Ward Stories 1: Hope

 

  || Hari Om || || Shree Ram || || Ambadnya ||

|| Naathsanvidh ||

Dear readers ! For those of you who don't know me, a brief introduction: 

I am a 3rd year Resident Doctor in Internal Medicine at KEM Hospital, Mumbai.

Residency is always a roller-coaster ride, full of  struggle and hardships, but also full of the most wonderful memories. Moments to be treasured forever.

I am starting this series to share some of the beautiful experiences and interactions that I have had during my residency. These incidents have really inspired me; and they are God's Supreme blessing, which have carried me through many difficult times. Hope you enjoy reading them as well.

Now, on to the story ! 

 

Ward Stories 1 : Hope

There are many times during the practice of the medical profession that we feel that we are fighting a lost battle, and all our efforts are going to be futile. We feel that we are swimming blind in a sea of darkness, fighting a many-headed enemy that we cannot even see. It is in such situations that we are truly humbled, when we realise how little we actually know, and how little is in our control.

The best we can do is not give up, and keep fighting, with whatever it is that we have.

The story I wish to share highlights this principle. 

The story is of a young boy (for the purpose of this story, his name is Hope) who presented to us with Refractory Status Epilepticus. Avoiding technicalities, this basically means that he was in a state of continuous seizure activity. He required constant sedation and was on a ventilator in our ICU for life support. His seizure activity was not controlled on more than 5 different anti-epileptic medications. Finally, he was introduced into a state of drug-induced coma. Any tapering of the medications, resulted in an immediate recurrence of his symptoms. He was in this state for more than 60 days.

His relatives were very poor and not well educated. They were very simple people. Our morning rounds used to always end with speaking to them at length. It was heart-breaking for us to explain to them everyday that our best efforts were not working. More so because of two things: it would have been almost impossible for his parents to understand what was wrong with him, since it was far beyond even Our understanding; and because they always looked to us with great hope and faith. They believed in us, even though we felt then that we were fighting an enemy we could not hope to defeat.

During my tenure, I have seen him requiring 3 inotropes ( life support medications) just to maintain his blood pressure, completely on mechanical ventilation. He used to throw a new challenge at us everyday, and we used to respond as best as we could. But it was like fighting a forest fire with a water bottle. But, we never gave up on him. And his family never gave up on us.

And one day, after a very long time, Hope woke up!

 He opened his eyes and began gesturing with his hands. Gradually, with careful monitoring, he was now off the Ventilator.

 Literature tells us that seizure activity persisting more than 30 minutes starts causing irreversible brain damage. Well, this was more than 60 days ! Who knew what state his mind would be in ? Would the parents get their son back, or just a shadow of what once was ? Here, again, he surprised us all.

 He woke with no deficit, completely recognizing his relatives, as if the last 60 days just hadn’t happened. The best start to our new year as that we spoke to him, and he spoke to us. And his parents, the simple farmer family, showed us such love, such as is difficult to come by these days. The smiles on their faces are something that I will carry as a talisman for the rest of my life.

We had tried many novel treatment modalities, something must have worked eventually. 

But, the bottom line for me is what one of my seniors at MICU said while we were discussing his recovery:

“ We kept him alive, God saved him”

I am not disregarding our efforts, for countless Faculty and Residents from various departments, Staff Nurses, Ward Mamas and Moushis (Helpers) have invested their hearts and souls in this struggle. But there is forever a part of the battle that is not really in our hands.
 

There are many times when we lose, and fall over and over again. The only thing that we can do is to keep rising and keep fighting. Victory is never guaranteed, but the effort is what we can and must give. It is easy to get tired and frustrated, to think of giving up, but even if you win only once in a hundred battles, it is worth it for that one person, that one family! 

Hope woke from his slumber, and in doing so, became a beacon for a hundred medicos. The next time that, we are stuck in the darkness, fighting an invisible enemy, fearing defeat, we will look back and say: “ We will give it everything that we have. Hope lives on, for all of us”

SETH G.S. Medical College & KEM Hospital

-Dr ArnavMHT
( This story has appeared in print in The Larynx: the college Newspaper)

My older blog posts are listed at the top of the page.
If you liked this post, do read the others as well ! All comments and feedback are welcome.

  || Hari Om || || Shree Ram || || Ambadnya ||

|| Naathsanvidh ||