BRAVE IS THE MAN WHO CAN LOOK INTO THE EYES OF HIS ILLNESS YET MANAGE A SMILE
The intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital is one place where the odds are heavily loaded against life. It is a grim place where doctors and the nursing staff fight pitched battles to snatch life from the jaws of death. The usual scene that one associates with the ICU consists of patients looking with hope to their treating doctors, the monotonous beeps of the life sustaining-machines and a sea of anxious family members waiting outside.
Being a psychiatrist, I am frequently called upon to assess and treat patients in the ICU if and when they develop a behavioural problem, ranging from anxiety about the health situation, agitation associated with delirium, to disclosure of death of a near and dear one to an unknowing patient.
A few days ago, I happened to see an elderly delirious patient who was having a longstanding history of alcohol consumption and was suffering from hypertension and diabetes as well. He was a retired army officer. I started my bedside assessment with a customary “Kya haal hai (How are you), uncle?” The patient, whose consciousness was still clouded by delirium and by the drugs injected to control it, opened his eyes with great effort and, to my utter surprise, raised himself from the bed and greeted me with a salute!
The sight of a patient with an oxygen mask on his face and surrounded by a plethora of life-saving equipment saluting the doctor will always remain etched in my memory. I started the treatment to improve his mental status and promised to see him again the following day. I continued to see him for one week and he never failed to greet me with a resounding salute and a smile on his lips.
I happened to visit the ICU for assessing another patient when I noticed that the bed occupied by Fauji uncle (that was the name I had coined for him) was occupied by some other patient. I enquired from the nursing staff and was told that our Fauji uncle had breathed his last a few days ago.
He had given me some valuable lessons in his last days. For one, I now realise that bravery has many hues and it is not limited to the exploits on the battlefield. Brave is the man who can look into the eyes of his illness yet manage a smile. Brave is the man who does not give up his etiquettes even when confronted with a life-threatening situation. Brave is the man who believes in the slimmest ray of hope. I salute the late Fauji uncle for his brave yet dignified fight with the demon of death in the ICU.