medicine and growing up...

....orthopaedic ward..we were a group of 25 students surrounding a patient....a 60 year old lady...she complained of severe pain in her hip joint...we were over with the preliminary examinations..and even the over-enthusiastic lot in our batch were done with exhibiting their special clinical skills..we were getting bored, waiting for our professor to come and elaborate on the case..meanwhile i was loitering around in the ward...and i overheard this conversation which took place between the doctor who was treating 'our' patient and her son..
doc- her condition needs an immediate surgery..u'l be explained everything completely and there's no cause for concern...
son- umm...doctor..how much money..i mean could u give me an estimate..i'll have to arrange for it...
doc- the most minimum estimate wont be less than 20,000 rs...
and then that look on the guys face..blank..then a shadow of despair..and he silently nodded..it stabbed at my heart...money cant buy love...really???

pancoast tumor...a less occurring variant of lung cancer...lung cancer...what's it that comes to ur mind first wen u hear the words..death..loss of a near one..our professor told us to visit the wards and study a patient with the typical presentations of horner's syndrome ( a consequence of pancoast tumor)..i went after college, donning my labcoat..i asked the patient's wife to show me the reports and the x-rays..she thought i was a doc..and said..'doctor saheb, hospital se kab chodenge, pata hai?'..i mumbled..'main toh student hoon, jo doctor inhe dekh rahein hain unse poochiye'...and she said..'didi, aap toh samjhiye, hum garib log hain..doctor ko boliye na jaldi chod de..bahut dino se yahan hain...'
i stared at her...lung cancer..did anyone say death was the first thing on their mind...? ground reality surpasses every emotion...

my first visit to the diabetes clinic..community medicine project, part of the curriculum...before attending the clinic we had a class on how to communicate with the patients we would be interviewing...put them at ease, an instant rapport building is important, listen to them patiently, tactfully handle the questions on 'addiction' and similar seemingly embarrassing topics, hear them and try not to miss any point..so on and so forth..the teacher kept blabbering and we kept yawning..duhh! who cares..we have to go there..get some facts..manipulate sum other data..and write the project...10 marks..thats it..
and then the first patient..a 58 year old retired teacher living in the outskirts of kolkata..waiting in a queue, the weather was hot and all of us were sweating profusely..i spoke to the guy and convinced him to answer my queries till his turn came to visit the doc..
he began quite well, helpful and attentive to the questions, answering them to our satisfaction...in the middle of the questionnaire, his name was called and he had to go for his treatment...i waited for him outside, all the while grumbling about the heat, my parched throat, the stupid com med department and their dumb project ideas...then he came out..and i had to follow him and remind him that he had to complete the questionnaire..
and this time he angrily turned to me and said..' what do u want to know? the doctor didnot have time to hear what i had to say...do u know how far i come from?..how long i waited in that queue today?..and then wen my turn came, he scratched down something on the prescription and said 'thats it'..come for a chk up after a month...is it really so difficult for them to show some amount of concern and empathy...'
i didnot feel like pursuing him anymore..i let him give vent to his anger and saw him trudging out of the building in the sweltering heat...nurturing the doctor patient relationship...shouldnot that be in our curriculum as well..?