A Sleepless Medichondriac

Operating on a complicated hernia was such a great learning experience. It had taken 5 long hours but I had not felt them during the surgery. It was afterward that I felt the dryness of my throat and the pain in my legs. I would be having a deep sleep tonight.

I however couldn’t say the same for Dr. Kumar, my teacher. He is a medichondriac. The surgery had gone fantastically as always, as Kumar sir is also a very good surgeon. He is meticulous, patient, and knowledgeable. But after every such surgery, he ends up staying up all night, calling the ICU hourly for updates despite his team, monitoring the patient. He visits the hospital to round early morning the next day and personally ensures perfect post-operative care.

You might say, aren’t all doctors supposed to do that for their patients? Although that is true, most senior doctors have a well-trained team who take care of these routine postoperative regimens. Dr. Kumar does have a great team who are all experienced in following his orders to the T.

But even then, a single episode of fever or cough or slightly more pain than usual in the postoperative period triggers a frenzy of investigations, cross consultations, changing of medications etc till Dr. Kumar is sure the patient is fine. Even after discharge, until the patient recovers completely, they are constantly on Dr. Kumar’s mind.

There are such medichondriac doctors. They suffer sleepless nights and anxiety for all their patients. Well, as long as the patients do well, we must appreciate the sleeplessness that the doctor suffers for his patients.