Memoir
A Stitch in Time...
Listen to your doctor and not to the man in the park or club
by Durgesh Kumar Srivastava (New Delhi, India)
I had a problem of shortness of breath in June 2010. My son took me to a local doctor who wrote a two-page-long list of diagnostic tests for me to do. While I was doing the tests, I looked over the list carefully. In one corner of the second page, the doctor had written in very small letters, "Referred to AIIMS [All India Institute of Medical Sciences]."
This aroused my suspicion. I quickly arranged to be examined in a specialist cardiac hospital. After a series of non-invasive, pain-free tests and one invasive one (an angiogram), involving only a little pain and discomfort, they established that three of my arteries were blocked. A date was set for surgery, but the day before it was postponed due to some problems related to my blood tests, which required hospitalization for treatment. They discharged me after two weeks. My breathing problems had disappeared and I felt normal. I returned home to await a new date for surgery.
As I walked into the nearby park the following day I was given a barrage of recommendations and advice:
People told of success stories with alternative therapies or no therapies at all. None of the “advisors” were in the medical profession. Some even gave me home remedies to use. I did not listen to them.
The only non-medical help that I took willingly and in good faith were the blessings of my elders and the good wishes of my family. My colleagues had given me photos of Hindu gods, Shri Guru Nanak Dev ji, Shri Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, and Sai Baba, as well as of Jesus. As I took my seat in the car, my 7-year old grandson said: “Grandpa, bring me a toy car with a remote.” For me, his demand was full of hope and promise and it warmed my heart. I knew that the surgery would be completely successful.
As I lay on the surgery table, the doctors surrounding me told me that my surgery would be 100% successful. I asked them how they knew that. “The chief surgeon said so after observing your attitude and nature,” they replied. I relaxed. As the chief surgeon entered the operation theatre, he touched my hand and smiled. I smiled back: "I like you immensely, Doctor" "Mr. Srivastava,” he responded warmly, we all like you immensely!" Feeling calm and happy, I surrendered to the anaesthetic.
After I regained consciousness, my wife was standing by my bedside. Testing my cognitive faculties, the head ICU nurse asked: "Do you know who she is?" “She is the most beautiful woman in the world!" I replied, making my 63-year-old wife feel like a teenager.
Day one after the surgery was pain-free; on day two I was drowsy and therefore pain-free, although with so many lines, pipes and catheters stuck into me, uncomfortable. But the tubes were gradually removed and I felt better. On day three, I was wide awake and felt some pain, which was bearable. They made me sit, stand and walk − all gradually and with proper support. They even gave me toilet training, just like my dadi (father's aunt) gave me when I was a year old.
On the third evening, they moved me from the recovery room to the ward. I made rapid progress and was discharged on the seventh day. The quiet confidence of the doctor and the close nursing support helped debug the myth that heart bypass surgery is painful or risky. Expert physiotherapy is also a great help.
As my son drove out from the hospital campus, I asked him to take me to Amar Colony Market nearby. "What for?" he asked. “I have to buy something,” I said. I told him that I wanted to go to a toy shop to buy a toy car, but that I had no money. He got angry: "We’ll buy the car in our neighborhood at Janak Puri.” I insisted and told him to go home. I would buy the toy car and return on my own. He relented.
As our car stopped at the gate my family was there to welcome me home. Before we had even entered the house, Anirudh, my 7-year old grandson, had joyfully opened the package with the toy car. He showed the car to the neighbors: "Baba ko aspatal walon ne diya hai ye car!" (The hospital people gave this car to Grandpa!). I was taken to my room to rest, and given a stern warning by my wife: “No visitors, no getting up, no phone calls! She had removed almost everything, including the telephone, but had forgotten the desktop computer kept in a corner. I eyed it silently, hoping to use it in secret in order to write and to communicate with friends when I was alone. I wrote this article when everyone had gone to sleep.
So friends, never procrastinate on health-related decisions, and never postpone your plans for heart or any other surgery. Don't listen to non-professionals or quacks. Go to a good hospital at the first sign of illness. Also, remember that there is no ideal season or month for surgery. Don’t listen to astrologers or soothsayers on these important issues. Do what your doctor says.
And remember the saying, “A stitch in time saves nine!"
This aroused my suspicion. I quickly arranged to be examined in a specialist cardiac hospital. After a series of non-invasive, pain-free tests and one invasive one (an angiogram), involving only a little pain and discomfort, they established that three of my arteries were blocked. A date was set for surgery, but the day before it was postponed due to some problems related to my blood tests, which required hospitalization for treatment. They discharged me after two weeks. My breathing problems had disappeared and I felt normal. I returned home to await a new date for surgery.
As I walked into the nearby park the following day I was given a barrage of recommendations and advice:
- You don’t need surgery; why not try yoga.
