Ever since I began giving surgical treatment for people suffering from morbid obesity, I receive a steady flow of patients from many African countries and the Middle East. Amanda (name changed to conceal the identity of the patient) was one such patient I received. She was morbidly obese and depressed. She landed in Chennai on a wheelchair looking to get a bariatric surgery in India. (more…)
This is a story of a young woman patient who was morbidly obese and came enquiring for a bariatric surgery. But instead underwent 3 other surgeries. Quite strange? Not really. This experience of mine is to tell the world that obesity can often mask serious conditions that might require immediate surgery. (more…)
In the medical world, death is not a rarity, it is indeed a possibility. Years of treating the diseased and the traumatized, seldom takes toll on us. We put up a brave face despite all odds, and function to our best so that we could save lives. This is about a story of a woman who put up a brave fight against cancer for fourteen long years. The emotional mark she left on me and my entire team is tremendous. Let me narrate this story. (more…)
Appendicitis happens due to the inflammation of the appendix. The inflammation in most cases is because of the faeces inside the appendix which causes infection and the subsequent inflammation. Sometimes cancer in the appendix can also happen and this can be the reason for appendicitis. In my experience I have seen some weird materials inside the appendix as I cut open them to examine after the appendix has been removed. (more…)
This incident I am about to narrate happened during my house surgeon days. I was the usual adolescent with “I-know-it-all” attitude back then. Blame it on age. This incident greatly shaped me in my medical career. It is about an old woman who taught me a valuable lesson in my life.
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Life of a student is caught between the world of naughtiness and learning. I had my share of experiences as a student and there were no dearth in memorable things that happened around me. One such incident that I still recollect with a big laughter is when we prepared a patient for a Duodenal Ulcer with Gastric Outlet Obstruction surgery during my house surgeon days. (more…)
In India, parents are the most worried when there is stress in the married life of their children. I had a brush with one such parent, whose daughter was not having a happy married life due to her obesity. They had visited me in my clinic along with her daughter who was very obese.
The Marriage – The Background
The couple got to know each other through a matrimonial site. They liked each other, informed their parents and decided to get married. The daughter of the parent who came to meet me was actually obese and the picture she had uploaded to the matrimonial site did not show she was obese. It was there the problem took root. The guy was in US and he came down to get married. May be after he looked he got a shocker. He was a man of words and did not hesitate to get married. He did take her as his spouse. (more…)
This is not a particularly nice experience to share. But as a surgeon who faced multiple cases, it becomes imperative to share most of the incidents. This was a case of a young 34 year old man having a rectal cancer all along believing that it was piles.
One day I received a telephone call and the voice said, that he had got admitted to a famous hospital for piles surgery. Since the surgery was postponed for some reason and since he was ready for the surgery, could I operate on him almost immediately? I was kind of perplexed because without knowing what his case history was, I could not commit anything. I asked him to come over. (more…)
The presence of gallstone inside the gallbladder understandably leaves the people who have been diagnosed worried and confused. The worry is because they think why they got it in the first place. The confusion is, should they get their gallbladder with the gallstones removed surgically. I have an experience of dealing with a patient who was a physician himself who postponed the gallbladder removal surgery for many years and the resulting consequences he faced. (more…)
To go under the knife for a weight loss surgery is not an easy decision. As a bariatric surgeon I understand that the decision would not be taken immediately by patients who are suffering from morbid obesity with co-morbid conditions. There is one such experience I would like to share of a gentleman by name Suresh who came enquiring about bariatric surgery procedures. (more…)