Hospital and Restaurants are two places where any individual can have good as well as bad experience because of certain time and conditions.
I started visiting Apollo Hospital in January 2009 for an active discharge from my ear. The doctor - Dr. Kumaresh is one of the best ENTs across India and he is really helpful and not one of those who are acting as revenue generators for this corporate house.
I was made to go under a couple of medical checkups but that was in discussion with Dr. Kumaresh who took pains to explain the pros and cons of each and every medical checkup starting from the fees to effects it might have on the body. It was only after my consent he would go ahead and write for any medical tests.
Since I was diagnosed earlier with a SMA type III - A Neuromuscular Disorder, I was asked to take advise from a Neurologist, General Physician and Gaestro. Dr. Kumaresh used to send one of his staff members along with me so that I don’t have any troubles. After almost 1 month of checkups and followups, he advised me to go under a surgery or either live with the disease with some medication.
I opted for surgery. He gave me all the pros and cons of the surgery starting from the fees, effects etc. He described me in the initial stages only that things look fine from reports and superficially but if the disease is right bad out there when he would make a cut what he wants me to do.
Whether shall he go ahead according to the planned surgery or go ahead and further remove the disease. Cortical Mastoidectomy was originally planned but when cholesteatoma was later found to effect my brain line, Tympanoplasty with Modified Radical Mastoidectomy was performed.
These terms might seem strange to you but doctor took each and every pain to explain these things to me. Show me with a small Camera Device the situation of my ear. I gave him a go ahead and there I was on Feb 20th Admitted in the hospital. Feb 21st was decided to be my D-Day and I was taken into the best suites of Apollo. Given the best hospitality.
Feb 21st Morning - Tension on every one’s face. I was to be one of there rarest patient with SMA Type III who was to be operated under General Anesthesia. To mention I was denied the surgeries for all these years because no doctor was willing to take that much risk of operating me under general anesthesia as it might prove fatal.
General Anesthesia was to be administered to me without any muscle relaxants and paralytic agents. Doctor’s Team was there - Right from 2 Anesthesia Specialists to Neurologist to ENT Surgeon. There were 7 of them. My wife was there along with me when I was rolled into the OT. The original surgery was planned for 2 hours and the OT was booked from 9 to 12.
After rolling me into OT I was asked about any chief complaints and other complexities which might have occurred in last 12 hours. I was asked about my comfort level. Everything was monitored from my BP, pulse rate, Heart Beats etc. And there I was, put to sleep in another 10 minutes of rolling me into OT.
The clock rang 12. My wife was waiting for any good news outside. None came out. At 12:30 she recieved a call from OT. " Ma’am, Are you -’s Wife?".
"Yes, I am."
" The operation will take another 1 Hour.", said the voice on another side of the phone.
There she was tensed. What has happened? In another half an hour, the surgeon called her up.
"Ma’am, He has to be taken for a modified surgery and it will take 1-2 hours more. Don’t take tension. Everything is going alright."
At 15:30 she again received a call from the OT that the surgery is almost complete and it might take another 1 hour to roll him out of the OT to recovery room. After 10 minutes, the surgeon came himself and explained the situation to my wife. Finally at 16:30 I was rolled out of OT and shifted to recovery room. At 17:30, the surgeon came up and woke me. "Hello - How are you doing?"
I said in a numb voice " I am fine".
"Good. Do you know that I have done the toughest surgery of my life and you are one of the most bravest patients, I ever had. You fought it back."
"Thanks", came the reply.
"We will shift you in 1 Hour to your room. Let the anesthetist visit you.", the doctor said.
After 5 minutes, my wife came in. Holding my hand as she had been doing it for last 2 years and will continue to do it for my whole life. She is one of the bravest girls I have ever seen. She is simply the best.
I again fell to sleep, only to be woken by the anesthetist at 18:30.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I am."
"Any complaint like breathlessness or something like that"
"No."
"Good, We are going to shift you in your room"
"Thanks"
At 18:45, everything seems to me very dreamy, I called up the nurse to check the time. She said, " 18:45". I almost screamed, "What?".
"Yes, the time is 18:45."
"How long was the operation?", I asked her almost scratching my head.
" Almost 7 and a half hour".
"What?"
"Yes, Now don’t talk too much. There are stitches. We are going to shift you to your room"
"Ok"
I was shifted in my dreams to my room and there I was at 20:00 HRS completely woke up, asking my wife to give me some water. My throat was almost choked. She said that doctor has asked to give water after 2030 HRS only.
After that It was almost a week that I was there in the hospital eating the most delicious food and recovering myself viewing lot of TV shows along with my wife. And finally I was discharged yesterday i.e. Feb 27th. Though I have stitches and my brain line is still exposed, there is a big hoel in my ear but I am sure that I will recover soon out of it.
The hospital was awesome. The food was great, the services were best and the staff was very much supportive.