Anna and I happened to meet five former students of MOSC at a wedding occasion. All of them are attending coaching classes for appearing for their entrance test for post graduate training. At the same occasion we also met three former of students of PIMS, who finished their post graduate training or are about to finish.
Anna had lot to do with them during the student days as she was involved in teaching Pharmacology, while I had limited contacts.
Many memories returned to us when we met with them. One particular memory for Anna was association with some of them to prepare them for their ICMR student research projects.
We would have been associated with about 25 batches of students during our times in Medical colleges. Our memories of them are most refreshing. There were a few whom we remember specially because of the difference in outlook and behaviour they represented even while they were students.
The time of studentship is a formative season in the lives of students. There are many influences converging on their lives.
One of the dialogue starters we have had with some of them is the difference between being a 'medical students' and 'doctors in training'.
Some tend to view the time in medical colleges casually and leisurely and miss the opportunity to get themselves immersed in preparing for the vocation in the practice of medicine. Whereas some take upon themselves the opportunity to ponder, experience and explore the ways in which they can imbibe the values that define the practice of medicine.
Yesterday, a family visited us with their 12 yers old son, travelling seven hours, who is progressively worsening due to Mucopolysacharoidosis, currently with quadriparesis, feeding difficulty and recurrent respiratory infection. It was a difficult experience as the single parent mother was desperate to seem him walk and return to 'normalcy'. Although they have been to higher centres and under good medical care, the mother is still overcome by grief and not settled enough to prepare herself to face the declining state of his health.
I was touched by the efforts that my colleagues took to spend time with the mother and encourage her to seek palliative care, close to their home. I felt moved by their willingness to share in the grief of the mother and offer support while she is making a transition in her approach to her son's illness.
Mother Francis, who established Helena Home, the first hospice for children in Oxford, mentioned to me as early as in1986 that, there would be children with progressive diseases for whom palliative care support and respite facility would be needed.
It is now clear to me from some earlier experiences, that hospice service is yet another dimension of 'care' in developmental medicine, which I have not explored actively or promoted it for consideration.
I bear the pain of that mother, who herself is diabetic and financially dependent on voluntary help to cope with all the needs of the family. I felt awful when I realised that they do not even have a wheel chair for the boy or a water bed!
The vocation in medicine is to' become all things to all people' so that they feel carried when they are no longer able to bear their own burdens!
My wish for all in training and practice of medicine is to live mindful of people burdened with illnesses and situations that overwhelm them!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
No comments:
Post a Comment