With A Little Help From My Friends: A Schoolmaster's Memoirs by Dev Lahiri

Author:Dev Lahiri [Lahiri, Dev]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Published: 2015-11-19T18:30:00+00:00

18

Matters of the Heart

EVER SINCE I was rushed off to the Doon Hospital, I had not experienced similar health ailments. With doctors not being sure if the episode was related to the heart, I had continued with my running. At Lovedale, running through the forests and over hill and dale was an different experience and I revelled in it. I also enjoyed the distinction of winning the school cross country race, three years on the trot. It was customary for me to do a ten kilometre run every morning. It cleared my head and gave me an opportunity to reflect on various issues at hand. One such May morning in 1993, with Founder’s Day looming on the horizon, I returned from my run to find that for some inexplicable reason, I was feeling utterly exhausted, enough to not to be able to brush my teeth. I telephoned the school doctor who opined that we go as soon as possible to a cardiologist at Ooty. As I had scheduled an important meeting with some of my colleagues regarding the upcoming Founder’s Day in the morning, I requested her to hold on to the travel plans for a while.

Unfortunately, the meeting took more time than anticipated. However, Dr Jyotsna Sharan, the school doctor, would brook no delay. She stormed into my office and announced, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this meeting is adjourned. I am taking the Headmaster to the hospital.’ With that she bundled me and Indrani, who was returning after finishing her classes, into the car.

At the nursing home I was quickly plugged into an ECG machine. As the machine began spewing out the paper, I saw a look of horror on the cardiologist’s face. Before I had time to ask whether he was feeling unwell, he virtually vaulted over me, grabbed a medical device and banged it on my chest. The resultant shock made me scream in pain and I passed out. That was my introduction to the world of defibrillators and sadly they are now an integral part of my life, so much so, that I am implanted with one in my abdomen! Once again I went through a round of tests. I was taken to the Apollo Hospital in Madras, where they declared that I suffered from ‘Sick Sinus Syndrome’ which resulted in irregular heartbeats. The answer apparently was to implant a pacemaker

Armed with a pacemaker, I returned to Lovedale. Running was ruled out so I started to ride with a vengeance. The students were so much better than me, including my own daughters, and I had a lot of catching up to do. The pacemaker sadly did not seem to solve my problem. One day, when walking up a Lovedale slope, I collapsed. Medical opinion was of the view that I should go for some electrophysiological tests. Dr Som Raju and Dr Ravi Kishore, both eminent electro-physiologists, worked at Medicity in Hyderabad. Indrani and I made the trip to Medicity, where after running numerous tests, the doctors put me on beta-blockers.

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