The air-conditioned suite was in the hospital’s deluxe floor, meant for those who earned their salary in dirhams or dollars. As I entered, the atmosphere was festive. Two kids were playing with toy cars and a bored teenager was fiddling with a smartphone. Three young men, with thick gold bracelets, were laughing aloud, sharing a joke. And two ladies were scrutinising the jewelry of a third subject.
At the centre of the scene was an elderly grandma, dozing, with a sandbag of 5 kg hung from her fractured right leg; she looked so much out of place here.
She was 85, had salt-and-pepper hair, a sand-dune forehead, a toothless fairy. It turned out she too had chosen the timing of her crash fairly well; just a day prior to a long weekend in the U.S., and a day after the school closure holidays in Dubai. Crash-landings are always bad and horrific; but timing can still make a huge difference to the overall outcome. Timing is indeed what really matters.
On the sides of the large room were multiple boxes and cartons with Chinese and Arabic labels. The airline tags confirmed that the concerned relatives had hurriedly left home to scramble on board an aircraft and rushed to the hospital straight from the arrival lounge.
‘Oh, the doctor is here,’ a murmur breaks out. The jokes stop, the precious-metal investigation is paused, the teenager sits erect, while only the kids continue their business on the race track.
‘So doctor, at what time are you planning surgery? Between 10 and 11 a.m. is a good time,’ one of them comment quickly.
I am just a cardiology doctor; I am here to clear her for surgical fitness. ‘The orthopaedic doctor will tell you the exact time.’ This was one place where my white coat was clearly out of place.
‘Oh, ok doctor, thank you’
I could feel the attention level coming down. It’s a bit like waiting for the superstar and it turns out to be the makeup-man instead.
I examine the lady. She had a fractured hip, common among elderly people who sustain a fall. It may need a hip replacement. The ECG shows a subtle sign of ischemia, her pulse is irregular, the haemoglobin count is low and the creatinine level a little high.
As I try to talk about the problems, I hear a familiar sigh. ‘We know she has problems; these come up with age. But doctor, I’m in Texas, and I’ve to go back next Thursday at the latest; my co-brother here has an assignment in Dubai. We were lucky the fall happened a day before the long weekend, so I could immediately get a ticket for all of us. My co-brother in Dubai had a problem getting leave, but he too managed. If possible, please see that the surgery is not delayed.’
‘I shall talk to the orthopaedic,’ I mention meekly, sounding like an airline employee announcing a possible flight delay.
‘Doctor, we normally come home at least once a year so see her, but at different points in time. After 10 long years, we’re all here together at the same time. Our kids are so excited; you see.’ I could indeed see.
Later, the surgery went well. She was shifted back after a day’s stay in the ICCU. The well-wishers thanked me for all the help.
Now it was a week past her surgery and then the physiotherapy sessions. The patient was ready to go home. I went for the routine rounds. The room was deserted except for some empty boxes and chocolate wrappers. A bored-looking woman announced: ‘I am the home nurse; they have all gone back and told me to take care. They call me every other day and get themselves updated.’
An optimally timed crash in an Indian home can cause turmoil in Texas, disruption in Dubai; and of course a long-awaited picnic of people, gathering in god’s own country.
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