Prescriptions That Heal And Feel

“I do not know what is wrong with her!” said Amma.

“Give her some gripe water” opined someone in the room.

This incident happened sometime during the 1980s when our family was settling down in the ‘then Bangalore’, somewhere in a quiet street of Wilson Garden. Back then when the greenery was at its lust best and the weather was that of a hill station’s things were a lot different in this city, but for one person. Appa was entering the house after a long tiring day at work; he was working as a clerk in a bank back then. While he was at the door and was about to remove his shoes, he heard the hullabaloo. He looked around and saw his little daughter in her mother’s arms turning apple red and restless, crying like the world has come to an end. I must have been around eight months old. His heart must have twitched, and how am I so sure about it now, well I shall explain that later.

What happened after that is a hilarious anecdote recited in our household even today. Only a father could do such a thing, and when I ask or tease Appa about it now he gives me the widest grin. Seeing me cry he rushed in with his shoes on and snatched me literally, while everyone could do nothing but look at him rush out. Amma enacts it quite dramatically anytime we ask for, like it happened just yesterday. Within a moment he was gone, running out in the street.

He returned in the night having tried everything to console me, our favourite spot was a medical store named ‘Bharat Medicals’, not knowing what is wrong with me he would take me there thinking some medicines might help. But finally I would end up sitting on the counter, looking at the vehicles and passer bys and playing with the shopkeeper which somehow worked according to him! That day it so ended up that I had a bad ear infection, so the doctor diagnosed after a consultation which happened after he returned back home with me.

“He did not even let me check why you were crying!” says a miffed Amma. I have always been a child with cough, sneeze and wheeze. Needless to say, Vicks has been my constant companion, she used to rub it on my nose and chest to put me to sleep, she laughs about this weird practice of hers now saying:

“Most mothers sing lullabies, I rubbed Vicks!”

“Vicks kittu, kammi akku!”[Apply Vicks, it will come down!]

More than any poem or mantra, I have heard this from Appa. Some relationships are a blessing, you would have never asked for it but still they turn out to be one of the best things in your life. Having a father who treats you like a princess all the time in all the places and also expects others to treat you so maybe is one. But having a father who treats you like you are his world, well that is God sent, sans pareil. Anyone who knows our family knows about me being his total darling, people do pull his leg about it but he is proud about the same.

What we as father and daughter share is beyond this post. We have our moments; happy, sad and the usual like everyone else but today inspired by this prompt by Vicks and Blogadda, with a thought about what might be his reaction I hugged Appa in the morning as soon as I woke up. He was sitting on the sofa with the lights off and I was at my ‘running nose’ best rubbing my nose on his tee, the early morning allergic rhinitis episodes that I usually have. Believe me it was magical, it really did take me down the memory lane. He is a retired man in his sixties now, very young at heart doing everything possible for his daughter.

"You are a doctor now, why don’t you take care” he scolded.

“Appa...”

I mumbled and hugged him tighter knowing how gratified he is about this one particular fact, someone who had to visit the doctor every other week during her childhood is actually one now. What he said while he hugged me back made my day:

“Why this special love today, Vicks kittu, kammi akku!”

Adorable! Ain’t he? I am going to give him a special hug this Father’s Day and every day. His heart does twitch when I am not well even now, and his prescription for his daughter who is a doctor always does include ‘Vicks’. Some joys of life are given to heal and feel.

#HugYourDad

PS:“This father’s day, I am expressing my love towards my dad by participating in the #HugYourDad activity at BlogAdda in association with Vicks.

-R.

From Where I See- Book Review

I finished reading ‘From Where I See’ by Dr Ajay Yadav this morning and let out a sigh. When I closed it and read the back cover, something which I usually do only after I finish a book in the fear of  getting to know the turn of events, well this time I couldn’t help but smirk.

“It’s not only a book; it’s the path to revolution, a journey towards a utopian world. Accepting the truth is the toughest job in the world. If you feel that you are open minded, have the courage to accept the truth and a desire to change the world. Be a part of the change and take the first step to build a road to the ideal world”

The story begins with a doctor being interrogated at a typical Bollywood style <imagine while you read> police station for his friends death , a friend who was struggling with intrapersonal, interpersonal, inter-social and inter-religious conflicts which eventually  kills her. Soon after which he is in flashback. What follows after that is 'Point A to point B to point D to point G to point Y to point A to point S to point Z to point E...'. The writer in my frank opinion has opened a Pandora's Box; the consequences are for the reader who opens the book. A plethora of issues are discussed in the pretext of conversations between family and friends, and not to forget the in depth seminars which run in pages. The idea although is quite new, this for me as a reader terribly fails, terribly.

My dilemma with the book is plain and simple:

To build the plot with the characters or to put a across a hundred of those pragmatic opinions?

