SAGA- THE REVENGE STORY OF A BLO0DY SURGEON

CHAPTER 8

S

urya entered the Emergency Ward along with Vishnu in slow motion intermittently looking at each other with a grin on their faces. Surya ran the ward with the help of his juniors and interns and prepared the viscus perforation case for a pre-anaesthetic evaluation. They were warned that the patient is in a very critical condition. Surya accepted the challenge while Vishnu shuddered with fear.

"Why are you so afraid?” Surya asked coolly.

"It's my first case without the supervision of the seniors"

"Come on yaar! I am there. Don't worry" assured Surya by patting his shoulder.

"How many did you assist Surya?"

"A few! Not assisted. Just observed" Vishnu was dumbstruck.

"Don't worry everything is here", Surya pointed out his index finger to his head.

"Surya! I think we are taking a big risk! Why are we doing this?" Vishnu fidgeted with fear. “To prove that we are not less than anyone." Surya told.

"I am really frightened. We are compromising on patient safety too!" Vishnu told with a quiver in his voice.

“If you don’t take a risk you have to settle for the ordinary. I will give you an idea”, Surya took him into an empty room. He opened his bag and fished out a bottle of whisky!

Vishnu looked aghast, "What is this Surya?"

"It's Royal Stag. Cheap liquor. I could have bought a bottle of Scotch but I’m broke as we never get our stipend on time” he said with a sense of royalty. He tapped the top and bottom of the whiskey bottle before opening it as they did it in the movies.

“What are you doing?” “I already ignited fire in so many seniors and they will do strike for stipends next week.”

“No! I mean what you are doing now with the bottle!” pointing his index finger towards the bottle”

“You will know soon” Surya uttered confidently while his eyes were still focussed on the bottle. He poured a peg of whisky and examined it as if he was checking upon a patient. Surya fished out a makeshift cardboard sign that read "Room under repair" and asked Vishnu to hang it outside the door.

"Surya, you get brilliant ideas before drinking too!" Vishnu said sarcastically with a grin on his face. "I got these ideas because I had already had2 pegs in the morning. Now after another 2 pegs I will get brilliant ideas to do this surgery". He gulped one peg and opened a polythene cover from his bag which contained some peanuts.

"You should have some too. It’ll kill your fear" said Surya held a peg in front of him.

"No, I don't have the guts to do that" said Vishnu as he clasped his hands together tightly. Surya consumed another peg and munched on some peanuts. Next moment he took out a piece of chalk from his pocket. He then drew a line across the room, dividing into two partitions. “What are you doing Surya?" Vishnu asked out of curiosity. Surya smiled confidently and said, "Practiceee makes a man perfect! So, let's practiceee how I can do this better"

“Surya! Your voice is slurring."

"Don't worry, it won't be that way for too long". Surya walked in a straight path along the line that he’d drawn. This meant that he was sober enough to walk straight. With a cheerful face Surya gave him a thumbs up.

Suddenly Vishnu’s phone rang. He answered it hastily. His face was ashen after he hung up. He announced "My friend met with an accident Surya" and burst into tears. "He urgently requires AB-ve blood group. You know how rare it is"

"Even my blood group is AB-ve. Had I known this a little earlier, I wouldn't have gotten drunk."

“It’s okay Surya. For now, one unit has been arranged. He may need more in the future"

“Don’t worry. I will help you then"

“They may ask for a blood sample to confirm your blood group."

“Are you out of your mind? How can I give a sample now?" questioned Surya.

“It’s very urgent. Just give your blood sample. One of our interns will deal with the rest of the formalities"

Surya was finally convinced and consented to give a blood sample. "Now are you happy?" Surya smiled. Vishnu smiled back nervously. Surya got to his feet and they entered the Emergency OT.

They scrubbed their hands with antiseptic soap and donned sterile gowns and latex gloves. Surya eagerly went towards the patient who had already intubated by the Anaesthetists.

"Now, we have to make a clean midline incision on the patient’s abdomen" he told Vishnu. He cut into the abdomen with a scalpel and meticulously got to work. He began examining the perforations. He found a perforation in a part of the stomach. He repaired the perforation with a patch of fatty tissue. The process was called a Graham’s patch repair. Vishnu was awestruck by Surya’s determination, skills and attention to detail. Even the nursing staff and anaesthesia colleagues appreciated his skill. Finally he closed the abdomen and placed a sterile dressing pad over the incision.

Dr. Santosh, the anaesthetist, praised Surya’s skills.

