TRUST !!

MOVING MOMENTS

Long back, before the advent of Intra Ocular Lens, when plain cataract removal surgery was in vogue, I did cataract surgery for a lady. She was above 50, very fragile, arthritic having difficulty in coming to my clinic itself.
Though the surgery and the immediate post-operative period were normal she developed ‘Uveitis’ a form of allergic reaction of issues inside the eye and gradually her vision started deteriorating in spite of vigorous treatment and eventually she lost the vision in that eye completely.
Though I was sad she put up brave face and said it is her bad time that she lost the vision and asked ‘me’ not to worry !

After a few years when the other eye also developed mature cataract and needed surgery I suggested that I will refer her to Chennai for surgery.
Her son and others agreed but she stubbornly refused..
She said “If anything can go wrong in your hands it will doubtless go wrong in other’s hands too.. I trust you implicitly. I will undergo surgery only by you. If fate is that I must lose the vision in that eye also, let it be so”.
Though I, her son and other relatives tried to talk her out of it she wouldn’t listen and finally I did the surgery for her.
The surgery went on well, but I spent sleepless nights.
Fortunately she didn’t develop any complication and gained full vision.
After some years she shifted to Chennai and I lost contact.

After 12 years she came to see me.
Her son said that they had to attend a function nearby and she insisted on seeing me.
I examined her and found that she was wearing the glasses prescribed by me about 12 years back.
Her son said that they bought new glasses with my old prescription as she refused to see any other doctor.
She was still having very good vision in that eye and when I thanked her she smiled and said it is I who ought to be thanked.

The kind of implicit trust patients had in us at that time was unbelievable but it also placed a huge burden on us.

Where has it gone now and who is to blame?!

OPTIC ATROPHY

There was another incident when a lady who had undergone cataract surgery in both eyes came for change of specs.
On examination I found out that though both surgeries were nicely done she had poor vision in one eye as she had optic atrophy [weakness of the nerve for sight]. She said one eye was operated by me and the other by another doctor.
I presumed that the eye which had good vision was the one I had operated. But when I asked her I was surprised to learn that the eye which had poor vision was the one I had done.
This was perplexing as even when the patient is convinced that the fall of vision is not the fault of the surgeon they will not patronize him saying that he is not compatible for them [Raasi].
I asked her why she was still seeing me. She replied that her mother, sister and many relatives have been operated by me and all of them have good vision. It is only her bad time that she didn’t get good vision, she said.
It is unusual as the patients always blame the surgeon for everything.