- Go to this particular doctor and he will clear your arterial blockages with his medicines in three months.
- Surgery will debilitate you completely.
- Lose 10-15 kilograms and your blockages will open up on their own.
- Try homeopathy.
- Try the juice of the bark of the Arjun tree here in this very park.
- Do the yogic breathing practice of Bhastrika Pranayam for one month and you will be cured.
- Take 2 kali mirch (black pepper corns) and two tulsi ki patti (leaves of the holy basil tree) daily and you’ll be well in 6 months.
- Apply gili mitti ki patti (a wet bandage of soil soaked in soft water) on your chest.
- Here, take this babaji ki tabeej (holy amulet) and tie it on your left arm near the heart.
People told of success stories with alternative therapies or no therapies at all. None of the “advisors” were in the medical profession. Some even gave me home remedies to use. I did not listen to them.
The only non-medical help that I took willingly and in good faith were the blessings of my elders and the good wishes of my family. My colleagues had given me photos of Hindu gods, Shri Guru Nanak Dev ji, Shri Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, and Sai Baba, as well as of Jesus. As I took my seat in the car, my 7-year old grandson said: “Grandpa, bring me a toy car with a remote.” For me, his demand was full of hope and promise and it warmed my heart. I knew that the surgery would be completely successful.
As I lay on the surgery table, the doctors surrounding me told me that my surgery would be 100% successful. I asked them how they knew that. “The chief surgeon said so after observing your attitude and nature,” they replied. I relaxed. As the chief surgeon entered the operation theatre, he touched my hand and smiled. I smiled back: "I like you immensely, Doctor" "Mr. Srivastava,” he responded warmly, we all like you immensely!" Feeling calm and happy, I surrendered to the anaesthetic.
After I regained consciousness, my wife was standing by my bedside. Testing my cognitive faculties, the head ICU nurse asked: "Do you know who she is?" “She is the most beautiful woman in the world!" I replied, making my 63-year-old wife feel like a teenager.
Day one after the surgery was pain-free; on day two I was drowsy and therefore pain-free, although with so many lines, pipes and catheters stuck into me, uncomfortable. But the tubes were gradually removed and I felt better. On day three, I was wide awake and felt some pain, which was bearable. They made me sit, stand and walk − all gradually and with proper support. They even gave me toilet training, just like my dadi (father's aunt) gave me when I was a year old.
On the third evening, they moved me from the recovery room to the ward. I made rapid progress and was discharged on the seventh day. The quiet confidence of the doctor and the close nursing support helped debug the myth that heart bypass surgery is painful or risky. Expert physiotherapy is also a great help.
As my son drove out from the hospital campus, I asked him to take me to Amar Colony Market nearby. "What for?" he asked. “I have to buy something,” I said. I told him that I wanted to go to a toy shop to buy a toy car, but that I had no money. He got angry: "We’ll buy the car in our neighborhood at Janak Puri.” I insisted and told him to go home. I would buy the toy car and return on my own. He relented.
As our car stopped at the gate my family was there to welcome me home. Before we had even entered the house, Anirudh, my 7-year old grandson, had joyfully opened the package with the toy car. He showed the car to the neighbors: "Baba ko aspatal walon ne diya hai ye car!" (The hospital people gave this car to Grandpa!). I was taken to my room to rest, and given a stern warning by my wife: “No visitors, no getting up, no phone calls! She had removed almost everything, including the telephone, but had forgotten the desktop computer kept in a corner. I eyed it silently, hoping to use it in secret in order to write and to communicate with friends when I was alone. I wrote this article when everyone had gone to sleep.
So friends, never procrastinate on health-related decisions, and never postpone your plans for heart or any other surgery. Don't listen to non-professionals or quacks. Go to a good hospital at the first sign of illness. Also, remember that there is no ideal season or month for surgery. Don’t listen to astrologers or soothsayers on these important issues. Do what your doctor says.
And remember the saying, “A stitch in time saves nine!"
D.K. Srivastrava adds: Thank you The Writer's Desk for bringing my article to the notice of the world. We all seem to concentrate on the heart, but other organs of the body are equally important - the kidneys, the liver, the lungs, the brain, the prostate and the various glands. If we live a simple, normal and natural life, all these organsand glands are good enough for our life. They begin to give us trouble only when we disregard the rules of healthy living. Also, one should never make the mistake of assuming the role of the doctor. The doctor knows best. Check the authenticity of the qualifications of the doctor (in many countries there are quacks posing as doctors), check their work experience (my heart surgeon had already performed 15,000+ heart operations), and check that the quality of nursing care is good and the hospital well equipped and clean. Trust the system, get treated, and get well.
I would like to add a thank you, doctors and nurses. Even ambulance drivers deserve our gratitude.
I would like to add a thank you, doctors and nurses. Even ambulance drivers deserve our gratitude.