Surgery ON A Doctor – Part 1 (The decision)

I beg your pardon for the fallacy in the title as I am not a doctor in practice but a doctor in the process. And it’s utmost happiness to call ourselves something we aspire to be in the near future. 😉

Coming back to the subject, I have a story. A real story indeed.

On an evening of June summer as the last of the sun dipped into the horizon, I was coming back to home on my scooty. Oh dear! My dear, dear scooty.

Just few steps away from my place I experienced a jolt. The very next moment I was lying on the road with my dear scooty resting peacefully on my body. Reiterating the words of the people surrounding me it came to my senses that it was a monkey who was behind all this, leaping just in front of my scooty and a difference of few seconds might have crushed my skull. Wait a minute, a monkey?! How strange is that! And that too on a Tuesday evening considered to be the day of Lord Hanuman, the monkey faced Hindu deity. My mother cursed my planetary positions and commanded me to ask for forgiveness for all my sins then and there.

Well, my X-rays were negative. So, I was sent home with a diagnosis of minor muscular damage. Little did I know that it had more to it.

After two months of that fateful day I was all set to play basketball. Oh dear! My dear, dear basketball.

By this time I was walking perfectly so it didn’t occur to me that running might be an issue. The moment I leaped to basket with my knees fully extended I heard a tearing voice and I felled upon the court. With excruciating pain running through my left injured leg I went back home. I thought my muscles need some more time to heal and I might be exaggerating the pain. Little did I know that it had more to it.

After two months of that second fateful day I was all set to play basketball, again. Oh dear! My dear, dear basketball. The history repeats itself. And so do the events in my life. I again felled in an unsuccessful attempt to run. But this time I knew it had more to it than just a sheer muscular damage.

My teacher and one of the best orthopaedic surgeons in the town diagnosed a knee ligament tear.

( The Ligament is like a spring, joining two bones, once torn cannot be sewn back. Not visible through an X Ray, the tear was diagnosed by the MRI report.)

How ironic it is that being a medical student it took me 5 months to reach the right conclusion.

As normal walking is not affected in an Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear I had an option to postpone it till I complete my MBBS at the expense of my running spree. God was being merciless to me.

Furthermore, the duration of postponing my surgery was directly proportional to the number of other structures being damaged in the knee.
At the other end, a three hour surgery was waiting in line with many disastrous outcomes-
1. Bed rest for one month.
2. No Scooty for three months.
I was living a dreary dream and had a tough decision to make…..

(To know the rest of the story stay tuned.)