The research with the social, national, religious issues interspersed in massive amount in between is completely laudable. What fails is the connect; the discussion is a pain to read not because it is revolving the truth but because they are extremely longish. At more than one instance I admit I forgot where, why, how and who was talking to whom! I had no issues with the facts and data put across; they just seemed to be in the wrong place. The characters speaking so much over tea or dinner about varied topics appear only simulated. It is mostly the authors point of view talking, as he himself says, this book is his effort to find the root cause and probable remedies of conflicts, and a try at exploring hundreds of pertinent questions. Thumbs up!

Thumbs down for the structure, if this was a little different maybe the story had some chance of keeping me hooked, the issues raised are very much relevant to the world of today. Humanity indeed has to be our only religion. At the end of all the colloquy, all of a sudden out of nowhere the police do find out the killer, and then the discussion gets back to the journey towards ‘The Utopian World’. This story is no chiclet novel material, nor based on corporate intrigues involving mega millions or political chicanery as the foreword says, it is written with a valid intent but falls short of a decent composition. It needs an editor. Period.

Title: From Where I See

Author: Dr Ajay Yadav

ISBN-13: 9789382536819

Binding: Paperback

Publisher: Lifi Publications Pvt. Ltd.

Number of pages:401

Genre: Fiction

Language: English

Price: Rs.300

My rating: 1.5/5

PS: This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Swine Flu- Lessons From The Lab

“Tring…tring…triiiiing”

The phone rings for the nth time in the laboratory while everything and everyone are up to something, all are doing their duty to help the patients of the hospital which I can vouch is always more than their individual capacities. 

One of my technicians picks the call.

“Hello Namaste, Microbiology” she says.

While the machines run and beep continuously, a technician receives samples, another processes samples, and an another attends an another call on the other telephone, a few patients wait outside for reports, a housekeeping staff of one of the wards waits inside for reports, a clinician calls for reports, a reporting desk assistant enters some reports, and I one of the microbiologists verify some reports, in the midst of this routine she comes to me with the cordless with quite a dreary look.

“Ma’am please speak to this patient, she is asking for her H1N1 report”

I take the call.

“Hello how may I help you?” I ask the patient out of habit.

And the rest is to be swallowed, in the name of the Hippocratic Oath.

There are times such as these when we get to hear from patients the most absurd things possible to a point that they question the credibility of a doctors duties and what I understand of such difficult situation is this, if there is someone who has to show a great deal of patience it has to be the doctors. It can be nobody else.

With the ongoing H1N1 epidemic we have lessons to learn, and believe me when I say 'A LOT'. If you were to pick up a newspaper and read about ‘swine flu’ which I am sure has more than one column nowadays, you may find information on these lines:

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‘Death toll rises to….’

‘.....city’ has ‘x’ number of positive cases, and ‘y’ number of deaths

The fear is but obvious. I wish we paid attention to reverse of the coin as well. The working of Indian health care system, especially our preparedness with dealing such an epidemic, the availability of antiviral drugs and vaccination-the pros and cons; when to take them, why to take them and who should take them. The problems, more so solutions to the problems, these are the issues that need to be addressed. Even if they are, the point is that they are not very precise. As a result the pressures and forces acting upon the health care providers are more of social nature than medical due to this trepidation created. We are letting this run us as if we do not have a judgement of our own, well until the next epidemic.

Diagnostics and therapeutics are central to the working of a hospital and no doctor would risk his patient’s life by delaying a test. H1N1 testing is a molecular test, done by a method called Polymerase Chain Reaction and only a few laboratories have the setup and authorization to run this test, thus the logistical problems. Although automation and technology has reached the highest level possible in diagnostics there are areas which are new to us doctors as well. When the workload reaches a threshold, the maximum that a laboratory can do is increase its working capacity through various means, that’s exactly being done in the testing centres across the country. This scenario was quite unexpected in these places too. It is relatively easy to put the blame on the working of a system although some complaints will have the truth in them, thanks to the commercialization. 


We must not forget one thing, a diagnosis that would not have been made otherwise is now scientifically understood and medically treatable. There is no sensibility in hitting the panic button for the wrong reasons. This all the more gives us a good opportunity to confront the reality of the influenza virus. A common cold may not be a common cold after all. The antigenic shifts and drifts, the pandemics and epidemics are not for history, they are here to stay. Let us face it together!

“Tring…”

The cordless on the table rang again.

“Namaste, Microbiology, how may I help you?” I asked.

“Doctor, I wanted to know my daughter’s H1N1 Report” came a query from a father at the other end.

I remembered his voice, the same man who had called at least five times the last evening. How could I forget the fear and anxiety in his voice, and that of the mother’s whom I could hear from behind? I searched for the status of her report as eagerly as him. Doctors are definitely humans, at the end of throughout the day.

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I am doing mine, are you?

-R.