The field of Pediatrics

Before you go and wonder what made me write about my profession in this, my non-professional blog, let me tell you that this is, in many ways, a completely non-professional input. I see several types of parents with their children every day. Each day is a challenge, for parents, like a sample of humanity, come in different shapes and sizes, with each having a cartload of preconceived notions, misbeliefs, pet peeves and desires, unstated questions, different expectations and different sized pockets to pay my fees with! To be able to keep all these people happy so that they return to me again and again requires not just medical knowledge, but an understanding of the way the cogs in human minds turn; what turns an intellectual parent on (a brief discourse on their child's illness with a internet source written on a piece of paper thrown in) will completely turn off someone who isn't so well-lettered ( he/she is more likely to be annoyed at the "lecture" and will often seek a quick exit with the remedies written down in his/her own language and explained patiently not once but twice).

On the other hand, the patient - the child or the infant - is an altogether different nut to crack! As it is, the child cannot mouth (articulate) correctly what is wrong with him/her. On top of that, he/she is more than likely to be irritable, scared, annoyed, ill and hungry. How to reach out to him/her and make him/her tell you what is wrong with him/her with his/her body language and gestures?

Don't you think it would have been better to be a cryptologist or an atomic scientist?

Down with flu

... or something like it, anyway. I am writing this to clear some doubts that people have regarding the flu. I am not talking about the dreaded bird flu, so take heart.

Usually, flu creeps in with bouts of sneezing on Day 1. They make you so uncomfortable. When I am riding my bike, I have to ride really slow, or the next sneeze will see me bang head-on into an oncoming pedestrian or, God forbid, a vehicle. The bouts come with a frequency that is more than I can care to count, as, simultaneously, my head is feeling woozy and my eyes shut tight as I try to gain control over myself. However, I can safely say that they are more than ten every 15 minutes. This phase of the illness lasts for about 16-20 hours.

The next phase is the one of watery nasal discharge. The water just keeps coming out. It does this so surreptitiously that I am alarmed when, for example, I am with a patient, and the slow ooze just comes out and rolls down the upper lip. It is a tough thing to behave as though nothing untoward is happening. The patient looks on quizzically as I attempt to wipe the snot off with as much finesse as I can muster. Take medicines at this stage? You've got to be joking! There is no other symptom except for the runny nose.

Phase three comes like a tiger stalks its prey. You are forced to take a pill for it as it is so debilitating that you couldn't work if you didn't take one. This is the phase when body aches, headache and fever come in. You know, the hallmark of flu and all that. Soon, I am swallowing a paracetamol pill every four hours to fight back the pains and the fever. I dare not take an anti-histamine, for I am exquisitely sensitive to their sedative effect. A dose that does nothing to an infant, believe you me, will knock me off for at least 12 hours. Yes, you read that right, twelve hours!

Today, very great trepidation, I took 5 ml of a cold syrup that I normally prescribe to a 2-year old. The result: I am still woozy after 4 hours of it! As I write this blog, I am repeatedly correcting and re-correcting my words as the fingers just won't fly over the key-board the way they normally do!

Okay, now this is prediction: by tomorrow, the fever etc. will subside and phase 4 will kick in: the snot will turn yellow, I will start feeling better, and hopefully,over the next few days, I shall return to normal.

At least that is what I hope for.

:-)

Let me now say the following:

1. A flu is caused by a virus.
2. You cannot catch the flu by drinking cold drinks or eating curds or ice-cream.
3. Hygiene is the ONLY way to prevent spread of the virus from one house-hold member to the others.
4. Chicken soup is really helpful, as are any hot/spicy foods like usal, mysore dosa, chi. hot and sour soup, chi. chilly, and so on.

I think that's all for now.

p4poetry.com

A new web-site that has opened as recently as April 2008 and known by the name http://www.p4poetry.com has suddenly come up on the cyber-space. Owned by Raj and Renuka Halve, this website aims to promote Indian poets writing in English or any of the vernacular languages. It provides a platform to anyone with the yen to write verse. I joined up about a week ago, and have posted only one poem so far. However, I was in time to attend their first-ever Meeting in Mumbai held in the evening on Saturday 10th May at "Pause" a Wine resto-bar located in Bandra. Present at this meeting were the owner couple, the webmaster Vikash, their colleague Preeti Datar (who I have had the privilege to know earlier through www.writing.com), and about 12 others, among them, a professor of English, a software consultant, a professional writer-poet (a Sikh who writes absolutely lovely Hindi verse), another Pediatrician (Dr. P.V. Vaidyanathan), and others. After formal introductions, we had a poetry-reading session. I had the pleasure to hear some beautiful Hindi poems. Above all, the experience was unique because of its venue - a lovely place to hang out. Incidentally, it is owned by the Halves (read that as the plural of Hal-vay).

I read "Child's Lament" and a small comic poem as my contribution. The best poems were read by the Sikh poet and the English professor, a lady. I hope to establish more contact with all these worthies in the days to come. The plan is to have at least one poetry reading every month.