Santhosh's ramblings

For a middle aged man at the peak of his carer and major transition in life, this was not a good experience to go through. He has been mostly well in control of his life. He come out into this world, holding to the heel of his twin brother, earning him his name as “Heel puller” or one who deceives. This name seemed to have grown on him. He had manipulated and got the birth right by offering his tired brother some lentil soup. He along with his mother had tricked his father to give him all the blessings instead of his elder brother. Even with God, he was either negotiating or bargaining. Taking care of his father-in-laws sheep, he had managed to expand the work much more than expected by any one. His own remuneration, he planned out a strategy which yielded huge personal dividends. As he prepared to return, he planned out his strategies so well to protect his family and resources.   A driven, excellent planner, negotiator, resource generator. Any HR hiring firm would have grabbed him!

The road on which a person and his / her family, diagnosed with a life limiting illness and approaching the inevitable end of death, passes through is laid with multiple rough patches and the journey is often a challenging one. The care providers’ primary role is – as much as possible, to smoothen out the rough patches, and accompany and journey alongside much beyond the inevitable end, till such a time that the family is able to stand without this support. A care giver, whether professional non related care giver or family member, in this journey of accompaniment, will need to hold multiple roles and responsibilities, and switch these, on a dynamic basis, as the disease progresses and needs and contexts undergo various changes. The primary role of the care provider will be one of being a “Communicator ”. From the time of diagnosis, and into months after the demise of the person, this role of being an effective but compassionate communicator remains the role which will bring hope in t

The value of Human life is difficult to ascertain. Some have tried assessing the value of the “remains” once a being ceases to be a being – between less than 1 $ to about 1900 $ – – it all depends on what you are looking for or measuring. Some have tried putting a value based on the organs we have and how much that is commercially valued. Any way organ donation continues to be a business, and so it is like what is given in the picture here, which pushes up the value much. More than 200,000/- $ But actually how much worth is a “Living human being”? I just returned from a visit to a hospital in a rural tribal location. In the HDU a girl of 8 years died in front of my eyes, due to a potentially preventable mosquito spread viral infection. The death was seen as a “matter of fact” – nothing much can be done, the health care team (including me)  and the parents – all seems to have the similar perspective – what can be done any way – it is beyond our help, this is fate – or inevitable in th