A Paean of Gratitude; JECC a healing place
The art of medicine
Medicine is both science and art. It is the triumph of skill over illness. It is the activity to navigate complex, sometimes contradictory evidence, tempering it with a human touch to improve the quality of life.
Excellent treatment is more than technical perfection. It is the platinum rule in action – doing unto patients as they would want done unto themselves. It s the compassionate gaze of the clinician who sees the person, not just the diagnosis and acknowledges the profound vulnerability of the human condition.
To Blink or Not to Blink
I am a patient from Sri Lanka with a very long eye story to tell. Taking a walk down the memory lane, I shiver and shudder at the suffering I had to undergo those days. It was so bad that living became a torture!
The condition I accumulated may have started many years ago, but I began to feel the impact of it slowly in the 1990’s. On the one hand, irritating eyes led to constant rubbing. On the other hand, blinking the eyes which others take for granted became a very painful task for me! Each time I blinked, something pricked or rather pierced into my eye! So much so that I thought twice or thrice before blinking. Sometimes, I held my eye lid up by hand to avoid a blink.
Initially, I sought local help. The doctors who checked me were amazed at what they saw. All they told me was that it was some allergy and drops were prescribed for it. Some temporary relief was there but the condition kept recurring. One doctor advised surgery. My vision also got blurred at times. One elderly doctor told me that it looked like a Cauliflower under my eye lids! Altogether, I began to feel like a guinea pig. I realized that I must act quickly and seek help elsewhere.
Searching in Chennai
I never searched for anything so hard in my life as I did for a doctor who could cure me. It is said if someone who lives in a dense forest owns an excellent mouse trap, people will beat a path to find him. I remembered Mr. Amitab Bachaan saying ‘Madras is the Mecca of Medicine’. Madras which is Chennai now is close to Sri Lanka and it is affordable for me to travel there.
I first went to Shankara Nethralaya in December, 2001. Our airport was under attack by the LTTE only a few weeks before and I boarded my Chennai flight amidst half burnt aircrafts parked on the side. There, the cornea specialist told me that a sample tissue from under the eyelids should be scraped and tested!! I was devastated to hear it and came home without doing it. I began to wonder with an even heavier heart how to save my eyes.
I don’t think Google Search was popular then as it is now or even if it existed, I wasnot aware of it. With an ‘I do’ attitude, I started collecting a few references from my friends and colleagues. However, the reference I would finally decide on, strangely came from my neighbor. Her elderly sister had lost her vision completely after an eye surgery. Some one referred Dr. Ganesh to her, who was attached to Ramachandra Medical College at that time. She took her sister to his clinic and the doctor was able to restore 10 % of her vision. My neighbor further advised me that, in my case too, I must see a doctor like him who is involved in medical research. So I sent an e-mail to Dr. Ganesh to know if I could see him in June, 2002 with a warning that I needed a surgery. I vividly remember his precise and prompt reply ‘I shall be very much in town and surgery can be considered after seeing in person’.
Treating a Guinea Pig
Thus started my many Chennai trips to Jaya Eye Clinic which later became Jaya Eye Care Centre run by Dr. Ganesh. On my first visit, the doctor exclaimed in surprise or shock while checking and my heart sank. I did not mind it with local doctors. I was quite resigned to my fate as a Guinea Pig then. But, a research doctor in a big country could also be surprised, surprised me!
After pondering for a while, doctor described that my allergy was classic and wanted to show it to his students. The next day, he told me, without testing any tissue from my eyes, that through the swollen allergy cells Calcium was leaking through! Wondering perhaps, how on earth I managed to build such a Calcium empire over decades, he further added ‘you must be drinking a lot milk’. It was both shocking and embarrassing for me to hear it, but the truth should be revealed at any cost. True, I did take milk, but the worst thing was I took Sustagen as a quick fix for nutrients whenever I missed regular meals due to work pressure. Now everything became clear! No one told me the reason before and I was groping in the dark! Doctor also told me that surgery was pointless.
I went on allergy drops and lubricants for a long time. I had no choice as it was a do or die situation. After 7 years, my condition completely vanished and I don’t think there is even a trace of it now.
Further Treatment
Even after recovery, I continued my eye checkups with Dr. Ganesh once or twice a year. I was enjoying perfectly healthy eyes for some years.
Again, misfortune fell on me! In Nov, 2019, may be due to the rigorous rubbing of eyes those days, I suddenly suffered from acute angle closure glaucoma. It was so severe that I could not even drink Water. Initial attempts here, to put a hole in my iris were not successful. Despite the corona threats, I rushed to Chennai and Dr. Ganesh did the needful. I was put on drops for a week to soften the iris, I think, and laser was done only after that.
I could not go to Chennai for 3 years as the world came to a stand still due to corona. To avoid the spiking of eye pressure, I had to do my cataract surgeries locally. When the lockdown was over, I went for my check up in December, 2022. Doctor had to treat me for the clouding of vision in my right eye which was badly affected by angle closure glaucoma.
Silver Jubilee Celebration
24 years have passed by now. It has been a long eye battle for both the patient and the doctor. I don’t make frequent visits any more. I can never thank Dr. Ganesh enough for treating me with such care and concern and providing general health guidances. I wish him all the best in all his endeavors and a long healthy life. May more and more patients benefit from his expertise in future. I shall end this review with a poem.
To the steady hand, the listening ear,
And the heart that chases away the fear,
Not just a cure, but a calming grace,
That turns a hospital into a healing place.
Thank you !
