408. Jaate Tey Japan, Pahunch Gaye Cheen, Samajh Gaye Naa😊!!

The incident that happened last week, remined me of this line from the song of Kishore Kumar’s Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, where going for something, I ended up arriving at some other place😊!

It all started one day last week. At about 2:30am in the morning, I experienced a pain in the center of my chest.  I tried shifting to different sides of the bed to alleviate the pain, but to no avail.  I got up and walked for some time. No use. Took some water to hopefully subside the pain. Still no use. Woke up my wife. Some of the suggestions she mentioned, I had already done😊! She then got me warm jeera water.  Drinking that also did not lessen the pain. She then suggested to go to the emergency section of a nearby hospital.

She then woke up Jayesh and he took me to the hospital.  I told the emergency doctor about the pain and also mentioned that I had rajma chawal for lunch the earlier day and roti with rajma for dinner.  Maybe that was gas which was causing the pain.  I was put on some pan-d and some other injection.  An ECG was taken and it showed some slight deviation.  Last week I had taken an advanced diabetes test and that too had showed slight deviation on ECG. That doctor had said it is a minor issue and not to worry about that. He was diabetologist and a general physician, so he might not have understood the significance. I am not sure.

The emergency doctor told me that I had to undergo an angiogram as there was a chest pain.  She asked me to think about it as I was still under medication with pain.  In the meanwhile, in the adjacent bed, another 50 year old lady also had a slight deviation in her ECG and was advised an angiogram. The doctor also mentioned that if she did not undergo it and checked out, she should sign a letter stating that the hospital is not responsible if something happens to her later. She simply paid the amount due and walked out without signing anything😊!

I was also given the same dialogue😊! I had now started to concentrate on my health for a couple of months and last week’s test showed everything else was ok.  Only the heart was not checked.  So, I thought since I am already in the hospital, let me undergo this test so that this item is also ticked in body to be on the safe side.  I asked her to go for the angiogram.

After about 1-2 hours and another dosage of pan-d, the pain subsided.  I was shifted to a semi-ICU and kept on drips.  In the afternoon, I was taken for angiogram. They inserted a big needle on my right arm, just on the wrist and sent down a wire through that needle to do the test.  And they found that there was indeed a 70% blockage on one of the arteries.  They showed the same thing LIVE to my wife and my cousin, as I was on the operating table, and said they have to do an angioplasty to rectify the block by putting a stent on that artery. 

My cousin and my wife asked the doctor about what kind of stent would be put. The doctor said they will do whatever is required. They knew that I was on insurance and maybe were hoping to milk the insurance for the maximum amount😊! Nothing was share with us as to the cost of the stent or the procedure.

From the operating table I was taken to ICU and kept there for observation and the angioplasty was scheduled for the next day.  Now, in the ICU, no electronic items were allowed. No phones and no tabs. And visitor timings too were one in the morning and one in the evening.  And that too, for only 1-2 people, one at a time and not more that 5-7 minutes each. So, I was just lying around, trying to catch on my sleep.

Next day I was taken to the same operating room for the procedure.  They again inserted a big needle on the same arm, near to the place of the first insertion. I had asked them to give me a local anesthesia, but it was not provided.  Whenever they knew it was going to pain, while first time insertion and balloon and then the stent😊, they asked me to take a deep breath and release it.  This way at least my mind was focus on doing the task, but in the back of my mind, the pain was already being felt😊! The whole procedure took some 1.5-2 hours. I was then taken back to ICU again. 

My wife and cousin confirmed that indeed the stent had been placed and they were shown the placement of the stent on a big monitor while being placed.  When the doctor came, he said the main reason for my original pain seemed to be “gas” and said since we did angiogram, we were lucky to see the blockage and act upon it!   He said I might have to stay in the hospital for 1-2 days and then get discharged.   I asked him to shift me to room so that I can do other stuff rather than spending the whole time in ICU doing nothing.  He said he will take a call the next day.

The next day was a Saturday. The Dr said he cannot discharge that day as the insurance process will take a long time and they still have to monitor me.  So, I was still in ICU and they said they will shift me to a room on Sunday and then on Monday they can discharge me.  I asked a nurse if I can get an ipad inside the ICU. I told her that I will not use it to call someone or watch movies. I will only use it to read books.  She said it should be ok.  So, I had my son copy some books from my laptop to the ipad and he got me the ipad. I finished some 4 novels in the next two days😊!

On Sunday morning the doctor asked the ICU to shift me to the room. It took 8 hours for shifting as empty rooms were not available😉! Finally, at 4pm, I was shifted to the room. I asked my wife to get me my laptop and the mobile so that I can finish off the pending tasks that were supposed to be done for the last 3-4 days!  I was told by the doctor that I will be discharged on Monday, after the insurance process.

On Monday the doctor came and asked the nurse to process for discharge.  They had injected something in my arm for the Mantoux test 2-3 days back, which is also known as the test for detecting TB.  There was still a swelling on that place and I asked the nurse to get me a doctor for that.  For the next 3-4 hours, the nurse kept on saying that the Dr is on her way and she will come shortly.  At 12pm I shouted at the duty doctor and asked her to start the discharge process and that I will show the swelling to some other doctor and at some other hospital. Then only she started on the process. 

I will stop here for this time and continue it for the next week as “picture abhi baaki hai, mere dost” 😊!

Cheers till next time😊!