GRATITUDE TO DOCTORS

After sending the happy doctor's day message to my niece yesterday, I was thinking of how much help and support I got from doctors so far. My earliest memory of that is the time when I was probably seven or eight years old. I have heard it many times from my mother. I got a cut when my leg went inside the wheel of the bicycle. No one knew that the metal that caused the cut was rusted until the leg was swollen with septic in few days. Dr Gopalan from Palayamkottai did the needful on cutting the swollen portion to remove all the puss and dressed it up. I do not remember the experience very well except some brief memory of the pain, but I remember very well the Rose Milk and the cookies (similar to the Nankhatai biscuits) from the Kalimark Restaurant in Palayamkottai, which my father used to take me as a treat for going through the pain of getting the wound cleaned and redressed multiple times.

Starting from that incident, I recalled so many times for me as well as many of the family members, where we got the much needed help, support and treatment from doctors. But the one I can never thank enough is the support from doctors at the time when my mother was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. It happened, when my mother went to consult with the doctor about her incessant cough, he noticed her recent weight loss and asked her to go through further tests. The tests showed that she was in stage four of Lung Cancer. When she called me and informed, all of us were in disbelief. But, when my brother called me in the evening to let me know that he showed the reports to few others and they all confirmed the diagnosis, I could hear his choking voice saying it is too late. He was leaving Chennai to go to Tirunelveli that night and I joined him the next day. We decided to take her to a local Oncologist for immediate support.

On my cousin brother's reference, we met Dr Arumugam in Palayamkottai running a small cancer hospital namely Sree Velsanth Cancer Care Centre not very far from the Old Kalimark Restaurant of my childhood memory. I am not sure what was it, that put my mother in comfort with Dr Arumugam. Whether it is the local language, dialect, culture and above all his way of openly listening to the patient giving them all the time needed and lot of empathy for the patients many of whom know that their time may be limited. He was very open to let my mother and us know the options we have on the treatment, the advances the oncology has seen over the years which helps many patients fight the decease better and also the range of time a stage four patient can expect to live. My mother took it very bravely and she was telling us that she already had a bonus of sixteen years after sixty and whatever time she gets is an additional bonus for her.

There are doctors specializing in many areas. But in my view the toughest specializations are the ones with terminal illness such as cancer. Yes, the field is advancing and if detected early, the chances of the patient are very good. Despite that there are many type of cancers which shows up only late. Though we had the options of getting the treatment in cities like Chennai or Bangalore, my mother's comfort with Dr Arumugam had made us to continue the main treatment with him and only second opinions and additional inputs from other doctors. We also had the support from another great doctor from Adyar Cancer Institute – Dr Shantha who passed away recently after serving the Institute for more than sixty years. She was ninety two years when she saw my mother. Thanks to my brother who arranged the appointment and visit in Chennai to meet Dr Shantha. Of course, that did not change my mother's treatment preference. It was still the same.

After one year when the targeted therapy became less effective and the Chemotherapy had some unwanted side effects on her she decided not to continue the chemotherapy. She was open to try some alternate medicine. I went in person to Anandapuram near Shimoga to get the Ayurvedic medicine made from trunks of some trees that are grown in the forest area and made by Vaidya Narayana Murthy, who also passed away recently. It made her better for few months. She was able to go to the temple for the Margazhi month pujas which she always used to proudly claim that she has never missed for many decades. But, she could not continue the alternative medicine as her health deteriorated. After few months of taking some more powerful allopathic medicine and getting admitted in Chennai for her Pneumonia, we lost her after two years since her diagnosis.

We did not have any doctors in our family and my brother's daughter showed lot of interest to pursue MBBS to become the very first doctor in the family. My mother was so happy to see her getting admission in MBBS just few days before her passing away. Our sincere GRATITUDE to all the doctors who helped and supported us for my mother's treatment especially Dr Arumugam from Sree Velsanth Cancer Centre with whom she was at ease. We owe the two years she fought the disease, lived and cherished every moment including a big family get together where seventy plus members from all age groups of the extended family gathered at our house in Tirunelveli, to Dr Arumugam and other doctors.

Many of us might have seen family members, friends and others from the community fight COVID19 virus during this pandemic. Some of us would have also lost our near and dear after the fight. Though the situation is improving, we are still not out of the woods. We also know the extraordinary way the doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers responded to the pandemic and worked tirelessly despite their own exposure which is even fatal in some cases. The emotional stress would have put many of them in such depressing mental state. Despite all of this they never stopped working, gave their hundred percent to all and continuing to their good work. I am sure many of you would have sent Happy Doctor's day messages yesterday. If you want to thank the doctors in a meaningful way, please get vaccinated, help the people who have any hesitation to get their doubts clarified, help the people with access issues any support they need. The biggest help to doctors and the healthcare system is to ensure that we do not overwhelm the system again in any future waves just like it happened during the second wave.

My sincere GRATITUDE to Dr Arumugam, Dr Shantha, Vaidya Narayana Murthy and all the doctors & healthcare workers! Help the healthcare system by getting yourself and family vaccinated and spread the message to all!