Dr.Niles was a Surgeon who used
to talk with flamboyance. He was talking about the progress of an aneurysm of
the ascending aorta. He narrated:-
“The aneurysm of the ascending aorta
starts getting bigger. It presses on all the surrounding structures. It causes
pressure necrosis and erodes through them. Thus it erodes through the body of
the sternum. It will erode through the skin in front of this area. It will also
erode through the “Hentley Gold Label” shirt that the patient is wearing. Then when
the aneurysm bursts, the patient will collapse and die. “Hentley Gold label”
was the acme of middle class ready-made shirts in Ceylon, in the early 1960’s.
Once
when doing a ward round he addressed a patient and asked what was wrong with
him. The patient answered “Moothra wala seeni thiyanawa”- (There is sugar in my
urine). He gave the necessary instructions to the house officer on treeatment
and went to the next patient. He repeated the question to him. The answer was
“Moothra wala piti thiyanawa”.-(There is flour in my urine i.e. his urine was
turbid). Like a flash Niles
told both patients –“Umbala denna ekathuwela, bakeriak dapalla” - (Both of you get together and open a bakery).
The understanding being that both can produce the flour and sugar needed as raw
materials for the bakery.
There
was an obese female in the ward at the GH Colombo in Dr. Nile’s Surgical ward
awaiting removal of her diseased gall bladder. Dr. Niles was averse to doing
major surgery. He tried to persuade the patient against surgical intervention.
The patient however refused to be persuaded away from surgical intervention
because of frequent attacks of severe colicky pain. Dr. Niles relented and
fixed her for surgery which he did the next day. He found the approach to the
gall bladder extremely difficult because of the patient’s obesity. However he successfully
finished the surgery.
Next
day during the ward rounds he had this to say to the patient.
“Bohoma amaaruwen ney mama ara
piththaashaya aying keruwey. Inimaga
thiyala ne bassey” – “It was with the greatest difficulty we removed the gall
bladder. I had to go inside your abdomen using a ladder.”
Recalled Oldie
Recalled Oldie
Never on a
Sunday
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