Everything was smooth till ...........26th February early morning around 4:30 a.m.... I heard a scream from my parents bed-room.... For two seconds it sounded like a stranger screaming on the road and it was pretty late when I actually figured out, where exactly was the loud noise constantly coming from? I then recognized ... It was my mom screaming to the top of her voice.... My mother screamed again louder than before, the sound waves travelling with much higher intensity this time...... "Chinni, hurry up..Your dad is acting really strange....Something has happened to him... Oh god! What has happened to him???? I rushed into the place and was stunned to look at my dad lying almost dead with cold and stiff body... unconscious state..... The most helpless situation i ever saw my MOM was that morning....... Trying to wake her unconscious husband who was trying his hard to breathe..... We got a glass of water and splashed over dad's face, tried doing a chest compression (though it was not perfect)...when everything was a failure ... after 4 or 5 minutes of our constant efforts to wake dad up....tried bringing mom aside and with shivering hands picked up my cell phone and dialed 102 and that is when I realized why people curse Government employees...... The number got connected and fortunately I heard a voice and the conversation went on.....
Me: Hello Sir, My dad is unwell, Could you please send me an ambulance immediately?
Guy: Madam, what is your name?
Me: Brunda
Where are you calling from?
Me: Dattatreyanagar
Guy: How are you related to the person who requires an ambulance?
Me: He is my dad Sir... (almost in tears)
Guy: Madam, which is closest landmark to your home?
Me: Yogeeshwara apartment
Guy: How old is the person?
Me: He is about 65 years and will you now send me the ambulance (In complete frustration and helplessness)
Guy: Madam, How is the person related to you?
Me: ******** banged the phone
Wasted almost 2 minutes... caught in an endless loop of questions...... banged the phone and called the neighbours..... found an Indica parked outside... and with the help of a neighbour (whom we all do not even notice at times) managed to take dad out of the home...... Took him to the 3 closest hospitals possible.....Hospital 1: Closed.... Hospital 2: Doctors refusing to touch dad who almost was fighting hard to breathe..... Hospital 3: A doctor, approximately aged around 55-60 came out of the hospital, looked at dad and looked at me, mom and my cousin.... Took me aside and whispered, "I suspect your dad has a massive heart-attack".... This hospital is not sophisticated enough to take care of him... I request you to take him to the city's finest hospitals..... (Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology or Wockhardt) .... The call was mine... Looked at dad... Dad was dying hard to breathe....Touched dad's hand and placed my left ear on dad's chest, I could hear his heart beat..... Eyes opened completely..... Unconscious..... I decided to take dad to wockhardt for I had an instinct that he is not suffering from a heart problem........ We boarded the ambulance near the third hospital....... Took dad straight to Wockhardt... (Bannerghatta road)...We reached the emergency ward and the duty doctor immediately attended dad ...it was close to 5:30 am..... Me and brother (My uncle's son) waiting in the ward with mom and my cousin waiting outside for the news.... Dad was taken for a CT scan, test got over but dad had a severe seizure .... Doctor called me in...... and the conversation went on for sometime ,knowing about dad's medical history..... and then he told me that ... dad needs to be in I.C.U ... the doctor's diagnosis was dad had some problem with his brain and hence he was unconscious.......... I went out.. looked at mom ..gave her the most feeble and fake smile I could have ever given and told her.. "Hedrbeda amma...auru hushaar aagtaare....." (Don't worry mom, he will be alright)... walked out of the reception... called up one of the best friends who could have helped me at that time to know about the insurance policies...... After I spoke to him, went behind an ambulance.... and wept..................
I.C.U (10:00 - 10:30 a.m)
Dad with the red and black robe..... with tubes flowing all over his body.... lay calm on the bed... I went inside, the foul smell from I.C.U hit my nose, made me nauseatic... Got inside the room..... there were close to 60 patients .. everyone with different problems ...One had a heart problem..the other one with a kidney problem...etc etc..... Dad was one amongst them... The room was surrounded with beds and in the middle of the patients a panel of doctors assigned to patients along with their nurses and boys were seated starring at the monitors that displayed different graphs and waves.... I first went to dad...observed the monitors, tubes, needles, plasters,readings displayed on monitors... held dad's hand.... two drops of my tears fell on his hand... tears rolled down from dad's left eyes...he held my hand tight....... i called him..... Dad did not respond..... called him once, twice, thrice.... no response..... the fourth time... dad tried opening his eye... I was glad, by then I was called by the doctor who attended dad.....
Doctor : Hi, May I know your relationship with Mr. Nagaraj?
Me: He is my father, doctor (wiping the tears off from my cheeks)
Doctor: Well madam, Your dad has a massive stroke and there is an infarction in the brain and according to the neurologist's opinion your dad needs a lot of time to recover depending on his prognosis level...
