Patient Speak

It is not often that one gets a chance to express heartfelt gratitude but, I think I am lucky to have been given this chance.

A doctor was speaking to a patient. “You are being discharged today… Your heart valve has been replaced. It is a metal valve and has to be maintained.”

Bangalore with the sobriquet of ‘the software capital of India’ has become the proverbial melting pot with people from various parts of the country coming over to find their destiny.

Coming back to the grin, it was something similar to that of the Cheshire cat, except the grin had a young boy’s face attached to it.

A little boy playing on the beach saw this solitary grey haired veteran walking on the sands, throwing starfish back into the sea.

The short spry man in grease stained grey overalls looked up from his efforts on the machine, nodded and stepped back.

One look told the clinicians that he was all but gone; all vital signs were at their lowest ebb and there was no response to stimulus.

The paper plane glided silently over the beds and made a belly-flop landing on the nurse’s head.

I shall call myself Shweta; but this is not my real name. I want the world to know what I have received — the greatest gift of all…the gift of Life.

“What brought you only to this hospital, why not another?” “We wanted our son back…and we could not afford it elsewhere…”

Fifty six year old Salil Kumar Sarangi hails from Dhenkanal, Orissa. Born into a farming family, he rose to Deputy Collector of the district.

Swapan Garai’s world, in a matter of few days, has changed from absolute dejection to complete joy.

Samir Parida feels totally at ease in the ward and mingles with the nurses as he would with his elder sisters at home.

Those eyes. They shone with innocence and purity. Her father answers for her, “Vishwaas hi sab kuch hein” — faith is everything.

“Eight months ago, one evening I was returning home from work, and suddenly I was gripped with a never-before-felt pain in my head,” says Varanasi Sarwesvar Sharma.

Heart disease can be very cruel. Ask Little Rishi. Barely into pre-school, his little heart struggled to keep up with the little bundle of energy he was.

‘Health is wealth’ is an aphorism that we are taught right from kindergarten but how many of us honestly take it seriously?

The fear of failure is the biggest stumbling block in human initiative. But that was not the case with Malini.

Though she lives in a land with such a hoary past, history seems to have little to do with her day to day living.

Poonam’s young life had many blessings. At age seven, she came into Swami’s fold, attending Bal Vikas classes in Darjeeling.

It was impressive to watch two professionals in their individual fields in conference. It was a lesson in clinical detachment.

“Oh! This child has been admitted and discharged four times.” Three pairs of eyes swiveled to the little baby boy.

“I can see, Aunty,” he said as he came running and held my hand. “Take me to the doctor. I want to tell him also that I can see.”

To be born healthy is the greatest of miracles. Here is a small story about the not so fortunate Amita Sahoo.

“It is a healthy baby,” said the gynaecologist to Mrs. Kiran Kumari four months into her pregnancy. Everything seemed moving in the right direction…

“If you cannot find a cure for your illness at this hospital there is no other place in the world where you can be cured.”

Their intense struggle of six long years, culminating in their visit to SSSIHMS Bangalore, has finally paid off.

Today I met a Teacher who taught me unquestioning faith in God — in the hospital ward, through the little index finger of a 5-year old child.

“Newand?” I heard myself say, “What does that mean?” He explained that it meant ‘prayer’ where he came from, a remote village a thousand miles north of Bangalore.