Matters of Historical Importance, Part - 2

I continue from where I had stopped in the first part...

Hyphertension!

Relatives accompanying patients often cause howlers. With half or quarter knowledge, some people would like to flaunt their intelligence. One such lady was in our OP with her husband who came with complaints of fatigue. So I asked the patient if he or anyone in his family had Diabetes or BP. The wife was instantly on full swing, “Yes Doctor, whole family of this man has Hyphertension. [Please note: It is not a spelling error. It was perhaps her way of stressing the severity of Hypertension]. They all get angry very easily and start fighting. For the past 26 years I have been suffering because of this Hyphertension!” I was a bit taken aback and asked, “You mean he has BP?” And she came up with this answer, “If he has BP or not is for you to decide, that is why we have come here. But all his family members suffer from Hyphertension!”

Absolutely No Problem!

An 82 year old man was coming to our hospital for the first time. So I had to take a detailed history to record it on our medical case file. He had come due to repeated attacks of breathing difficulty at night. He was woken up from sleep and had to sit up to breathe. This is a serious problem in medical field. We call it PND – Paroxysmal Nocturnal Dyspnea. So I asked him, “How long have you been suffering from this?” He told, “About a week and a half”. So I asked, “Have you had any illnesses in the past?” He emphatically told NO. I was impressed and asked, “You’ve never been hospitalized before? Never had any major problems?” He told, “Well, actually I have Diabetes since 38 years, BP was detected in 1989 and I had a heart attack that was treated at Bombay in 1993. Then I underwent Operation for Cancer of Prostate in 1995. Generally I have Asthma attacks when it is too hot or too cold. Due to kidney failure and fever I underwent dialysis at Lisie Hospital in 2000. I remember it was just before Christmas. Then I had my second heart attack in 2003 when we were in Chennai. Then some kind of a hernia was there in my right thigh and I was operated for that in 2004. Apart from this, I have no health problems at all. Even now I feel perfect except for this breathing problem at night!” Now should we call this Great Spirit?

Understanding the situation!

We had a 67 year old Muslim gentleman coming to our ICCU with a heart attack in 1996. This was on a Saturday evening. This man was obviously very fortunate and had over forty people waiting outside. They had practically sealed the entry to our ICCU. He was in a very bad shape and was put on a temporary Cardiac Pacemaker and intensive support therapy. After all the procedure was done; I explained to all those people that his condition was very critical and we may not be able to salvage him if his heart doesn’t start responding to treatment. I also advised them to inform relatives and children if anyone was far off. I gave enough evidence to make it clear that his condition was extremely serious and we might lose him. After going through all this, one of his sons asked, “It is a busy season in the shop. We are having problems in managing the counter. Can he go to the shop on Monday?”

To be continued…