Santhosh's ramblings

In the beginning It was 1978, November. Medical college that should have started by June started only in November. There were cases in the university against the admission that continued for about 5 months. Finally, after this long wait, we were Medical students! In those days there were only 2 professions that was considered worth joining - Medicine and Engineering. And between the two Medicine was the elite one! (That is what we thought). So, it is with great anticipation and joy that we joined toe college. Of course, there was the fear of the ragging. But much to our relief there was a court order that our batch should not be subjected to any ragging and should be protected by police! This was because the previous year, a physical assault during ragging had ended in loss of life of a student and mental breakdown of another! But as we entered the college and the Anatomy dissection halls, and classrooms, we were faced with not too encouraging professors.  Or we felt as if...

A few patients that a physician came across in this “lockdown season” over Tele links, and the experiences are being shared for reflections. Late 30s lady, presented from a remote South Asia country location with a swelling in the right thumb, over the MPJ. Pain and swelling have been there for about 4 to 6 weeks, with worsening pain and swelling over the preceding week. Since there was no health care professional locally who could examine, all the consultation was over WhatsApp video calls. The joint appeared swollen and red, with self-elicited severe tenderness.  Patient was initiated on Amoxycillin with Clavulanic acid, and NSAIDS. A complete blood done showed High Leucocyte count with predominant polymorphs and a high ESR. Antibiotics were continued, but soon there was an abscess that formed at the site that burst and a non-healing ulcer and sinus was seen. ESR continued to be high and 8 weeks into the illness, an X-ray done showed an osteomyelitis of the metacarpal bone with...

I do not have much lasting impressions from this year, since in Medicine this is the watershed year. The 4 th year, with Social and Preventive Medicine, which was generally seen as a necessary evil (which I regrated in latter years - I should have given more importance) Forensic Medicine, and couple of other departments, was seen as a season to get through to enter in to the final year! Of course, the campus election politics was a good distraction too. A few events stand out in memory. One was the SPM tour and some of the learnings in that trip. The highlight was the one visit to a rural hospital at Ambilikai, Oddanchathram and the stories I heard form Dr Cherian, the founder. Walking into theatre where he was doing a major abdominal surgery under open Ether, and then hearing stories of how he had operated on some challenging patients under open ether. An Esophageal resection and a Stomach pull through for a Carcinoma Esophagus, A vascular surgery for a Axillary artery AV fistula w...