wasn’t easy)—thinking positively, being
confident and mutually sharing love and affection with fellow patients, hospital staff and friends. I
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 05/10/2009
confident Letter
and mutually sharing love and from India:
affection Happy
with Feetpatients, hospital staff and friends. I
fellow
kept myself productively engaged by learning about hospital management and services, and
extending my help to counsel or give advice to patients when required.

On July 2008, I left the hospital with two plastered legs. I was happy to be back in my village to
meet people and share the experiences. I was also glad to have reformed legs. However, it was
still very painful to stand up and walk. With time, I was relieved to get mild mobility in my feet. In
September 2008, I again went to the hospital to have both the plasters removed. For the first
time after the surgery—nine months—I was made to walk wearing specially prepared shoes. I
cannot explain my joy in taking those hesitant, wobbling steps. It was that defining moment when I
forgot all the past suffering.

In October 2008, I returned to the hospital for physiotherapy. My therapist, Ms. Sucharita, has
done a remarkable job. She took utmost care and was an absolute professional. I got some
mobility but improvement even after two months was not as I expected. It was difficult to walk
with the right foot as it became stiff and angular. The doctors said that the bones were too old to
be fully reformed. In February 2009, I underwent another surgery in the left foot to expand the
vein. But the pain was not as severe as the last time. Again I was bedridden for a month.
Although it was only a month this time, I was totally bored ,and the surgery was not as successful
as the previous ones. In March 2009, I started to walk again, this time with a high sense of
determination.

By mid-March, I returned to my village to continued physiotherapy on my own. This was one of

the happiest times of my life. I would ride a bicycle to different villages and surprise my old
friends living there. I tried to identify people with the same disability, especially children in the
adjacent villages, and started to convince their parents to send their children to S.V. NIRTAR.
They were afraid of going there, thinking that it would be too expensive for treatment. I told them
that the hospital was run by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The total cost of
my surgery in S.V. NIRTAR was around 1 lakh ($2000) whereas in the U.S. the cost for the
same procedure was around Rs. 15 Lakh ($30,000). The expenses are minimal enough to
afford for most. Moreover, there is a provision for total exemption of fees for very poor patients.
Eventually eight patients from our area consulted the doctors at NIRTAR.

On May 2009, I moved from my village to Puri to be able to walk along the beach. Daily I walked
4-5 hours along the ocean. Though it was tough, I had a lively experience; the exercise brought
strength and mild mobility to both legs. This was also the period of starting an independent life
after one and half years of correctional procedures. In Puri I regained the confidence to live my
life without anyone else’s assistance. Self help was the mantra for that period.

In the last week of June, I started on my journey back to Puri with

the hope of resuming work at the National Centre for Advocacy

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 05/10/2009 Letter from India: Happy Feet
Studies (NCAS) office, to restart my professional life, revive old
relationships, and give more time for therapy and have even
better mobility. Now I am doing all of the above. My feet are
gradually getting stronger, though I still cannot walk as fast and
the movement is not yet perfect. I need to continue rigorous
exercises to improve mobility in the coming days.

Throughout the long process, the contribution of my family,

relatives, and friends was indescribably comforting, helpful and
sustaining. I am particularly grateful to Santosh, who was with
me throughout the days in hospital and tended to me with lots of
love, patience and deep care. I am also thankful to the nursing
staff (particularly Mr. Ramesh Mohanty) and the social worker
(Ms. Sasmita Samal) for their continuous support and
cooperation. In the end I can say that it has been a once in a lifetime experience giving me the
chance to live a new life.

October 2, 2009

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 05/10/2009 Letter from India: Happy Feet
frontispiece: confluence of the Mula and Mutha Rivers, Pune, India, by Sunder Iyer [2]

Culture and Society India

Source URL: http://www.mantlethought.org/content/letter-india-happy-feet

Links:
[1] http://www.mantlethought.org/node/177
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pune_India_.jpg

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