Me: Could you please simplify ??? Will dad recover or not???
Doc: It is too early to draw a conclusion... You can speak to the neurologist later..
Me: Alright, thanks doctor....
Same things went on till day 10... Dad was on ventilators....life supporting equipments which made no progress at all... Dad never responded to any medicines.... Ventilators had already affected dad's lungs and he had already accumulated Flem and he had developed lungs infection.....Dad was still in I.C.U and we were already called in to decide on whether keeping dad on ventilators or not. I had decided to fight and had asked the doctors to accommodate dad with artificial respiratory systems....
Most of the times, i was confused as I did not understand the medical terms and the jargons that was used in medical field and never got my questions answered till there was a pressure created by all the external forces and when I saw dad.... on the 10th day in I.C.U with his hands tied up like an animal.... I cried and screamed at doctors.... I was taken to a room and the doctors again started their foreign language..... I said, " Stop this ... enough of treating a human-being like an animal" ... Why have you tied his hands up????? What's wrong with him.???? I need answers clearly in a language which I can understand... I am no doctor to understand your jargons and terms...... Do you understand?
Panel of doctors: Yes madam, we do......
Let me explain.. came a voice from the group:
Point 1: He is your dad and it is natural to have an emotional fit like this.... He has a massive stroke and 75% of his brain is dead due to insufficient blood flow and blockage in the artery.This is known as ischemic stroke, and the infarction which we are talking is the swelling of brain around the clot.
Point 2: Survival chance of your dad is too less, he is not responding to any medicine since the time he was admitted and the ventilators have already been removed once to check if he can breathe on his own and that has been proven wrong, he cannot sustain as his brain has completely lost the control over his body.
Point 3: Keeping him on ventilators would only make you satisfied, you feel he is breathing but that is not how the procedures are, A person with such a massive stroke can survive till 14 days... If the person is out of I.C.U on the 6th or 7th day of his admission the chances of him surviving is much more than a person who is in the I.C.U beyond that time period.
Point 4: If at all, your dad survives, he is going to be like a vegetable.. he will never be able to talk/motionless/brain dead.. In simple terms Coma.... Would you be able to digest such a scenario?
Point 5: Keeping him in I.C.U will complicate things further for him as well as you all.. and i as a person do not recommend to keep your dad in I.C.U......
Now, the decision is all yours... you along with your family members sit and decide if the ventilators needs to be taken off completely and should he be shifted to ward......
We decided and got dad shifted to ward. ward 774...... His health started to deteriorate and slowly he developed lungs infection...he started breathing very rapidly.... Mom stayed with him all the time while I stayed till late evening and returned back home to sleep.....
"The JUDGEMENT DAY"
Dad lay unconscious ... in a much deteriorated condition...nephrologist visited dad... saw mom... called her aside... "Neeven aagbeku eeurge" (relationship with the patient please)....Mom said, I am his wife... How many kids do you have and where do they live? I have 2 daughters and they both live here in Bangalore... Please, call them immediately... He might die in any moment......
Mom, a patient herself.... came out of the ward...sat in the lobby helplessly...... dialed my brother's number...informed him.... I went to the hospital at 1:30 pm... Mom looked pale... I could sense something phishy but was not sure... Dropped the lunch box and went inside the ward to look at dad..... He looked more dull and dark... He had reduced drastically.... I sat outside with mom holding her hand trying to console her.... not knowing the fact of what doctor had told her in the morning..... It was close to 8:00 pm when I again went inside to look at dad.... Me and mom went inside... dad had completely closed his eyes by then.... after sometime he tried his level best and opened both the eyes.... Looked at me and mom for one last time............ I cried and walked off from the hospital begging mom to allow me to stay with her while she refused constantly... I hugged dad one last time...kissed his forehead and reluctantly walked off from the hospital...............................................................
I reached home and at 9:45 p.m I got a phone call... All alone at home.... My uncle hesitantly asked me ...... "When did it happen????"... I answered back: What happened??? Uncle: Where are you??? Me: I am at home.... Uncle: Oh okay..nothing.... and disconnected the call....
Very late did we realize that dad's movements in the hospital and on our way to hospital was all involuntary....he was brain-dead....
I had sensed ......I knew....... My dad was never going to be the same if at all he survives............
I rushed back to hospital........................
I rushed back to hospital........................
Finally, the sleepless 13 days were over for both dad and us ..............................................................
DAD SLEPT THAT DAY (25th FEB 2010) AND HE FORGOT TO WAKE UP..........HE SLEPT FOREVER LEAVING THE UNFORGETTABLE AND FOND MEMORIES SHARED WITH HIM
Love you dad..........
...... ....................................................................
