Anesthetist who??

These days, when i meet new people. I kinda don't want to say what im doing. because they don't understand wht do i do. Thers very little information about anesthesia or anesthetists among common people.
Few people have asked me, 'such a branch exists?' , 'sumtin related to asthma ?' , 'whts there in anesthesia - just make the patient sleep'. While in some the knowledge of anesthesia is limited to chloroform, an agent leisurely abused in bollywood. Well such weird and discouraging questions are just a small example of the amount of ignorance among common people.
I just want to put up a broader perspective of this reality. Anesthesiologists just don't make the people sleep, they also take care of the intensive care unit, trauma centres etc. They are usually the first person to be called in an ER, in case of emergency, usually life threatening circumstances. They handle specialized ventilators, and are often the last mode of help, when there is a difficulty in intravenous line. They are usually the part of all emergency teams in hospitals. Even in lot of surveys done across the world, even in the most educated of all countries, the info regarding anesthesia is very less.
Basically its a thankless job. because the patient usually comes to anesthetist either for a surgery or a dire emergency, there is not too much interaction with the patient. Like In a big budget movie, everyone sings the praises of the Actors or directors, the cameramen, choreographers, or editors, dont get so much credit like the others. Similarly in any successful surgeries, the limelight is on someone else. One senior doctor had rightly commented, Anesthesiologists are ' backbench doctors'. still no qualms about it , coz thts how its gonna be in the future too. I chose this field not for popularity but out of interest.
Adios

Read rest of entry

When You Can't !!!

God has made this world, with so many incidents, lives, needs intermingled with each other. I used to think that thers always some solution to a problem. 

But my beliefs came to an abrupt end, when i recently met a patient. She was a mid 20 something lady. If u wud look at her past, u would say, shes any normal girl going to school, college and so on. She finished her bachelors degree in Arts.

One Day all of a sudden, She had pain in the neck and weakness in the limbs. Her Family being in a village, they wend to some local ayurvedic practitioner. Don't know what he did, but he put some needles in the neck of the girl. And now you see her after about 6 months, shes on a Wheelchair, with her head completely flexed to her chest, she can't lift her head, she can't walk , her hands and feet have become weak. Shes been in the same state since almost 4-5 months. Im not a senior doctor, But the seniors in our hospital assessed her, whether anything can be done for her. But we finally realised her problem had progressed to such a stage, nothing can be done about it. This was their family's last hope, they went everywhere across many states to find a solution for the girl, but same answer everywhere. Ours being a very superior and tertiary hospital, they had high hopes that their girl would be alright. As the girl was waiting after her assessment, she was a bit sedated, but she was talking to me, about how her mother takes care of her everyday, feeds her, helps her lie down on the bed somehow, massages her limbs and neck with oil. As she was talking tears rolled down her eyes. She said , its better to die, rather than living such a painful and dependent life. Even though she was so dependent, she was very brave and confident.

Usually im not that sentimental guy, and being in this profession, ive learnt to be so, but as the girl was talking, I felt really bad and it hurt me to the core, that even with so many medical advancements, we can't give that young girl her life, a life any girl would atleast want, to live with their family, get married, have a happy married life. It hurts to imagine that maybe she would be in such a way her entire life. It hurts to say ' we can't do anything'. 

As i went to the ward today, i saw her in one corner of the ward sitting in her wheelchair, writing something in a notebook. I thought maybe she has good writing skills, she could learn to survive in life. But i din't have the courage to go near her. Then her relatives met me, they were still enquiring, hard to believe that thers no treatment option for her. Her brother told me, that their mother is so upset about her daughter, that hes afraid she might get a heart attack or something... I felt helpless... 

Hope she finds some way to help herself in life.......

Read rest of entry

Life As a Doctor !!!

As a Doctor , while on duty, everyday u see tons of patients, care for them , treat them in a best possible way. Every time u have to be very careful , not to be too emotionally attached to a patient. Because Once u get emotionally attached to a patient, and if anything happens to the patient , u kinda feel really bad. U start putting blame on yourself that u were not able to help him or her..
Once there was a young boy named Prashant who was brought to casualty, I was in my medicine posting then. The fellow had consumed insecticides, and was in a very critical stage, every one were running here and there , which by the way was a usually a normal scene during a busy night in casualty. I went to see the patient, he was really in a bad state, i checked his vitals, did some preliminary investigations, and send a SOS for my senior because it was a complicated suicidal poisoning case. He came immediately , and we started aspirating all the poison from his stomach, becoz if there is any poisons left unabsorbed from his stomach, we can reduce the poisoning.
As we were trying to revive him , he suddenly collapsed, i Looked at his pulse, cudnt get any.. So we immediately started CPR and shifted him to our Intensive Care Unit, where he was put on a ventilator , to support his breathing . So now as i was in charge of ICU, i was awake whole night monitoring him , as all my seniors went to their rooms. I thought what would have driven such a young boy to commit suicide. I feel very sad when people commit suicide, we have been gifted a life , we should make full use of it. Problems are there in every1's life , but suicide cannot justify anything..
As days passed by , he remained unconscious, there was very little voluntary activity. He just used to open his eyes a bit , see here and there . Once, again during my night duty, I was on my routine check up of all the patients in ICU. I was tired i wanted to finish all the work and have a seat. I went to prashant to check his BP, i tied the cuff around his arms, suddenly , he moved his hand, and caught hold of my hand, i was really taken aback, was shocked. I looked at him, with his eyes half open, was trying to say some something to me. But I could here nothing more than a whisper. I said " kuch samajh nai araha hai, Kaisa lag raha hai abhi?" (cant understand what you are saying, How are you feeling now?) . He dint say anything, Just smiled at me, and closed his eyes.
I was happy First time , he has responded well to medications. I told his mom that today, he opened his eyes and was trying to tell something, tears rolled out of her eyes. She said, " doctor sahab, aap jitna bhi kar rahe hain , uska aapko kaise shukriya karenge pata nai. aap to mere liye bhagwan hai" ( Doctor How much ever you are doing , i dont know how will i repay you, You are like a god to me) . That was really moving, i just calmly went and sat in my chair. First time i felt the will to live in Prashant. His smile spoke a thousand words, in a way telling me thank you for your help, I want to live now, I'l be alright in a few days.
Days passed by , his condition started improving. I made it a point to visit him everyday, even if i wasnt posted in ICU. One night i was strolling in the hospital corridor, i thought i would make a visit to ICU, i coudnt find him inside. As his condition was improving , they might have shifted him to the ward, So went to male ward coudnt find him there either. I thought wow, he has recovered very speedily, and even been discharged. I just happened to see the ICU nurse in the corridor, so i just enquired about prashant . What she said was a real shocker for me . Prashant died earlier night of cardiac arrest.
For a minute, i dint know what to do.. i never expected this. I was really shaken. I never knew that the 'Smile' meant Goodbye.....

Read rest of entry