life at the hospital

i never really thought my first dig at the operation theatre and hospital bed would be in such a way that i would find myself at the receiving end...as a patient!!...but yea!!...my life do have this weird habit of screwing me up when i least expect it...i think i have mentioned in one of my previous post about an impending surgery.....

i am not going into detail about it...lets just say...it was a big enough one...and on a happy note...it was successful....

what i really wanted to share with you people was the kind of change that a week at the hospital as a patient brought about in me...i started my life as a medical student hating surgery and being a surgeon was never on my wishlist...but i guess today it tops my list..i dont know what this explains to you people...my chameleonism in my decisions or the kind of influence that my surgeon had on me...

he was dr.vijayan...a very busy,efficient and a tough person...senior consultant at a leading private hospital of trivandrum...i was referred to him after a stint with colonoscopy with another doctor...and i dreaded seeing him because my experiences with surgeons at my colege werent all that memorable....and he looked pretty tough!!!....but as days went by...i understood he was really an ideal doctor!!!...

i was admitted at the hospital a day before my surgery and i spend 5 days post surgery in the hospital.everybody knew that i was a medical student and they gave me so much care and respect for that....hehe...

the day of my surgery didnt dawn as any other day as i could barely get a shut eye thanks to the premedication(laxatives) that i had to take...if any of you didnt get me there...it is taken to empty your bowels..in other words...it will keep you in the toilet all night shitting..(u asked for it)...and well...at 9.30 in the morning, a male nurse came over with a stretcher and a gown and asked me to get ready..i did as i was told and i was taken to the operation theatre(OT) in a stretcher..my parents were asked to remain back in the room and that they will be informed when the surgery got over....

the OT was a floor above our room and i was taken there in the stretcher and i was given agonising looks by many a bystanders of other patients in the hospital....their looks let me know what they were thinking..."poor dear..at such a young age..wonder what could be the problem..maybe tumour??...it all has to do with the lifestyle of these young people these days..."...hehe...i returned their gazes with an equally puss in boots look which said "why me??god!!!"......the nurse left me in the stretcher amidst lots of other empty stretchers in something called the sterilisation room..where i was left to lie hearing songs and strange accent of club fm rj's pouring from a radio dreading what lay ahead of me....whoever passed me stopped and read my case report and asked me where i was studying and left...thn came my anaesthetist..i had met him a couple of days back for pre anaesthesia check up...he told me i will be given spinal anaesthesia on my lower back...blah blah blah.....thank god!!..he didnt stop talking...he kept me company for the next one and half hours....

they took me to the OT..where there were many nurses and some doctors....i was given IV fluid(drip)..and ECG cuff on my right hand....and i thought then that i looked like the virtuvian man....nearing 10.30 am...my anaesthesia was given...and lemme tell you....it hurts!!!...not exactly like labour pain...but u forget the labour pain as soon as the baby comes out...but this pain..you wont forget and your spine wont let you forget this for another couple of years....soo much for the back pain now!!!!....he asked me if i wanted to be put to sleep...i said no...then my surgeon came...he strted adjusting my legs....i understood the meaning of phantom limb then....coz i totally lost sensation from my abdomen downwards and i thought my legs wer lying flaccid on the table....but much to my aghast i found it in another position.....when my doctor was doing the surgery...explaining to his junior doctors that this is that and all...i tried to get a glimpse of what was happening by looking at the reflections on the overhead lights....i could only see the red of blood...and boy...was i happy!!!...geee.....

the anaesthestist asked me if i was feeling anything...a needless question..if i was..i wouldnt be lying down there thinking of virtuvian man and the grossness of the surgery....i wanted to say tat nothing but my pride hurts...but i guess...he understood my plight...that was when i started shivering...not out of fright...but i was told to expect it...because since all the receptors on my lower body is out of action..the receptors on the upper part become more active..a bit of cold becomes too much.....and here i was trying not to shiver...when my doctor pleasantly looked up and asked the anaesthetist what was the score!!!....india was playing a test match against australia....and i was liek wow!!...soo the stories i hear about surgeons from my seniors are true...that discuss about chicken and biriyani while doing surgery...hahaha....

an hour passed and my surgery got over...i was taken to recovery room...where i had to endure lonliness till i could move my leg...but i was put there for a longer time because my doctor didnt sign the paper....and back to my room...where i was advised not to get up....well..i couldnt..with the drips and catheter and all....and thn the numbness subsided and the pain began...and then another week of not being able to walk properly and getting bored cramped at the room....finally i went home........

aftermath of the surgery.....my respect for surgeons(especially my doctor) grew manyfold....now my aim is to become a peadiatric surgeon...and i lost some weight...(hurrahh!!)....i lost my illness....but i gained a companion for life.....backpain!!!!!!!.......