"24 hrs in Medical Intensive Care Unit"

Sharing an experience of mine being admitted in a medical intensive care unit for 24 hrs, seeing different people around, in different states and the struggle which they makes to come back to life...

Keep him in “Medical ICU” for observation….. the doctor said. 

An attender came rolling down a wheel chair. I said him, “I can walk” but he said firmly ….“Sit”. The nurse who was attending to me till then made a kind of chuckle which appeared to me as 
“You are gonna get kicked in your a*s”

Both me and the wheel chair was rolled on to the door of “Medical ICU” which was in another block of the hospital. The nurse who accompanied opened the door and I was pushed in. 

“Holy F**K”…..
“Why I have been brought into this place?” 
“Oh My God, I can’t believe this. Why this is happening to me? Why for the last few days all the worse things in the world is happening to me? I don’t understand”. 
“This place is hell man. I shouldn’t be here”.

There are 6 to 7 beds placed head towards the wall on each side of the room, leaving a small corridor for the nurses & doctors to walk. The beds appeared to be complicated, costly, imported and awful. Different types and kinds of complicated looking instruments and apparatuses with all those blinking lights, beepers and gizmos are attached to each of these beds. For fragile hearted people, definitely place like this “Medical ICU” could be fatal. More than “live saving”, the total atmosphere could appear as “life threatening”. Other than the nurses and the doctors, I am the only one who is conscious and with some movement in the room, every single other patient was cataleptic, undergoing different kind of medical process and procedures. These people were not moving even their fingers, different indications and readings shown on the monitor screen and programmed functioning of the other machines and apparatuses attached to them said that, “these people are alive and kicking”. 

Then I was rolled on to the bed “destined” for me. “These people will make you feel like you are seriously ill, even if you are not in real”. 

The bed allocated to me was between two patients undergoing dialysis treatment. One of them was a man, close to his sixties, he had the size almost to cover the entire bed, and it was really hard to see any signs of life in him. The other patient was a lady; definitely she should be between 35 �" 45 yrs. She was also not making any appreciable movements or showing any signs of life. Her head was covered with really hard cloth, may be to save her from “intense cold temperature” of the room. Her motherly face appeared really tired, with visible tear channels down to the side of her left ear. I could see left side of her face and the tear channel clearly. Sometimes it became wet… but there were no other signs. “Absolutely Nil”

I had minimal knowledge about the “dialysis” process; I have heard about it like you all in the movies. Yeah… and also in the lower grade classes we all might have studied one or two paragraphs about it. “But it is not as simple as the text or the movie says”. There is one machine, almost similar to the size of an ATM machine, it has a monitor, different types of switches and gears in different colors and shapes, a small control panel, series of tubes (in fact a lot of them), different kind of liquids in different forms as input to the human body and obviously blood, the nurse doing the procedure has also kept two or three containers here and there to which different types of liquid was flowing in and going out. This was all I could figure out about the machine set up for the dialysis process. Series of tubes were inserted through mouth and nostrils of the patient, I believe that few of them were pierced into the body also, there was a separate vent for urine extraction, there was a specifically allocated tube for giving food (in liquid form) and water to the patient, there were another series of tubes allocated for another purposes about which I was not able to understand. At the end of the day, here is what we call as “human life”, “in the bed, unconscious and helpless, without an idea of what is actually happening to self and around, taken care by others and trusting own life with others”. These people cannot even express any feelings or emotions, they don’t even know whether it’s “a day or a night”. I witnessed a situation in life which underlines the fact, “we are just human beings”… “a kind of animal or being just like every other species in this world. We might be advanced, we might have made many discoveries and did many inventions, but we are not the masters, we don’t know everything, we are not the “untouchables” and the “unbeatable”…. We are just “human beings”. 

In the bed right in front of me there was another patient, his name was “Kuriakose”… the nurses being close to his bed used to call his name … “Kuriakose…. Kuriakose”. But most of the time he didn’t responded. His gestures appeared to me as of like a kid who is too lazy to get up from the bed and to go school. Sometimes he sat on the bed with legs crossed and keeping his head down, with his hands supporting it. He changed his sitting positions frequently and very soon he will be back to his laying position in the bed. 

