Area of Hight alert and tension

Many a times we have heard of regions of High alert & tension, like for example Pak occupied Kashmir and the Gaza strip has been there for decades, then you have many other regions under conflict across the globe. There are also temporary ones that spring up like Taj and Oberoi in Mumbai when it was under terrorist siege.

Over the last week I realized there is another equally if not greater, area of high alert and tension.

It is the waiting area out side an operation theatre in the hospitals. Last weekend my dad had a surgery and it was the first time I had ever waited outside an operation theatre.

I must say it was a tense situation. Irrespective of the severity of the surgery as long as the patient is under general anesthesia there is a certain amount of uncertainity and fear.

Now if its a major operation and the patient is below the GEAD (Generally Expected Age of Death - thats made up) the tension is much higher.

I remember this one lady waiting outside from 2:30 pm till 10:30 pm.....i guess she hardly moved from there. Her 38 year old husband was having a Kidney removed due to some tumor which had formed over it. She was just standing there with some of her relatives. All faces showing signs of anxiety and nervouseness.

My dad's was relatively a minor surgery (prostate removal) but I was also anxiously waiting for any news that would come in from within the OT. Each time the door opened and some one came out you try to peep in and see if we could get a glimpse of anything thats happening in there. The entire scene gave me a feeling of mystery.

Now however critical the situation, we as Indians cannot be but curious about whats happening next door. I think it is part of our cultural make up. After some waiting, I go up and ask another person waiting outside some really non-personal questions like how is the patient being operated related to him, what was the issue, how long has he been suffering from it etc....etc and then you get on with this long medical conversation about various illness, symptoms (some times making you wonder if you were suffering from any of them).....in the end feeling more miserable than before.... this story then just spreads you see.... i tell my relatives about the other by standers I met out side and their story giving a start to a pity party of sorts.....

The climax of all this comes when the theatre door opens and the nurse calls out the name of the relative waiting outside. There is a sudden scramble to the door and it is interesting to note that all those waiting outside irrespective of whether you know the patient or not goes to the door to hear and see what the doctor was saying..... Now if an organ or tumor is removed, the doctor shows them whats been removed......I got to see a kidney with the tumor that was removed of another patient......and then of course dad's prostate that was removed.....definitly not a pleasant sight both of them....

At the end of 5 hours, once the doctor comes out saying everything went well, thats when you give a sigh of relief......

Some thing that really stood out in this entire episode was the surgeon who operated....that day he had some two kindney transplants, one kidney removal, prostate removal and another surgery. And even after so much when he came out at 10:30 pm to tell us how the procedure went he looked quite fresh and smiling. That was real stamina.....and it was quite a contrast to the situation outside.......Being a good, sincere doctor (note the use of adjectives) is truly a noble proffession.....

In a certain sense I think we can draw some parallel between NSG Commandoes and Surgeons. NSG is fresh in all our memories after the recent terrorist attacks.......Both groups are involved in saving lives that are in a critical state........

But operations of different nature fighting against enemies of different kind.............

The area of course is of high alert and tension until the operation is through...........

Obed

17 Dec 2008