From Hospital Bed

So far in my life, I never had a situation of getting hospitalized until 22^nd of May 2010. But now I would not be able to say  that , I had to go through a much traumatized week in hospital; the scary memories will keep haunting me in future also. But with God’s grace & the goodwill of family and friends, I am perfectly alright now and enjoying my life as usual. Though there is nothing so important about the whole incident, but it was definitely a first time and unique experience to be lying on a hospital bed for a week time. Hence felt like sharing on my blog. And it was that challenging period which kept me away from internet and regular blogging, so it would be fittingly perfect if I come back in blogging world sharing the same.

In the night of 20th of May, I developed a minor pain in my lower abdomen and I didn’t realize the magnitude of problem I was going to face immediately. I was thinking it as a simple pain might have been caused by indigestion and slept to avoid further disturbance. The persistent pain refused to die even on 21^st of May and it kept on increasing. Basically I am person who is very adamant to have medicines unless until situation gets beyond my resistance, here also I tried the same but it was not to be controlled, finally in the morning of 22^nd, the pain was becoming unbearable, my cousin Rupesh and my friend Shailendra brought some medicines from local dispensary as it is a normal trend in south Asia , almost all of us act as physicians sometimes, we have always some suggestions for any medical problems! Ok Jokes apart,  Still the pain uncontrolled, finally decided to visit a nearby Hospital. But to much of my surprises, the doctor there without doing any preliminary examination and tests , started medication assuming a case of food poisoning , at last my patience  gave up , decided to visit another Hospital , VIMS Specialty Hospital , my temporary home for next one week .

I must admit , the doctors there were quick to assess my condition and they suspected a possibility of appendicitis(Inflammation of Appendix)  which was later confirmed by the ultra sound done immediately. The normal size of an appendix is probably 3-4 cm as told by the doctor , in my case it had become 11.4 cm, it warranted an immediate appendectomy(Medical term used for removal of appendix). I quickly made calls back home and consented for the surgery. The help rendered by my friends Pushkar, Shailendra and my cousin Rupesh at the time of admission to the Hospital demand a special mention, I certainly would be degrading their continuous support during that period if I try to limit their efforts in words.

Around 2:30 pm same day, a laparoscopic surgery was done and I was free of the ailing appendix, though the surgery was not a smooth process, as par the doctors, the appendix had burst open during the operation which made it a complex task but hats off to the Doctor Rajeshwar  Ready and team who performed the entire surgery successfully  and finally I was shifted to ICU . I do not have many memories of ICU since I was unconscious most of the time in affect of the anesthesia administered to me for the surgery. Next day, I was shifted to ward, here starts the real ordeal which continued for almost a week.

I kept lying in bed, not having anything orally at the doctors’ behest. For all these days till 28^th of May, I was on liquid diet given intravenous. A very strange situation to be in, completely immovable, lying in bed, a continuous intravenous fluid supply 24*7 making things more adverse. To add to my agony, the doctor decided to insert Ryle's tube through my nose so as to remove unwanted fluids from my stomach. I swear it was a horrible experience to have that tube inserted since it was not allowing me to speak smoothly and a continuous vomiting sensation was also there. There was another tube, the drainage tube inserted at the place of laparoscopic insertion which was checking my movement making me very uncomfortable but I had no choice other than bearing all.

Though doctors were enthusiastic about my recovery they were not saying anything about both these tubes’ removal and discharge, but finally my wait ended and on 27^th of May, the drainage tube was removed and on 28^th of May, the other tube too was removed. I personally started feeling that I was recovering well and hope of getting discharged and going home suddenly got some strength. And finally on 29^th of May, I was formally discharged and allowed to go home but not before a final drama.

I am thankful to the Hospital, the doctors, the sisters and support staffs for their dedication and efforts, I would have been a happy person if everything would have ended smoothly. But that was not possible because of the cheap commercialization of medical fields. I myself once had thought of getting into this noble field seeing the tremendous opportunity of serving people but seeing the cheap tactics of Hospital management and doctors these days, I really got disappointed. I am forced to think, had I joined this field and had I become one of these wolves, I would have never forgiven myself. it is good that I am not a doctor today. I do not mean to categorize all doctors and hospitals in this group rather I would like to mention my opposition to the commercialization of a highly revered profession. Still there are doctors who really stand out in crowd because of their nobility.

During this tough period , I have had tremendous support from my family and friends , though the physical suffering was mine , they certainly gave me strength to stand tall during the hour of crisis, their presence made me stronger and I could recover well . while staying in Hospital , had to experience many things , I saw a man in late 50s dying who was in next bed to mine , I really have sympathy for his family and friend , we do whatever we can from our side but the final call is always made by God. We can’t even protest since nobody is there to listen, a bitter truth !

After my release, things started getting normally with each day passing , my parents were here to support me ,  in their caring presence , I recovered fully . And the next big challenge was to get tickets for my parents, Indian Railway sucks I would be sharing my experience on the challenges we face with Indian Railways in my next post.

Till then Take care!!!

Cheers!

Sujit