Letters from the hospital

No Longer...

2006-06-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

I no longer practise as a doctor. I turned into a professional photographer sometime ago.

Potfolio here:
http://www.vivekm.com

Other pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vivekm/

My other blog continues:
htt://www.inwardpath.blogspot.com

Vittal's last wish.

2005-05-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

Mr. Vittal had always been a noble being. right from the time he got himself a new pair of eyes, thanks to the corneal graft he received from a departing soul, he had vowed to donate his organs for a similar cause.
this april, he fell down the stairs while climbing down from a temple. he had a brief period of conciousness during which he reiterated he desire to donate his organs. he slipped into coma thereafter. the local hospital he was taken to declared him brain dead. but they were not equipped to handle organ donors.
Mr.Vittal's body was shifted to our department. the nephrology guys quickly worked up the case while we got busy and called in the three potential recepients of Vittal's kidneys for cross matching and HLA typing. thankfully Vittal's desire was seeming to be fulfilled.
Mrs. Keerthi had been diagnosed to have end stage renal disease secondary to her diabetes. she had been regularly undergoing dialysis, an expensive but inevitable procedure to keep the renal diseased going on. her antigens matched with Vittals and the transplant began late in the afternoon and got over at ten in the night.
well, it looks like its working! although she is still with us for fever, her new kidneys are slowly picking up.
Mr.Vittal would surely be happy.

where is my skull?

2005-05-14T05:52:00.000-07:00

mine was a handsome male
he had most teeth than any other
and a nice yellow colour
compared the dull and chalky others
he was heavy
he was scary
he had long bones
and always sat on my table.
but where is he now?

Suite 862

2005-05-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

patient: gasping for breath even with the oxygen mask. septicaemia.
attender: seemingly relaxed on a chair. legs on the other cot reading a newspaper.
we enter.
a: 'doctor, his condition is very bad.' legs still elevated.
us: we know.
a: 'can't we not anaesthetize him?'
us: 'err, am afraid not. by the way, we are from the urology dept and we need to catheterize the patient. could you wait outside?'
a while later we interrogate mr.a.
we ask him some questions.
a: 'i don't know! i just flew down from singapore!'
ok. we ask him about problems that were present years ago.
a: 'are you trying to say he has a prostate enlargement?'
we give up.

Will he become a father?

2005-05-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

Basavarajappa has travelled a long distance to see us. He has come all the way from Gadag in north karnataka to show a letter of reference and some reports. His problem- he wasn't a father yet. He is married for 10 long years and his wife has been much rediculed for not having become a mother yet. The cruel social stigma first points out the finger at the wife and in this case, it took ten long years for him to realise that the fault was not with her. The doctor there finally told him that he had no sperms in his semen.
He turned up at our OPD and we looked at his reports. Everything was fine with him expect of course, the sperm count. We ruled out various causes through a thorough history and examination. Primary infertility? Testicular failure? Maybe. Next stop: Aspiration biopsy of the testis.