After Rajan was discharged from the hospital, he was a different child than he’d been going in: scared and nervous. We were shocked to see his movements were more stiff and slower than normal, and he was not as playful as before. Displeased with Dr. Cooper, I immediately began searching for a different pediatrician. If Dr. Cooper had seen Rajan while he had diarrhea, perhaps she could have prevented his dehydration and the need for hospitalization in the first place. But that was in the past, and nothing could be done. The neglect Rajan experienced, which put him in such a frightened state, angered me more than anything.
Through Mr. Gilreath, I learned about Dr. Ernst Rolfes. Everyone assured me he was a dependable man who loved children and was excellent at his work. His office was forty-five minutes away, but I heard such good things about Dr. Rolfes that the distance didn’t matter to me, as long as Rajan received good medical care.
I made an appointment, and that week, Dr. Rolfes reviewed Rajan’s history and examined him thoroughly. Previously, Dr. Cooper recommended that Raj and I feed Rajan PM60/40 Similac formula to take care of his diarrhea, but Rajan did not like the taste of it and drank very little. As a result, he had lost two to three pounds from his birth weight. When Dr. Rolfes heard this, he immediately recommended we give Rajan any type of milk he would drink, whether it be PM60/40 or regular Similac. His main concern was for Rajan to start drinking enough milk and gaining weight again.
I liked Dr. Rolfes’s approach, and as soon as we returned home, we switched Rajan’s milk to regular Similac. This time, Rajan drank the milk with no trouble. I was happy with Dr. Rolfes, and we continued seeing him. Later, Mr. Gilreath told me Dr. Rolfes said to him in a conversation after our first appointment, “Even though Mr. Bedi’s son is doing okay, he is not out of the woods yet.”
As Dr. Rolfes did not say anything of this nature to us, his statement shocked me. However, I said to myself, Rajan is going to be okay, and I am going to continue thinking positive thoughts. After that, I persisted even more vigorously in my prayers, asking God to bring Rajan “out of the woods.”
As the weeks passed, Raj constantly worked with Rajan, taking him for walks and playing with him. Little by little, he showed improvement, becoming more playful, smiling more often, and laughing when we tickled him or bounced him on our knees. By December 1977, Rajan was eating well, smiling often, and acting playful. With all the love and attention we gave him every day, Rajan was no longer the pale, frightened child we had picked up from the Children’s Hospital in October.
While we tried to look on the bright side, we felt discouraged that the cast on his feet made crawling difficult for him. Many other questions plagued us as well. Why did our son have multiple anomalies at birth? Why were his testes not descended yet? What could be done about his abnormal kidneys? And then there was the question that the doctors continually asked themselves as they gave Rajan test after test, X-ray after X-ray: What disorder does this baby have? The Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati happened to be a teaching hospital, and so more tests were performed than usual, and also, more X-rays.
The doctors said Rajan’s kidneys were shrunken. Part of me felt his kidneys had been normal, and it was all the X-rays performed on Rajan that shrunk them. I felt this so strongly that I considered filing a lawsuit against the hospital, but Mr. Gilreath advised against it. “As long as Rajan is making good progress,” Mr. Gilreath said, “keep devoting time to his care.”
I knew Mr. Gilreath was right. Taking legal action would only detract my attention away from Rajan.
That Christmas, Raj and I took the kids to visit the Cheemas in Morristown, New Jersey. When we arrived at their house, Billo and Zafar saw the heartache on our faces. “Why don’t you take Rajan to be examined by my brother,” Zafar said. “He is an orthopedic surgeon at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. His name is Mehmood. He will look at Rajan’s feet, and he can refer you to other specialists as well. It’s always good to have a second opinion.”
Since Livingston was only a twenty-minute drive from Morristown, we all went together the next day. Dr. Mehmood Cheema examined Rajan’s club feet right away and suggested admitting Rajan to Saint Barnabas Medical Center, where several of the best specialists could fully diagnose him. So we admitted our son, and every day, Raj and I drove to be with him. The doctors and nurses took samples of his blood and urine to send to the chemistry lab for analysis. Even more X-rays and renal scans were taken. His kidneys were still the same from the previous hospital visit in October, one still smaller and neither one functioning well. The doctors could not find his testes either, much to our disappointment.
Again, the doctors tried to figure out what type of syndrome Rajan could possibly have, but none of the tests they ran brought up any new information. The doctors concluded that his growth development was slow, but neurologically, he was doing fine. Raj and I felt relieved the doctors did not find anything else wrong with him.
Near the end of Rajan’s discharge from Saint Barnabas Hospital, Dr. Mehmood Cheema suggested the necessity for surgery on Rajan’s feet.
“The surgery is very simple and effective these days,” he said. “I will simply lengthen the tendons of his feet so they look normal.”
Raj held Rajan on her lap, bouncing him slightly while we all looked at his
