With his worst nightmare behind him, Leander Paes talked to mediapersons on Monday afternoon in Orlando, Florida said it would be several months before he will be ready to play as the treatment will continue for several weeks.
"I feel dizzy, and light headed. I need 24 hours monitoring," he said speaking slowly but clearly and with warmth. "It is a matter of time," he said while talking about his recovery.
Last week, Leander had checked in at the emergency room of a Orlando hospital complaining of a headache that had nagged him for three days, but later shifted to the M D Anderson Cancer Center.
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The first time he was aware of the problem was during the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon 2002 when he went up for a smash and came down with 'no vision and completely disoriented'.
"I held on to Martina for support at that time because I couldn't figure out what was going on," he recalled.
Leander was scheduled to play in the US Open with Martina Navratilova. The pair withdrew and Navratilova last week announced that she would not compete until Paes is healthy because 'he is a true partner, and the special connection we share cannot be replaced'.
"Our bond was much more than winning titles," she said in a statement.
On Monday, Leander said her support - she called every other day, he said - meant a lot to him. So were the prayers of the people of India and his fans across the globe. He was overwhelmed on hearing that people were conducting special pujas for his recovery and that the nuns at Mother Teresa's convents were praying for him too.
Though Leander stressed on the role the doctors have played in his recovery, the latter pointed to the 'emotional nourishment' he had received in the form of his father Dr Vece Paes and his girlfriend of over two years actress Mahima Chaudhury. "She was here in 48 hours after he checked into the hospital and this has helped us very much," one of the doctors said.
The doctors at Anderson had told Leander that a parasitical worm makes its way to the brain was a one-in-a-million case. It could have come from pork or some leafy vegetable or from sushi. He has been eating a lot of sushi to keep himself fit, he said but insisted he had never abused his body by drinking or smoking.
"We take our bodies for granted," he said with a small sigh, explaining how he had pushed his body to the limit.
Leander was 'scared out of my wits' on hearing the words brain tumour and though it 'shook his world up', he took an optimistic view. Even if the diagnosis was going to be the worst, he 'would fight till the very last', he had decided.
But the incident has set him thinking, among others things about his health. "It has taught me how fragile life can be," he said, "especially since I have been pushing my body day in and day out, traveling 42 weeks a year."
Thanking well-wishers for their support, he assured that he would be back on the courts though he could not say when. "I don't want to get back on court at 70-80 per cent fitness," the Davis cupper said.
"Having gone through this, and knowing how scary it is, I have decided to contribute to fighting this disease, both with funds as well as by using my personality to create awareness about it in India," he told rediff.com.
He may be discharged within the next three weeks.
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