I got my first piece of advice from the head nurse; she said “Don’t look on your either sides, or at other patients. Relax; close your eyes and sleep”

“How the hell I could sleep? I am in the middle of a scariest place on earth”. It is skin stabbing cold inside the room. The air conditioner was centralized, I cannot control it. To make things worse one of the air conditioner vents was right above my head. I felt like I was in a freezer. I tried to spend time counting the droplets falling into the small transparent adjustment gear attached to the trip bottle of mine. But I could not concentrate too long, I turned right and left….

I could see my monitor showing the status, counts and measures of how my body is functioning and I could read the figures also, at times my heartbeat was shown as 193, 248, 210…… “What the f**k? Am going to die? Am I having a heart attack? But I can’t feel the pain”. I called up one nurse and asked about it. She was already laughing at me, may be after seeing the pity, helpless, scared, sick and frozen face of mine. I asked her why the reading is so. She replied, “Don’t worry. At times the monitor shows wrong readings, it has a complaint”…… Oh My Dear God, “How the hell this could happen in an intensive care unit?” But that question never came out of my mouth. I was afraid that, “these pretty nurses could sedate me to sleep and may be to death”. 

“The most beautiful part or organ of a female body” It is a statement upon which the whole world had debated endlessly and still the same topic has the scope for debate till the end of the world. But if somebody asks me about it, my answer would be firm and simple. “It is their eyes”. All the nurses in the intensive care unit were wearing a different kind of wardrobe, like the one which we see in the movies, which covers their entire body and they were also wearing hospital face masks, so the only visible item was “their eyes”. I saw many pairs, of different sizes, dimensions, texture, color, irises… Each of them had different stories to tell. When talking I used to look at their eyes, “their eyes could tell you more than anything you could hear or feel”. The grace, the beauty, the expressions….it is really amazing to concentrate on female eyes. I enjoyed every bit of it. At times these nurses removed their masks and it was surprising to me to realize that their actual face appeared really close to what I have imagined after seeing their eyes. At least 10 to 15 nurses were there in each shift and likewise there were three shifts. They always smiled, they always talked lightly, they always expressed the care and love…… there is nothing wrong in calling them the “Human Angels”.

At times, especially when the doctors move out after rounds, they used to express and celebrate their freedom in the lightest way possible, they used to tell their house stories, gossips and everything you know ladies in their age range used to discuss. They will enact literally like college girls when they meet their colleagues who come in successive shifts for handing over. I don’t know “why is it so?” Other than these staff nurses there is another category of called as “Student Nurses”, who are doing their B.Sc Nursing. There are many teams of them having two members each, they were given sphygmomanometer, stethoscope and clinical thermometer and it seems like these teams were sent by their professors or lecturers like “sheep to the valley”. They check randomly anyone they wanted to. Even though they were quite inexperienced, I entertained them, “because they too had beautiful eyes”. Oh….. Man. 

“Dad….. Dad……, Wake Up. It’s me”. I could see a lady aged between 40 to 45 in churidhar, standing next to old man on the bed left side to mine. She was repeating but there was no response from the old man. His dialysis procedure for the day was over, still there were some tubes inserted to his mouth and to his nose. She should be from a rich family and her appearance told all that. Her son was also with her, he was looking like a modern “Kochite”, from head to toe it was evident. But he was not looking at his grandfather for so long, I think he lacked guts to face, understand and accept the fact that life also has a phase like this, like in which his grandfather is now. “Youth don’t accept truth easily”. The young boy was shaking his legs in a vigorous manner and the sign told me that, he wanted to get his a*s out of that room as early as possible. The lady, wiped her father’s face with her “kerchief”, she spoke to nurse attending her father, then looked at him again for few seconds and left. The old man remained in the bed without any movements…. And no one knew what his feeling and emotion was inside. 

