One horrible experience

"Chandar...This suture is a bit painful and uncomfortable da, should ask appa to take me to the dentist" - I heard my mom saying couple of days back. She had a small surgery to remove a piece of left over tooth below her dentures. My mom being a sexagenarian had her shares of trouble with her dental health. Few years back only she had her full dentures. whenever my mom says something about her teeth, i get little worried. And, my mom knows it more than anyone else and never asks me to take her to dentist.

And now to the flashback......(yeah you can imagine the coiling circles in front of you).

It had been few months after i joined an IT organization as a fresher. One evening my mom had mentioned to me that she had to go to a dentist and since the dentist's place was few KMs away from our home she wanted me to take her in the bike. I obliged like a nice caring son
and went to that doctor's place. When my mom's turn came, we went in. The dentist was a young fellow probably in his early thirties and his dispensary was a small room with the dentist's chair in the middle and all tools that he'd use kept in an orderly fashion in the nearby table. He checked my mom's problematic tooth and gave a local anesthetic injection both sides of the tooth and asked her to wait for the area to become numb.

After 10 minutes we went back inside for him to extract the trouble maker tooth. Me being a self proclaimed bold person decided to stay inside and watch the whole procedure for the heck of it. The procedure started and the doctor was trying to extract the tooth with his forceps. At first it looked a normal simple thing as my mom never showed any reactions and was sitting without much ado. My mom is a very bold lady. That's when i noticed something, the doctor was calling for her assistant, a young lady in her early twenties to bring some cotton. His face was getting tensed. The cotton went inside her mouth pure white and came back in complete red color. Then he was trying to calm himself and pulled the tooth, my mom gave a cry of pain. Now the blood started coming from her mouth in one side. The assistant was busy wiping it and the doc was busy pulling the tooth. My mom was cryin in pain. Generally my mom is very bold and she handles such situation so calmly and easily. I told them to stop and shouted what are you trying to do. I could see they were all visibly shaken and the doc said the tooth broke and half of the tooth is inside. My mom was really in trouble and she said enough leave it we'd go home. I was already angry with the doc for the way he was pulling the tooth(probably he must have been a great tug of war player, rascal#@#!@$@$$). Told my mom to adjust for a moment till he takes out the full tooth in a irritated voice. Poor lady she agreed and opened her mouth. This fellow happily started all over again and this time the assistant joined. I wasn't sure what to do, i have to trust the doctor. Then at one stage couldn't manage my mom's suffering i shouted to the doctor "Stop it pls".

My mom too had decided enough is enough let the piece remain inside. she immediately got up from the chair, rinsed her mouth and spat blood. I couldn't see my mom like that. We paid that doc (for almost killing my mom) and came back. While coming back i was trying to talk to her just to make sure she is not fainting. But, she well managed to reach home. upon reaching home she was really restless, trying to lie down in the bed, then she would get up and walk, drink water, goto bed again. I was irritated (actually scared) and shouted at her "why don't you take some rest in one place?" She responded, i am not able to breathe. I was such an idiot told her "Ok ok you're imagining things now, go sleep it'd be ok". But, my mom was even more restless by now and my dad said take her to the doctor nearby(one of our distant relative is a doctor and she has a clinic very close to home). I took my mom walking thinking it would make her feel better and the doctor checked my mom's heart beat, pulse, BP and silently she told me "Chandar, better take her to hospital and admit there" I was stunned a bit, then she told calmly (probably in an effort not to make me panic) i would give a letter and you give there in the hospital they would admit her immediately. I dunno what i thought at that moment, went to nearby shop made a call to my sis and asked her to take my ATM card and get some cash to the hospital, while i am taking mom. Then caught an auto and reached the hospital. They took her in a stretcher and the duty doc checked her and then they took her into ICU. That was my first hospital visit with a patient, and i wasn't sure what were the procedures. I thought its normal to take people there for check up. Then a nurse came with set of documents and asked me to sign there. I asked what's this all about. She replied we're admitting her to ICU and putting her in oxygen mask and the cardiologist has been asked to come urgently. For a moment it felt like my head was spinning like the ball from Shane Warne's hand.

I was becoming pale in fear but manged to compose myself and sign the documents. After that i didn't have courage to even ask someone how was my mom. I was standing there like a mute spectator and was looking at my mom inside the ICU with mask in her face. Then my sis came and started crying almost instantly seeing her in ICU. I had to console her and dad being a emotional person went out of the hospital after seeing my mom. Looking at my sis crying, i tried my best not to shed tears. Boy, it was some effort to keep it out from coming at that moment. Then the cardiologist came and the next two hours went in waiting. The doc never uttered anything and after two-three hours by around 3AM he came out and said its a heart attack, probably the second one and he continued the first one itself is not completely healed. We were looking at each other, never my mom had complained about pain or any discomfort in chest. We asked the doc how can it be, he showed the angiogram, ECG and few other reports and explained, none of which made sense to me. I walked slowly outside the hospital and was standing on the corridor in a pitch dark corner, couldn't stop the drops coming out of my eyes(but i wasn't crying in fact), not because my mom was in ICU, but for the fact that she had never complained any of her discomfort with us over the years.

The whole night and that week went in hospital and then my mom came back safe and sound. Thanks God for that. From that day till today whenever she complains about dental issues, immediately i would ask her to have a check up with cardio and then go to dentist and that too a proper one(by now we have a good dental surgeon). I would never agree to take her to dentist, just for the fear that the first time i took her and the result was awful.

After that she had extracted almost all her remaining tooth and had a complete dentures, bold lady she is. Even now when i ask her to take precaution she used to calmly says don't worry that was one time thing, wont happen again. That's something for mental strength...

And back from flashback to NOW....

I told my mom that she had to bear this sutures for another couple of days and things would become normal. And, here she was back to her normal chores.

P.S: Dunno y suddenly thought i would write this as a post.