Odysseys of George

I have been stumbling on some very nice articles and this kind of brought tears to my eyes….. Lovely piece from CELIA WATSON SEUPEL….

What She Has to Offer

I’m in the kitchen starting the coffee when Mom comes in. “What can I do to help?” she asks before she even clears the door.

It is very important to Mom to feel useful. She doesn’t like others doing things for her. I try to make sure there is always a job she is able to do. Sometimes that is difficult, but this morning I am prepared. continue reading…

I read this beautiful article by Dudley Clendinen who is a former national correspondent and editorial writer for The Times, and author of “A Place Called Canterbury” and suffers from Lou Gehrig’s disease.

The Good Short Life
By DUDLEY CLENDINEN

I have wonderful friends. In this last year, one took me to Istanbul. One gave me a box of hand-crafted chocolates. Fifteen of them held two rousing, pre-posthumous wakes for me. Several wrote large checks. Two sent me a boxed set of all the Bach sacred cantatas. And one, from Texas, put a hand on my thinning shoulder, and appeared to study the ground where we were standing. He had flown in to see me. continue reading…

An elderly gentleman who saw me in the clinic a few days ago mentioned that many doctors don’t listen much to their patients and tend to utilize the many investigative instruments they have too easily that sometimes it is more a knee jerk reflex action. I have to agree as I myself have seen more and more doctors becoming swamped into this peculiar rat race where one listens less, investigates more and treats excessively. Having had teachers and consultants from an era where clinical skills and assessment was priority, I have no one to blame but the education system where teachers and consultants as those I had had been quickly replaced by the younger and green doctors and the syllabus made easier to enable more passes than failures. With this, we become more a businessman than a doctor for we have over time lost that human touch. This article which I read from New York Times written by Professor Abraham Verghese, concurs with my feelings and also the feelings of that elderly gentleman. A particular statement made in that article which I wish to highlight would be,” The consequence of losing both faith and skill in examining the body is that we miss simple things, and we order more tests and subject people to the dangers of …….. unnecessarily.”

Treat the Patient, Not the CT Scan
Abraham Verghese
continue reading…

Read Carefully!

Enjoy!

I found this so hilarious I had to copy it to my blog. I read over at Pagalavan’s Avatar. Enjoy.

“In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia an old priest lay dying in the hospital.

For years he had faithfully served the people of the nation’s capital.

He motioned for his nurse to come near.

“Yes, Father?” said the nurse.

“I would really like to see Najib and the Muyhiddin before I die”, whispered
the priest.

“I’ll see what I can do, Father”, replied the nurse.

The nurse sent the request to Putrajaya (Administration Capital of Malaysia)
and waited for a response.

Soon the word arrived; Prime Minister Najib and his Deputy PM Muhyiddin
would be delighted to visit the priest.

As they went to the hospital, Najib commented to Muyhiddin, “I don’t know
why the old priest wants to see us, but it will certainly help our images
and might even get me all the Christian votes.

After all, I’m ‘IN IT TO WIN IT”.

Muyhiddin agreed that it was a good thing.

When they arrived at the priest’s room, the priest took Najib’s hand in his
right hand and Muyhiddin’s hand in his left.

There was silence and a look of serenity on the old priest’s face.

Finally Najib spoke.. “Reverend, of all the people you could have chosen,
why did you choose us to be with you as you near the end?”

The old priest slowly replied, “I have always tried to pattern my life after
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

The old priest continued, “Jesus died between two lying thieves; I would
like to do the same.”

I was shocked to see there were two unread sms on my iPhone this morning. In the hurry of getting to work, I forgot to check these messages and only had a look at them at about 10am. Gosh! Was I shocked and saddened.

In my carrier, I have met many people. My patients are all dear to me, they have all thought me something either directly or indirectly and not just about medicine, but the art of medicine and also life, this especially so with my elderly patients. However, some patients become closer than just patients and over the course of time, they almost are like family or a very close friend. This post is about one of them, a lady whose strength, determination and perseverance and above all her ability to smile and laugh in times of pain and suffering thought me a lot about life and love.

It was about 5 years ago. She was in her 40s and already on a wheelchair. I was a new specialist just a few months after graduation. She was wheeled in to my clinic by her sister. She smiled – a smile that was welcoming and yet cynical. I welcomed her with the usual greeting and proceeded to ask her as to why she came. Before we knew it, we were talking and she was telling me a story that I felt sorry for. A year before our first meeting, she had an emergency procedure which ended up with her having to carry a stoma bag to pass motion and an amputated right leg. She was diabetic and also hypertensive. She came to see if she could get her stoma reversed.I could understand why the stoma was a burden as it was sited poorly and she had difficulty taking care of it herself thus requiring her sister to help. She did not like the feeling of dependency. After 3-6 months of assessing her heart, her fitness level, her independent ability and seeing her determination, I agreed to reverse the stoma. She understood the high risk involved and bravely she signed the consent form. The surgery went well and she recovered well. She was able to attend functions and managed to built her self confidence all over again. She dressed better and the smile was a story of content happiness. She never fails to come for her follow up and she always wishes me via sms or calls on my birthday and on Christmas day. She would also remind me of all the important Malayalee celebration days for which I blogged before. She always kept in touch even after I have left that hospital for over two years. Early this year, she started to have problems again but this time it was more related to her female reproductive organs. A few days ago, she had difficulty in breathing and was admitted to a hospital. Yesterday night at about 1130pm, she took her last breath……………………….

“Ms Kana has passed away” was the sms that was staring at my face!!!!!

My heart felt heavy, my eyes started to tear. I called her sister and spoke to her. I decided to see her for the last time. She has always come to see me, now it is my turn. I wished it was not for this. I wished I saw her prior. I will miss her, her laughs and her smile. I will miss her wishes and her reminder of festivities. I saw her lying there on a table, they were doing their religious rituals for the departed. The ladies then dressed her up in her favorite dress. She looked contented. I hope she was. She was then placed in the coffin and was brought to the crematorium. I left. I wished I knew she was unwell. She would normally call me when she was unwell — maybe she was too weak to do so, maybe she knew and did not want to let me know. We did speak about death before — that was 5 years ago before the surgery — she looked at me, then looked at her sister and then looked down at the floor before looking back at me and said, “I’m ready. If it is my time, at least I would be no more a burden for my sister and siblings.Let God decide.”

As you showed me strength, I learned to be strong,
As you showed me determination, I learned to be determined too,
As you showed me love, I began to understand love too,
And with your smile, it made me smile even more.

Thank you for being my patient and a friend.