I spent the time chatting with the nurses and observing the happenings inside that medical ICU room. When I turned to my right hand side, I could see a man standing right next to the lady undergoing dialysis. His weary eyes, his appearance and the sadness reflected in his face told me, “He is her husband”. It was one of those moments where “silence spoke more”. He was looking right at her face; series of tubes connected to different apparatuses ran across her face and ended up in her nose and mouth. He stayed there for next 5 minutes; suddenly he took a turn and left the room in a flash. He might not have wanted others to see his tears. 

Every single nurse in the room had a special connection with the lady in the bed right to mine. All of them called her “Jeena Chechi”….. Even if when she was not responding these nurses you to say loudly, “Jeena Chechi, you are showing progress signs. See your results are getting better day by day. We are sure that you would be normal soon. We all are praying to God, you will be just fine”. They used to call “Jeena Chechi” most of the moments when these nurses passed by or beside her bed. 

You will feel like you are literally in a freezer when you are inside the medical ICU, “it is so f*****g cold in there”. I felt like, I will not die because of cardiac arrest or of the fever getting worsened but I would “freeze to death”. You know, basically I am a “Hot Blooded Animal”. I called up most of the nurses and complained that I cannot survive in the room anymore. But they were helpless and said me that the air conditioner in centralized and they cannot control it specifically for one patient. They said the answer with a smile and giving me one more blanket. There are air conditioner vents above each bed, and I found out that one or two vents above other beds were closed using “x-ray” report cover. I called one of the nurses and I begged her to close the air conditioner vent above my bed also with the “x-ray” report cover. I was successful in persuading and convincing, she closed the air conditioner vent standing top on my bed. 

“Where are you from?” I could hear and question and when I looked in the direction, I saw Kuriakose sitting in his bed and looking at me. “I am from Cochin only, Bolgatty”, I replied. “What happened to you?” he asked me again. I said him that “I am suffering with viral fever”. He didn’t ask me any questions further; it was a different kind of expression on his face, which I could read as “you such a prick with a low-standard disease of “viral fever” in between these patients suffering with different kinds of premium diseases. How you could be here?” I also asked me the same question, “how could I be here?”

I think the nurses are preparing for the next round of dialysis or something for “Jeena Chechi”….they are getting the gadgets and apparatus ready.

Next day morning, when I woke up I could see “Jeena Chechi” moving slightly but still in the bed and looking at every one. The apparatus connections and few of the tubes were removed but still there is one or two inserted to her mouth and nose. One of the nurse was standing beside her and telling that, “things will be fine and we all are praying for you…”. Jeena Chechi was trying to say something and she was also moving her body and head as much as she could to communicate. The nurse asked her, “You want these tubes also to be taken out?”….”Oh Jeena Chechi, please. We cannot do it now. Give us two weeks time, we can take it out then. You are improving day by day”. But Jeena Chechi was not ready to listen; she was making the request again and again, she was pulling the bed cover with all the strength she could make. And the nurse was giving her the same answer……..but with smile, love and care. 

After a couple of hours, my doctor came. He asked me several questions, about how am I feeling? Am I OK? Is there any other problems and things like that. I ensured that I gave him the most satisfactory replies for all these questions because I wanted to get out of that room as early as possible. The doctor also did some external check-ups. Then he had a discussion with his junior doctors and advised them to move me out to any available room. My happiness didn’t had any limits. I was on the top. The doctor also advised some medicines for me and the junior doctors wrote it down. The names of these medicines sounded like names of Russian girls to whom we send desperate friend requests in facebook. 

After Doctor’s verdict I waited for another 2 to 3 hrs for the room to be ready and then finally came the good news, “one room is available”. In monsoon season it is really hard to get rooms in most of the hospitals in Cochin, you might get a beach facing room or cottage in Goa in the season but not a room in any of these hospitals. Even if you are OK and you could walk, these attenders in the hospital will take you only in the wheel chair. They will make sure that you have a feeling, “I am sick”. He asked me to sit in the wheel chair to take me to the room. I waved goodbye to the nurses, it was very sad that I was leaving them and their beautiful eyes. I had a hope that I could meet more of them in the room. 

