Guest Story
Another sunny day in Bhopal,the sun was at its peak.May was the hottest month of the year in Bhopal and here we were fetching groceries for the household out in the scorching heat of a jam-packed typical indian market,sweating profusely,struggling to get the best deal out of the profit driven vendors.It was more like an altercation amid the people who mastered trading and the people who mastered the art of haggling!.Shortly after my brother and i finished shopping, we were to meet Dr.Ram Roy for some issues my brother had been facing regarding his health.
The next thing we knew we were in the waiting room of a well-known Hospital surrounded by people with all sorts of afflictions.The doctor instructed my brother to get some tests done,while he was getting them done,i thought about getting a check up done myself ,for it had been too long since i last got a medical check up done.Both of our reports came out shortly after,the next day.I was curious to know what was wrong with my brother and couldn't care less about what my reports had in store for me because i assumed i was healthy.
The doctor gave us a call and we drove to the hospital right away.We were sat in office not knowing what to expect,when the doctor informed us that both my brother and I had been diagnosed with the same heart condition,we were in utter shock.The doctor further informed us that my brother's condition was treatable where as mine needed critical attention,my jaw dropped,i just sat there blankly staring at Dr Ram because the information was too much for me to process at once.I was informed that i had atherosclerosis and had to undergo angioplasty urgently or my life would be at stake.
The information took some time to sink in and when it did the faces of my loved ones flashed around my eyes and i couldn't help but feel my heart tremble at the thought of my endangered existence.I had a loving wife and two beautiful daughters at home,being a middle aged man i had the responsibility of getting both of them married and a whole lot of other responsibilities,what would they do without me?All such thoughts started filling up my head,Dr.Ram sensing my shock and concern assured me that everything would be alright,he asked me to trust him with my surgery and promised that he would not let anything happen to me and that,things would fall right into place.He sympathized with me,after all he was a human being too.
Just a day later i found myself inside an operation theater,surrounded my a team of medical experts.I was given anesthesia and soon after, my surgery began.It lasted for about 5 hours.When i opened my eyes several hours later i was relieved to know that i was still alive,to my surprise along with my wife and brother, Dr.Ram too,had been waiting for me to regain consciousness.I struggled to pass a feeble smile at him,and tears escaped my eyes when he held both my hands and said,"I told you everything would be alright,didn't i?"and i couldn't thank him enough.Dr.Ram offered his love and compassion to everyone and each one of his patients admired him because he possessed this quality of connecting with everyone on an emotional level,he was professional in ways but was never not available to morally support his patients and he had not treated me any different.
Mansi Singh