Have a heart

It was the Monday I was waiting since a few days. My uncle and his family were visiting us from Middle East and I wanted to show the children that Bangalore is much more than busy traffic, chaos and garbage. So a nice little taxi was booked and then at the last moment, uncle and aunt also wanted to join as we had decided to visit Christ college, where their daughter would be studying next year. We paid the taxi driver Rs. 50 extra for one extra passenger and off we went to Koramangala. Took a break and went into Forum just so that the children could buy stuffs for their friends back home. As we walked out after paying, uncle walked out of the washroom visibly tensed. We rushed towards him and found him sweating. Aunt asked for help and I rushed down to the ground floor asking for help at the helpdesk. Forum's helpdesk at the reception did a good job and sent a wheel chair in less than 5 minutes, called for a doctor and also arranged for a taxi to visit the nearest hospital, which was St. John's. Two assistants helped uncle from the lift and brought him down on the wheel chair and in 10 minutes we were in the hospital emergency ward.


I just had to explain the nurse that this was a potential heart attack case and we need immediate help and he was whisked away to the emergency ward and within 10 minutes, he was on an ECG to check for heart problems.

They didn't ask for money and neither did they check for anything else.

And yes, in 15 minutes, it was confirmed that he is having a heart attack and a massive one! Aunt almost broke into tears but the doctors wanted answers, history of the patient. Luckily, I knew uncle a bit and though he was not a heart patient, I knew that he smokes often and also drinks. While I was wondering if aunt would lose consciousness, the doctor wanted permission to operate his heart in less than 20 minutes. And it was angioplasty, which from whatever I understood was the best thing that can help save his life.

That's it, in the next 5 minutes, he was taken the operation theater and within 25 minutes the doctor gave the good news!

We finally were relieved. From happy-merry trip that began at 10 in the morning, the next thing we knew was my uncle resting in the ICU with a metal stent supporting his heart's narrow artery. From the moment we were in Forum, it was just 1.5 hours that the entire story unfolded and ended fairly. When I called parents, and by the time they could reach hospital, it was all done, much to the shock of all.

Amidst this chaos and the relief, the doctor wanted 2 days of ICU and his wife and I decided to stay back in the hospital, just in case there is an emergency.

Aunt & I sat through the night & we had a long conversation about life, married life, health, money, and other related facets of life. It was nice.

Later, I kept wondering why aren't humans a little more careful....



1. If we have a family history or if our life style is sedentary, then I guess we should go for a check every few years once we cross 40. The doctor had specifically told after the operation that if this was discovered earlier, medication would have helped.

2. Insure, life and medical expenses. We spend thousands of rupees every year to insure our car and bikes. We should do the same with our lives as there are others who can be seriously under a lot of pressure not only due to the loss of life but also due to the financial crisis that comes along with it.

3. Why don't we live a decently healthy life? Quite debatable but yet worth the thought. Walk a lot, eat lots of fruits, think about interesting ways to cook vegetables (they are the best), don't smoke or drink, be genuinely positive about life, relationships and try and find happiness in the little things. My cousin always made fun of me on my low-end cell phone but I'm extremely glad to have been able to spend on her father's emergency situation and that extra 10 k that I had was probably due to the 'low-end' cell phone that I've.

At this stage, am very pleased because the doctors were like, if not for the timing, the situation would've been much worse. He is now healthy and raring to go and I'm sure there is at least a decade of life left in him, thanks to new age medication and of course, his will to live healthy!