It was a "HARTAL DAY";Well,hartal day is as common as a sunday or monday in our state.(one of the reasons why it is called God's own country)no rush on roads,all shops closed,children celebrating a no-school day,office-goers relaxing-an unexpected holiday is always always welcome!!
But that 'hartal day' was very different for me.For the first time ,i woke up early on a 'suppossed holiday'.And one thing to be noticed here is that I was very happy to do that which my mother observed was rather unusual.There comes the importance of P.M.R-Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation -A department which helped patients with disabilities to return to a normal life as far as possible..Only during our fourth year we have clinical postings there.And for the past two weeks I found it was most probably the best posting we ever had.The teachers were shockingly sincere that we decided to attend the class even on that Hartal Day..Each class was special,somehow the place was very dear to us.
When i reached,most of my friends have already come.A few dayscholars were absent owing to the transportation problem.And that day we were very eager to see cases as our two weeks here were about to end.Sudhakar sir was explaining about the conditions and difficulties each patient had as we accompanied him.we reached the last bed of male ward .A patient was sitting there on wheel chair.After enquiring about his health and prescribing some physiotherapy exercises sir turned to us.Let me show you a case of "SUDEX OSTEODYSTROPHY"Well,we have heard that difficult term during ortho posting many times but have never understood it fully.
"The patient is mentally not quite stable..a slight disorientation.so we didnt get a proper history.Anyway look at the peculiar position of his hands "sir said ,we turned towards the patient.His right paralysed hand was comfortably placed on the arm of his chair.On top of that hand he placed his left hand as if to protect the former..Then sir tried to separate his hands and the patient screamed -even a small touch could cause excruciating pain..!!
"It's one of the symptoms of sudex osteodystrophy" sir told us..our minds were filled with stories of all those people..life is strange...
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Next day morning Dayscholars arrived..They cursed the hartal day. "Oh we missed it ,a P.M.R class",Salwa
whimpered..Inside the dark scarf her beautiful face reddened..i could spot a tear in her lovely eyes..It was
tea-break. Shwetha and rest of hosteliers went to canteen..Dayskies were too sad to accompany them-I told all four of them(salwa,swapna,shikha and sitara)-surely it was a great loss for u..i dont know if it increased their sadness.Suddenly swapna jumped-i have an idea-"shreya,pls do us a favour.Before next session ward class begins,pls take us to the ward and give a brief account of yesterday's class."ok",i agreed.
we entered the male ward..i was leading the still sad dayskies like a professor..we reached the last bed.there he was; sitting there on wheel chair.His right paralysed hand was comfortably placed on the arm of his chair.On top of that hand he placed his left hand as if to protect the former.
"separation of hands will cause excruciating pain.Peculiar feature of sudex"i told my classmates..i even went on to deliver a shortlecture on sudex..i could see tht my classmates were really impressed..
"O.K we dont want to touch him ,we will just ask him about his discomfort"shikha said..she is always a very active girl."ok.Go ahead" i gave them permission..dont know why i acted like a teacher then.
"What's your discomfort,bro"swapna asked him softly ..she always has a sweet voice..
"i cannot move my left shoulder" "What "- the girls cried in unison..i was not surprised..why should i?recollecting sir's words i smiled and told them that the patient was not mentally stable-"a slight disorientation,history was not proper"I hushed..repeating sir's words.
"oh..you have difficulty in moving your right hand also,ryt"swapna was gentler this time and more to the point."no,no, no problem at all and patient waved his right hand at us..This time I WAS SHOCKED...
After getting back to my senses i asked him slowly-"are you not Gopalakrishnan?"
No, madam..im Appukuttan,Gopal has gone downstairs for physiotherapy.."
Then only i realised my' handicap'-i cannot remember people's faces precisely..after all that i have said,the lecture,the description of patient's peculiar positioning of hands..i looked at my friends..those unfortunate ppl who witnessed all these..
My goodness.what happened rest,well you can imagine!!
