I was working in the oncology department in Lakeshore hospital in Kochi at that time ,
as many of you are aware we do come across terminal patients in the course of our job and in the anecedote Iam about to relate the said patient was old and dying of his widely spread malignancy .
He was a jolly old guy who had a special corner for me and always cracked jokes when I met him it was sad to see him lying without knowing anything .
I entered his room as part of my work and found him lying admidst a crowd of relatives and well wishers all come to say goodbye to the grand old man
The crowd parted to let me in
These are touchy moments for any physician for there is a sense of expectation that something is going to be done now that the good doctor has come but sadly here many knew that nothing would or could be done .
As I pottered around with my stethoscope listening to the rumbles in his chest the old man blinked twice and looked at me straight !!
This caused a collective sigh of surprise from the onlookers as he had done nothing of the kind for a long time !
my status grew and I could hear murmurs telling
look he woke up becos doctor came !!!
He likes this doctor a lot !!
I put on my best look forward and called him by name and he looked at me again and feebly whispered something
Once again the crowd mumrured approval and eagerly anticpated the events to follow
I craned forward to hear what he was trying to say ..................movie isthyle
maybe he wanted to write off his property to me !
With surprising strenght he sat up and looked at me and said in clear malayalam
"Doctore ,Doctore ."
seized of the drama of the situation I answered
parayu parayu ( tell tell ) ...................in an eager tone
again he said this time slowly and very clearly
"Doctare Doctare .................the suspense was palpable
everyone was waiting for him to say it
" DOCTARE DOCTARE DOCTAR VALLADHA THADICHU "
( doctor doctor you have become too fat )
and then he just lay down and went back to his dreams ,a satisfied smile in his face of a job well done
I slinked out of the crowd smiling sheepishly as loud guffaws followed me
( ps : he lived many days after this historical pronouncement )
11 comments:
how true the revelation of the patient!! any similar story from tawam hosptial...??
raju how true your comment is /
as expected
That was a nice read :)
hari,
a great one.kept me smiling for a
while !!
enjoyed that - there used to be a writer called Richard Gordon (gordon ostlere) who wrote the popular doctor book series, which later on became a Tv series. have you read them? your accounts can be collected to make a desi doc series..
you are great
you are a good writer too
tks everbody yes maddy gordon is my favourite writer and there is also a vet dr dr james herriot if iam not mistaken who writes beutifully
Hari,very good experience in end of life care!
Divakaran
It is good to go thru such past accounts in our lives. May be in future we get inspiration, motivation from what we did in the past. Instead of the patient's comments, what I liked more is when you went near to him he sensed your presence. Great hari great.
Nice and simple read....
harietta,the picture reminds me of my grr8'F-I-L'indeed his willpower astonishned me &gave me mental strengthat his last stage of treatment.
Post a Comment