Patients first

I asked the nurse for some water. She said, “your ice-cream is ready.”

Last Tuesday ( 22nd Jan) I got operated for chronic sinusitis in Trivandrum. I was recovering from the sedatives, the effects of which last for 4 hours after the operation. I was feeling very dry thanks to the general anesthesia and the accompanying drowsiness and badly wanted some water. That’s when she handed over to me the ice-cream.

I generally do not eat ice-cream and ever since my surgery I already had 3 in the last one week. In fact, it so happened that the nurse asked my father-in-law to get the ice-cream from outside. That, in a nutshell, was the experience I got in the hospital where I was there for 3 days. Right from the time, I entered to the time I got discharged I had a great feeling about the service by the staff and I felt I had made the right choice compared to the other choice I had considered in October.

It is never easy to decide between two hospitals. It was easy for me to decide between Bangalore and Trivandrum. I felt I could leverage on my extended family. In that sense, I had mentally prepared to do the surgery in Trivandrum. Then it came down to this hospital which I was initially not sure about. I was not sure about the state of the art infrastructure and the quality of treatment. I had seen this hospital since 1982. In fact, a lot of people from our family had been there several times and during my childhood days, I used to carry tea for them and the bystanders.

I was impressed with the consulting Doctor who without mincing words told me very clearly that I can give you medicines as a temporary relief but If you need a fixed solution you need to undergo the surgery. I was initially taken aback. I mustered courage and I saw merit in that suggestion. From there I started getting a good feeling about the way he was going about the investigation. It was made clear that I have to plan 2 weeks of leave and hence I decided to do it in January. I reached hospital around 12.30PM on 21^st and immediately was pressed into all sorts of tests. The best thing I liked was the way Kavi (name changed) escorted me to X-ray, Blood, CT scan, Anesthesia rooms and there was no delay whatsoever. In the night I had to finish my food before 10PM and in comes the nurse before 9PM explaining the procedures for tomorrow and informing to have the food before 10PM. It was a great service from each and everyone in the hospital.

I woke up around 6AM on the day of the operation and I was getting ready and the staff had already come before time and I was rolled into the OT by 8 AM. The day prior to that Dr. Ramesh ( name changed) and I had a very good conversation where he asked about my family, profession and other interest. It was a nice feeling and I asked him if he would be also around during the time of my operation. He smiled and said that your operation table charge is with Dr. Leela. As Dr. Leela checked all the records and was making me ready to get to the OT, in comes Dr. Ramesh smiling and said: “I am in charge of your anesthesia and I will be there in the table.”

So there I was on the operation table with all the lights flashing and waiting for the Doctor. He walks in at 8.15AM and asked me “ How are you? “. I said good and he said, “ Let us go for it”. I started inhaling and then I only recollect after 6 hours the itching feeling inside my mouth where  I was desperately wanting water. I saw that the nurses were very caring and were checking with me on pain. The medical doses, food, some light-hearted talk all were rendered very nicely by the staff.

Around 6PM I was once again given a cup of cold milk. It was very tasty and I asked the nurse did you add anything apart from sugar. The nurse smilingly responded, “yes nurse Sumi added some more ice cream”. Wow, I was really happy that I made the right choice of doing this surgery in this hospital.

The day I was supposed to check out ( corrected by hospital staff that it is discharged and check out is in hotels) we were in a light-hearted mood with the Dr and he asked me “ I know your mother, your in-laws and you mentioned about your daughters , you did not mention about your wife”. I told him that it was a deal that I had to make a choice of doing this surgery in Trivandrum and she had to be in Bangalore to take care of and support the kids.

I summed it up with the Doctor stating that we both are happy that we made the right choice where we felt here that “patients are really first”.