Doctor, Thank you for saving my wife…

Twenty-five years ago on this day; that is on 7th May 1989, my wife underwent major life-saving surgery. This article is to once again express our gratitude to the Surgeon, Dr Amaravadi Prabhakar Chary, his team and Aditya Hospital for saving her life.

This surgical complication developed all of a sudden as we were going through very happy times. Our 10th Wedding Anniversary was two days ahead on 9th May 1989. We made all the arrangements to celebrate the event with family, friends, and relatives at our house. All the invitations were extended, cooks engaged, sweets ordered, gifts for the guests procured and so on; everything was fully planned and arranged. On 6th May, late in the evening, we went to the house of a friend, the last of the invitees, to extend our invitation. And on our way back we went to Chermas – Readymade Garment Outlet on MG Road, Secunderabad, for some last-minute shopping for our children and returned home a little after 10 PM. Because of the snacks at the friend’s house, we had a light dinner and as I was watching TV my wife went to sleep. Sometime later she developed pain in the stomach and when it became unbearable she informed me about it a little after midnight. I went to our family doctor, Dr G. Sampath who stays very close to our house and brought him to see her. He administered an injection and said that in case the pain does not subside I may call him again. And he advised that she may consult her lady doctor, the next morning. The rest of the night she had some relief and in the morning we went to see the lady doctor, who said that the problem might be because of having mango the previous evening and prescribed some medicines.

An hour after we returned home her pain aggravated. She did not complain thinking that the medicines she just had would soon relieve the pain. In the meantime, my brother Dr Lakshminarsu, a Dental Surgeon, came home for lunch and on seeing her he said that her condition was not good as she had become very pale and was clenching her fists out of pain. He said that we should immediately rush her to Dr Amaravadi Prabhakar Chary a renowned doctor and surgeon, and a relative of ours. Those were not the days of Cell phones; we called his residence landline and came to know that he is at Aditya Hospital, Boggulakunta, Hyderabad. We then contacted him over Pager and phone about my wife’s condition and requested him to wait for us. Being a Sunday afternoon and as all establishments were closed due to Ramzan Eid that day, there was hardly any traffic on the roads and I could drive with no delays and reach the Nursing Home by 2 PM. My sister-in-law accompanied us. My mother and brother stayed back at home to take care of the children, my brother’s two sons and my two sons aged 5 and 3 years...

Immediately upon reaching the Hospital, the doctor found that her stomach was bloated due to internal bleeding and that she had lost a lot of blood and that her condition was serious and fast deteriorating. I am told that despite her condition being critical and her Blood Pressure very low, the doctor insisted and convinced the anaesthetist and the Operation Theatre Team to go along with him for the surgery as it was the only recourse to save her. The situation was very serious. I was asked to immediately procure three bottles of blood from any blood bank and I went out on that task. And as the surgery commenced, the doctor summoned my brother Dr Lakshminarsu to come to the hospital. My brother was taken into the Operation Theatre to explain my wife’s condition. My brother stayed in for a few minutes and was shocked to see the amount of bleeding and the mopping being done for cleaning. The cause of the bleeding was an Ovarian Cyst.

The surgery and blood transfusion lasted for well over four hours and it was 10 PM by the time my wife regained consciousness from anaesthesia. The surgeon stayed back until such time. He told us that she was alright and advised the hospital staff to cautiously monitor her condition due to the transfusion of new blood and to see how she would react to the surgery and asked them to call him in case of any complications. By the grace of GOD and the doctor, there was no complication whatsoever. The next day, 8th May morning she was normal, though very weak.

On 8th May, I called up all my relatives and friends to tell them about my wife’s surgery and the cancellation of our Wedding Anniversary Party. I also cancelled all other arrangements for the Party except for the sweets.

And the next day, 9th May 1989, Aditya Hospital became the place of our Anniversary celebration with flower bouquets decorating our room. All the invitees of our (cancelled) Party came there to inquire about my wife’s condition and wish her a speedy recovery with flower bouquets and gifts and wish us a Happy Wedding Anniversary. And from our side, there were sweets to offer them and the hospital staff. They were all thrilled to see us happy and our celebration.

Once again, thank you, GOD. And thank you Dr Amaravadi Prabhakar Chary, other doctors and staff of Aditya Hospital, for saving a life so dear and precious to us. We will always remember you for your excellent service.

May GOD bless this excellent team richly.

The person with long grey hair is Dr Amaravadi Prabhakar Chary.