When the attender who was driving (infact pushing) my Mercedes Benz, was talking to the nurses about my reports and documents, I turned to the side of “Jeena Chechi” again. Now I could see another lady standing beside her, approximately she should be having same age of “Jeena Chechi”. The visitor was saying…

“Jeena, you will be fine soon. Don’t worry about anything?”
“You are beautiful as ever and God will always bless you”
“You will be with your kids and family soon”.
“Think about the good things that which you had done for kids at our school, you have helped many of them with this life and definitely now you will be blessed for your good work”
“Keep the faith”, that is the basic principle of life. We all are with you. You will be out of this bed one day”
“We love you Jeena and we are sure that you will join us soon….”

I guessed, “Jeena Chechi” should be a teacher, a great and wonderful teacher who had touched the hearts of many kids and have helped them when they were really in need. She must have oriented them with love; and each and every one of them loves her back. Along with her family all those kids and colleagues should be praying for her now, “to give her the strength to make it and to get out of that bed and that room”. Some kind of feeling was telling me that, “she will make it and she will soon start to light up those tender hearts again… She is needed for many and God will help her to make it”. 

Jeena Chechi was crying and I could see tears on her cheeks. 

She was looking at the lady visitor and was shaking her head affirmatively.

“She will make it one day…….”

“God makes us strong through these tough experiences in life”, some wiseman made that statement and it’s absolutely true. …..

Author's Note

Spend a minute for reviews pls :)

Reviews

[BAKANO A. M.]

Read and enjoyed it,every bit of your presentable work,Mr. Arun! You can be a great writer!

However,if only you would care to work on certain aspect of the grammar;put more suspense into the work {so to keep your readers on their toes,eagerly guessing What Next....} I tell you, your work would be a must-read! You have a presentable style of narration!

I like it,really! It reminds me of my work:
THE 24HOUR PRESIDENT!

KEEP WRITING,GREAT READERS WOULD BENEFIT FROM YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROWESS!
Bakano

[Arun Raj]

I am so sorry for being late to reply to your review. Thanks a ton for your nice and motivating words. Your advice regarding the grammar and the suspense parts are really helpful, I am working on it especially on the grammar aspect. Yes, I am gonna keep writing and will try to picture the real life episodes and stories of the people around. I am grateful for your words.. I am gonna definitely read your story "The 24 Hour President".... God Bless

[Warrior]

Great story telling. This did justice in the realm of getting the message across. Great message. There's lot of times where a story can have a great message to aim for, and have a lot of under lining things but then no one gets it, and if no one gets it, then the point has failed. But in my opinion this did well to get the message across. You made it clear, which is why I think it's good. Keep up the good work. What was also great was that I could imagine the story as I read it, and that is also a strong point of stories. The ability to have the reader imagine it because after all we're reading not watching it, but it was as if I was there as I read this, and that is great. Good job once again.

[Cynthia Ann Varady]

Great story. There are some issues with grammar, but other than that, it was well told. What types of editing techniques do you use? Sometimes reading aloud can help us catch errors we can't physically see. Personally, I am a horrible editor and proof reader, and need to have someone else look at my work.

That being said, keep up the great work! I can see a book of amazing essays and short stories in your future.
Cheers!

[MoriartyMesa]

As a former CNA, I got that smell in my nose, one I remember all to well. Little more real than I am used to.

[Arun Raj]

:) Yes, Happy to get a comment from you. Thanks & Regards

[lovejulez03]

This was interesting for me. You had good descriptions and it definitely brought me in because of the fact that it seemed to start in the middle of something. Overall good job! The ending was good :) I'd be interested to see more background before the ICU comes into play

[Arun Raj]

First of all sorry for the delay in replying to your review. Thanks a ton for your nice words. Officially, this is my first ever review in writerscafe and I am so grateful to you for the genuine feedback. It will motivate me and will help me a lot to improve. More background before the ICU comes into play :) Yes, definitely I would have considered the same. I am writing a new one and the background plays an awesome part in it, I wish I could post the same soon. Hope you will read it, like it and will continue to give me the feedback for the same also. I am so eager to check out your poems and stories, will do the same tonight.... Cheers :)