Surya responded with gentle smile. “God's blessings are with us! You were able to perform such a risky surgery when there was nobody to guide you." Vishnu said gleefully. Sharon, the scrub nurse said “Hallelujah! Praise the lord! It’s all his doing.” Surya and Vishnu exchanged confused looks.

"Say something and get me out of this place!" Surya whispered desperately to Vishnu.

Vishnu thought for a moment and said "Surya! We need to inform the duty surgical officer and the chief of our unit. Let’s go!" Surya was flabbergasted and moved out of OT along with Vishnu.

“See, how I managed"

Surya looked anxiously at Vishnu, "Bro! We really forgot to inform the DSO."

Vishnu and Surya hastily scurried out of the OT. Surya called the S.R.

He asked bluntly “Hello Surya! What happened? You didn’t come to the duty today too? What's the matter now? Whose death are you planning to pass off as an excuse?"

"Sir! I am on duty! Listen to me" Surya said sternly. “This is a miracle.

An emergency case was admitted to the hospital a while ago."

“Okay! Good! I will come in a few minutes, just get the clearance from the anaesthetists."

"Everything was done sir!"

“I’ll be there soon. Have you informed your seniors?"

“Sir! Please listen to the whole thing! My seniors went out for a party. I think they went to Dock 45. They aren’t answering my calls"

The S.R sensed something fishy.

“I did the surgery myself!".

There was a long pause. He regained his posture and blurted out "What the hell are you saying? You never did this surgery before. How is the patient? Is he alright?"

“Yes sir! The patient is doing well! His vitals are stable! No one thought that he could survive."

"Good! Keep it up! But you may have to face the consequences"

"It is okay sir! I am ready to face anything after seeing the happiness in the eyes of the patient’s mother. She thought her son will not survive the operation." Surya smiled gently and told "Thank you sir!"

“Why are you thanking me?" the SR asked.

“I had seen you perform the surgery several times. That gave me the courage to do it myself.”

"It’s not over yet Surya! You have to watch for complications after the surgery too."

"Sure sir!" He said gleefully.

He took utmost care of the patient that night and monitored him for any complications. “Sister! Please get this patient shifted to a room which has an AC!” said Surya to the nurse at the nursing station. The nursing station had miniature walls on three sides measuring up to shoulder. One could easily hide behind them in case an unruly mob decided to ransack the ward.

The nurse emerged from behind the walls with a fake smile on her face and said “Okay sir!”

Vishnu, who was passing by, heard what was going on and took the chair beside Surya “What is this Surya? You are taking care of a Patient! It’s a medical miracle” Vishnu laughed at his own jibe. Surya looked back sternly which made him stop smiling.

“I was always passionate about this profession but the rude behaviour of our seniors, especially, that scumbag Ashish. He treated me like a slave and ridiculed me whenever I scrubbed in for assisting a case. I lost interest in assisting them in surgeries since then. But I learned a lot from our senior residents and rest of the faculty. They were gentle in their behaviour. I learnt many sophisticated techniques from them. Now I do have the passion. I can do any case as long as I am treated with dignity. Vishnu looked awestruck.

Meanwhile, another case of appendicitis came. With rejuvenated excitement, he did the surgery with Vishnu. He remembered the Male Surgeon’s room. He went back and removed the placard. The ‘closed for fumigation’ placard was still there. He was relieved that all the passers-by had believed the sign.

Surya gently opened the door and sat on one of the beds along with Vishnu. They watched the seniors rise from their slumber. Taniya woke up and asked, "What happened?"

Surya pretended as if he had woken up just then. He put a blunt expression "How would I know ma’am? Even I fell asleep."

"Wazir, wake up!" Soniya shouted. "What about the cases?", he looked annoyed.

Surya pretended to answer a phone call. He talked loudly "Yes sir.... okay sir!" Surya told Wazir “Sir, the DSO is furious. He tried to call us repeatedly but no one responded"

Wazir looked into his phone "But I didn't get any missed calls!"

Taniya and Soniya replied "Me too"

“I mean... " Surya faltered a second "Yeah... Sir dialled your numbers but the calls didn't connect."

“Why didn’t we get any missed called alerts from the operator? " Soniya doubted. Surya was irritated “Maybe you haven’t subscribed to missed call notifications. Why don't you ask DSO sir directly? He would be so happy to hear from you!" Surya told with a diabolic expression on his face.

"By the way, I wonder who bought the cake." Surya mumbled aloud intentionally. Taniya and Soniya glared at Wazir. "Don't talk about this again" growled back Wazir. Everyone became silent at once.