wedlocks and wenlock

After hitting the snooze for the sixth time, I decided to put the alarm off. I was anyway wide awake, would get out of bed in a couple of minutes. It was 20 minutes past 9 when i woke up! Just the previous day our new unit head had briefed us about how he wanted the things around to be. He sounded more than just particular about punctuality. Ok, I had ten minutes to reach. Thank god for aprons, any shabby thing you wear underneath goes unnoticed. Popped in some candy into my pockets to help me sustain standing for long hours. There have been quite a few episodes. I'm known for it. So much so that, when class gets boring in wards my friends signal me to fake some fainting. Prof usually stops the class there or we get a break atleast when somebody faints. Not that I oblige, it's pretty embarrassing when it actually happens.

I raced to the auto stand and hopped into an auto. I realized I was already late. Another realization struck that we were supposed to have read some topic for that day's class and I so casually had forgotten about it. I opened the book to atleast look through the headings. Some set of questions are always shot at the junior batch with the antecedent 'Fresh from anatomy' title. Bah! How I hate that phrase. Sometimes I feel like telling them what my definition of 'fresh' is. I also feel bad that if not for my flimsy job at it a year ago, I could have handled these situations better. Also realizing that it wasn't the apt moment for retrospection, I read on.

I reached. I straightened my hair, stroked my puffy eyes to look as presentable as possible as I held my breath while rushing through a particular corridor to avoid the stench of toilets. It has become a habit now. I was late, nervous. Before I could have two minds about attending clinics that day, I made an entry into the ward. I was relieved to see only my unit mates who were loitering around. I was told that HE had slipped in his bathroom and fractured his elbow (so loyal to the dept I thought) and won't be coming for some days. After a while I wiped the grin off my face and scolded myself for being secretly happy.

Some PG came for case discussion. He showed us the X-ray and asked us "if we can able to appreciate the trabaculaes." I let out a small giggle, so he handed it over to me and asked me to read it. A senior briefed us on the history. This case was a 62 year old man who had sustained 5 fractures altogether in a disastrous road traffic accident. Forget about paying for his hip replacement surgery, he couldn't even afford to replace his tattered rags. For financial aid/consent for surgery, presence of a family member is required. When his wife and son were told about the catastrophe which was almost a week ago neither one of them took responsibility whatsoever. But this man thinks there has been definite lack of communication. He is sure that his wife is going to turn up soon and still is waiting in hope. However, he is going to be operated this Saturday I think.

He was fast asleep. We were asked to examine him. Seeing our hesitation to wake him up, the PG slapped him on the back and coarsely ordered him to answer our queries. He looked miserable but managed a meek smile on seeing so many enthusiastic faces. All this only because he is being charged minimal. Big difference. But still what do people lose in being little gentle.. This is an exam case with all the findings we were told. I remembered what the dean had told us on the orientation day. The Wenlock govt district hospital is a gold mine for acquiring clinical skills. That's all these people are to us. Teaching subjects.

Seeing the disapproval on my face he told me, "We are not responsible for the misery in the world. We can just do our duty. Being sorry helps nobody." True. After the discussion, I went back to my hostel and forgot about it.

It is like reading about an adversity in the newspaper. You are pitiful for a while. Then turn the paper and you are solving the crossword or chuckling at a comic strip.