Chapter 12: Those four hours in the ICU..... ~ Chapters from my life

20^th March 2013:

The second cycle of plasma dialysis was more painful than before. It took around four hours. Atleast, I was mentally prepared for the body weakness that was to follow. As the plasma units flowed into my body, I felt my system slowly coming back to normal. And then as the last unit of plasma was being injected, something happened. There was a clot in my IV and the plasma refused to go into my system. As the nurses tried pushing it by injecting air pressure, suddenly the plasma reacted and my body reacted back with allergy. I went red and looked like I was a burn victim with my body swollen up. I felt my heart beat faster than normal and immediately called for the doctor. I was instantly given an Avil to control the allergy. But what followed later was a life changing experience for me. I was wheeled into the ICU where I was detected with a mild tricardia, an irregularity of the heart that happens on a trigger, which in my case was the plasma. I was kept under observation as my pulse rate went berserk and was shooting up double than normal. My father who was by my side then, was so alarmed that I felt he would swoon. Surprisingly, I was calm. I smiled at him and told him to wait outside. And after I limped back to normalcy after a couple of hours, the doctor on duty started  speaking to me, calming me and assuring me that I was out of any danger and I was going to be just fine. I smiled back. He probed my problem and the change in my voice gave me a new confidence. The nasal twine had gone and I was talking normally. However the rashes were yet to go and they took their own sweet time to go away for good.

Meanwhile, I looked around. The patient next to me was a 22 something female, perhaps an accident case, was in a semi comatose state. She was drifting in and out of consciousness and the docs and nurses were working on her round the clock, constantly talking to her, patting her, waking her up, telling her funny anecdotes and at times even yelling at her to open her eyes. And all their cheers made her at times, say ‘huh’ and then everyone gave each other a hi-fi feeling happy that she atleast replied. It brought tears to my eyes as I realized how grave people’s problems could be. Mine was serious but this lady was in so much pain that she had lost sense of perception. And for the doctors who worked on her round the clock, she was their baby whom they were trying to revive in good health. All I could do is salute people in this profession. And then, on the other corner of the room, there was this teenage kid who after having undergone some major surgery was in such a cheerful state of mind, that my morale got a boost. I thanked God that day. For teaching me to understand the pain of others, troubles of others and that life is easy for none. But what keeps a man going is that spirit that things will eventually turn out fine, no matter what. I was brought back to my room post mid night and I slept as peace descended on me after a long long time.

Lines on that day: We empathise with the other's pain when we share that thing called pain.....