An unfinished story - part 2

We entered the female ward, expecting to find an elderly, breathless lady. But we were faced by a puny little girl, who looked at us with anxious eyes and an apprehensive face. It was a cardiothoracic surgery pre-op ward and we wondered what could possibly have happened to this innocent girl. We walked towards her with perplexity and popped the first question- ‘what is your name?’ with as much charm and appeal as we could manage. She flashed us a smile and replied ‘Sushmita’

I took another look at her- she was dressed in a long colourful skirt and a plain white top. An artificial pearl necklace with a huge pendant hung about her neck. She had a very attractive face with particularly expressive eyes. Her hair was neatly combed into two long braids. She was thin and lean, but had a sense of enthusiasm about her. My friend seemed to have established a very good rapport with her in short time. As we spoke to her, I noticed that she was very amiable and polite. In fact, she turned out to be very talkative. Though hesitant in the beginning, she spoke a lot about herself after a while.

We were able to gather some information about her at the end of the interview. Sushmita was a nine year old, residing in a small village near Hassan. She had been facing some difficulty in breathing during her walk to the school every morning. She also felt breathless on doing household work like washing clothes, utensils and cleaning her house since the past six months. She had been admitted to the hospital for a surgery. We checked out her file- she was diagnosed with mitral stenosis. She was to be operated upon for the replacement of a valve in her heart which had been damaged by a post-streptococcal immunological reaction. We auscultated our little patient to listen for a mid-diastolic murmur. It is a sound which I will never forget for the rest of my life. I looked at Sushmita again and managed to give her a feeble smile. She smiled back at me whole heartedly. I turned to face my friend who was now hearing over the little girl’s chest with her stethescope. She had a disturbed look on her face. I immediately cracked a silly joke and somehow lightened the atmosphere. After all the necessary examinations to be done, it was time for us to leave the hospital. My friend who would do anything on earth to get her hands on a chocolate, decided to part with one, so that the little girl could have it. This act brought smiles to all faces- which was the beginning of a new relationship. We said goodbye to her and walked out of the hospital.

I discussed the day’s events with my friends on our long walk back to college. We talked about many things, but all of us seemed to agree on one thing- the girl had certainly made an impression on us. We wished and prayed for her speedy recovery and soon forgot about it in the midst of other conversation. Lunch was followed by afternoon lectures which drained me of whatever energy I was left with.

The next morning didn’t seem to bring in anything new. I was back to the same ward with the same batch mates, in the midst of the same topic of argument. But I saw a pair of bright eyes gazing at me from a nearby bed. It was Sushmita. I walked up to her with my friends and spoke to her. She chattered with the same enthusiasm as the previous day. She was to be operated upon that week, but since she had an upper respiratory tract infection, the surgeon had decided to operate after it had resolved. Her younger brother had come to visit her in the ward, and she excitedly introduced us to him. After a few minutes into the conversation, one of my friends came hyperventilating, announcing the arrival of the professor. The day’s events proceeded smoothly and we were walking back to college in no time.

Two weeks passed very swiftly and it was time for us to leave the department. Our next rotation was neurosurgery for another couple of weeks. We bid goodbye to the professor, rather dejectedly, because it was one posting which we seemed to have taken a liking to. I particularly remember waving bye to Sushmita, who beamed with one of her biggest smiles. Time flew by as neurosurgery posting neared its end. We had an opportunity to witness the removal of a subdural hematoma from the brain of an elderly lady. We walked out of the OT and waited outside for the much awaited procedure- attendance. As we waited there one of my friends casually remarked, “did u guys hear about Sushmita?” I had heard that she had undergone surgery the previous day. The surgery went on well without any hitches. But what was to come next jolted me. There were some unexpected post operative complications which ultimately resulted in the demise of the child. It was hard to believe. I closed my eyes. I could see the girl with a bright smile across her lips. Time passes by, life goes on, but leaves us with memories of certain encounters one can never forget....I couldn’t help wondering- maybe if man hadn’t interfered with the course of nature, this unfinished story wouldn’t have been ‘unfinished’?