I've Been Kissed - part 6 (a tale of Love, Beauty and Stupidity)

continued ….

In the ICU : DAY 1

Compared to all my visits to the sarkari hospital as a national and international cyclist, this ICU was top notch.  

Clean, odourless and Air Conditioned! 

It didn’t have any of the regular characteristics of the sarkari aspital - crowd, filth, stains, smell –  that dominated the general ward. 

It seemed like a 5 star facility!

The ECG kept beeping. peeep......peeep......peeep

Its alarm was set on a standard resting pulse of 72 beats per minute.

As I went into deep sleep, my resting heart rate lowered, the heart monitor beeped incessantly and this created a sudden stir in the ICU.

The nurses came running to my bed, to forcibly shake me, wake me from my sleep and ask some general questions to check if I was in my senses.

This happened 5 times.

Each time I was shaken, awakened and questioned.

I answered all the questions without hesitation. 

Each time, in sleep, I answered their GK questions and passed with flying colours, the heart rate monitor limit was lowered by a few beats. 

The 5^th time the alarm beeped, the lady doctor on duty suddenly disturbed the serenity of the ICU with her loud nasal yelling.....

“ATHLETE, ATHLETE, she’s an ATHLETE”. 
(12 years later, her nasal voice still rings in my ears.)  

Wow ! I was impressed with the doctor. I smiled in my mind through my sleep.

The endless miles I had put in, the many years of pedalling passion and competition, had given me an athlete's heart.    

The beeper limit was lowered to 45 beats per minute. 

The day passed mostly in sleep.

I still felt fatigued 
and was catching up on lost sleep, in the A.C.,   

while my family 
waited in bated breath 

outside 

in the heat and dust 

of KEM corridors, 

for me 

for my recovery. 

An initial minimal dose of 5 vials of antivenin (equine origin) were pumped intravenously.

The antivenin is a horse-derived product and has significant risk of anaphylaxis and serum sickness.  
(Anaphylaxis is a serious allergic reaction, rapid in onset and may cause death.)

ICU : DAY 2 

TIME : 6AM 

I awoke with the hustle bustle of the nurses.

Early mornings are a busy time in the hospitals.

 

Lying on the bed, I checked up on myself.  

Hey, I was dressed in a martial art uniform, like a karate suit.

I looked left and right, all patients were in the same combat dress, but relatively unfit for combat.

I had slept well. 
I felt a little rested. 

I sat up and looked around the ICU.

It was a big room, there were 14 beds with patients. 

Most were victims of tetanus, in coma.  

The nurses were very busy and seemed in a hurry. They moved around in their white knee length uniform-dress tinged with 'neel' and funny white caps pinned on their head. (The Indian Dhobi insists on calling it ‘pure white’ even if he has discoloured the white to dark blue.)

They went bed to bed, with the BP machine and the thermometer and patient file, noting the readings, inserting medication intravenously.

Can any one from the medical fraternity please justify the design of the white cap pinned on the nurse’s head?

It doesn't look nor serve as a cap nor scarf, it does not keep their hair strands from flying nor does it give them agility for neck movement. 

After the nurses finished the bed bath and their rounds, the physiotherapists  came in and attended to the patients, starting with chest therapy for the ones in coma.  

With gentle strength of their bare hands, they tapped in percussion, around the bare chest of the comatose patients, to mobilize and promote lung drainage.  

Then, with great care they combed their hair, moved their limbs, addressed them by their names, asked trivial questions of their well being for which they expected no reply.  
     

I was the only conscious and self-able patient in the ICU, sitting on the bed, reading the news paper.  Felt odd.

Went back to sleep. 

Slept most of the day. One member from my family was continually by my side.

TIME : 5 PM  
Visitors time, I met my mom, dad, sis in the ICU.

We laughed, hugged and kissed, 
but through their smiles I could sense 
they were tense.

TIME : 10 PM
The doctor informed my family that the platelet count had suddenly dropped from 70,000 to below 40,000. 
The envenomation had effectively caused the platelet count to go much below the normal range of 1,50,000 – 450,000.  

Excessive blood thinning would lead to uncontrollable internal haemorrhage within the organs, and blood could ooze from any opening in the body (nose, gums, urine).

  
I would have to be given more antivenin.

Unfortunately, the hospital had run out of antivenin.   

to be continued....

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