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Friday, June 24, 2011

Accidents Do Happen

Yes, they do, and they do not forewarn us when they do. My brother's daughter and my own elder daughter stumbled while negotiating a rough road patch last Sunday while riding a scooter. My daughter was driving, and had a helmet on; my niece was the pillion rider, and she did not wear a helmet because we didn't have a spare in the scooter. They were on their way to Colaba to do some shopping, while the adults, that is, us, were enjoying ourselves at a group get-together just ahead of their destination, at Colaba.

I got a call on my cell, and Inas, my daughter, practically in a panic, asked me to rush to "St. George's Hospital" as Nuriyah (my niece) had had an accident, and was bleeding profusely from her head wound. The call threw all of us sitting at the get-together in panic, and both us, and Nuriyah's mom and Dad rushed to the hospital, where we took over from the kids (my younger daughter Hannah was also there, as she had also  been going with the other two girls to Colaba, albeit on a second scooter).

It took us more than two hours to get all her  body X-rays done, and for the head wound to be stitched. In view of the fact that she had bleeding from both the head wound as well as the right ear, we suspected that there was a breach of the internal base of the skull, and perhaps a fracture of the temporal bone and the mastoid. Hence, a plain CT was imperative. Hence we decided to take her to Saifee Hospital (Click here.)

I contacted a surgeon I know, Dr. Saleh Dhansura, and after taking his advice, we all went to Saifee, where we got a C. T. scan done within half an hour. It confirmed the temporal fracture, but revealed also, that there was a thin layer of subdural hemorrhage inside Nuriyah's skull. Hence we got her admitted under Dr. Dhansura's care.

By the time the C.T. was done, and actually, even before that, Nuriyah was neurologically all right, thus allaying my fear that she would have some deficit or seizure or God knows what else. She was put on IV antibiotics, IV fluids and kept Nil-by-mouth (NBM). A medico-legal case was also registered, and I learnt later that the constable was with Nuriyah's mom late into the night to take her statement. The image below is that of Nuriyah on the day of her discharge.



Eventually, Nuriyah stayed in hospital for 3 1/2 days, and we took her home on Wednesday morning after a repeat C.T. scan showed that the bleed inside her skull had resolved completely.

Inas, my daughter, sustained abrasions on the top of her right foot (see above), and these haven't healed yet as I write this. She has started work at the Hotel Leela near the international airport, and is away from morning to late evening. When she returns, her foot has swollen considerably. I started her on anti-inflammatory tablets and an antibiotic. She should improve soon.

That's all for now.

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