Chp 410. Yes, I am F.I.N.E (almost)

I kept my word and went for a full body checkup yesterday at Lilavati Hospital, Bandra.

The place was truly awesome. As I mentioned before, this was my first health checkup, and also the first time I was inside Lilavati hospital. The place was crawling with private security guards everywhere, after all, it is THE place where Bollywood’s top stars, P3 celebs and other famous Mumbaikars like Amitabh  Bachchan, Lara Dutta, Bal Thackeray and Salman Khan rush to, whenever they have a serious case of the hiccups.

There were all sorts of hospital staff in different uniforms roaming everywhere, like clockwork. In fact I think there were more employees than sick people.

When I reported myself at the health check-up division on the second floor, I was immediately assigned a very cute and charming assistant “M”, who took me from one test section to the other seamlessly. Whenever I came out from a test lab, she was always there near the door smiling at me and ready to take me to my next test, making sure I didn’t get lost in that huge maze of a hospital.

I was given this badge to wear the entire day…



After submitting my stool and urine samples (Don’t ask me how I finally got them! I am strictly following the US military policy here – “Don’t ask, don’t tell”), one of the docs extracted around five test tubes of blood from me.

After all the post-fast tests were done, I could finally break my 12+ hours fasting and “M” took me to the special breakfast buffet room meant only for health check-up patients.





Hehe, I ate like there was no tomorrow. I never expected such soft idlis to be served in a hospital “canteen”. The idli, dipped in awesome coconut chutney, literally melted in my mouth. It was far better than the ones we get at popular South Indian restaurants like Banana Leaf or Café Madras.

Overall, the treatment and service I got was definitely 5 star.

Today, I went to collect my report. Yes my heart was pumping a bit more than usual, as I tried to convince myself that I was ready to expect the worst…

The doctor grinded me for a few minutes. I truthfully told her about my current lifestyle, and I could sense a hint of disdain in her tone…

And so here are my results – My lungs, kidneys, heart and liver are perfectly fine!!! Wooohoooooooo! My liver’s SGOT and SGPT readings were 27 and 31 respectively, well within the same zone, which completely shocked my cousin Dr. Mash. :)

The BAD NEWS though is, I have high BP – 140/100, which is probably because of my incessant smoking and heavy alcohol intake. And I also have slightly high cholesterol and blood sugar level (I’m almost near the borderline between normal and high, but fortunately on the normal side).

She recommended me to take three more tests whenever I’m free – PPBS, B12 and D3, to check for diabetes (though she assured me it may not be), but first and foremost, she told me to quit smoking. I am really thinking about doing this.





So apart from all that, she prescribed medicines only for my High BP, which I’m gonna start taking from today itself, and to monitor my BP daily. Also, I have to start doing something physical as she said the only reason why my body hasn’t suffered more is because I used to be physically very active for a long time.

I am really glad I took this test (which I’ve been dreading for a very long time) and it feels like a huge burden has been lifted off my back. Tonight, we party to celebrate this!!! Well, just tonight, after that, I swear I’m gonna go easy on the partying and alcohol. I hope all of you take a complete health check too.

The only song playing in my head right now is this…



Yeah, time to celebrate!!! :)

And oh, on a parting note… you wanna know what the most difficult task in the whole wide world is?

THIS :



Cheers :)