(This is the second part of a fictional short story - In you we trust. You can find the first part here.)
"Good morning Anu!", Dr. Jha said as he entered his department. Anu had just got in and was surprised to see her boss come in so early. He looked quite excited. He quickly put his things in his room and dashed off towards the IP rooms on his daily rounds of the admitted patients. He had also found something to try for the troubling IgA Nephropathy case.
Dr. Jha hated for a transplant to fail. A transplant, he believed was the ultimate challenge in nephrology. It was the only real treatment, he felt. Dialysis - even daily - was at best a compromise. Yes, good, frequent, long duration dialysis did offer a good quality of life but it wasn't even close to the quality of life offered by a transplant. And then you had the whole act of donating an organ. This, he felt, was the ultimate donation anyone could ever make, the ultimate act of altruism. Dr. Jha would always have a one-on-one session with the donor before the transplant allaying any fears, giving strength and strongly praising the decision to donate. One of the main reasons he was very keen that every transplant succeeded, apart from the well-being of his patients, was that he did not want the donation to go in vain.
Dr. Jha made his way to the Transplant ICU where the IgA Nephropathy case was being kept. It was a young boy of about 28 years. Everything went well during the transplant. His mother had donated. The mother was fine, as expected. For about a month, everything was fine and then suddenly the creatinine started rising. Dr. Jha, the boy and his family, everyone was on tenterhooks. This wasn't a new occurrence for the doctor. He had handled rejections and worse in the past. Yet, with every case, there was this nervousness. The stakes, after all, were so high! For Dr. Jha, it was one of many transplants. For the patient however, this was his only shot at a normal life. His one chance. Dr. Jha realized this.
As he greeted the patient after donning the mandatory gown, mask, gloves and slippers, he said he was changing one of the drugs in his prescription and hopefully that should improve the kidney function. The patient understood. Transplants are a tricky business. You are never quite sure of what to do. The boy was aware of this and was happy to be in good hands. He trusted Dr. Jha completely.
By the time he completed his rounds of the other IP patients and returned to his room, it was around 11:30. He asked Anu for a cup of black tea and settled down at his table rummaging through the journals to read up a little more on one of the IP cases he had just seen.
"Sir, Prakash, dialysis technician, is here for an interview", Anu's voice announced on the phone.
"Send him in!"
In his preoccupation with the transplant case, Dr. Jha forgot to visit the dialysis unit and all about his problems with the understaffing. He looked up in anticipation as a short, lean and unassuming young guy, twenty five perhaps, asked to come in. Dr. Jha gestured him to come and sit just as his cell phone rang. Quickly muttering an apology to the caller, Dr. Jha focussed on the resume which the candidate gave him respectfully. It was the same resume that he had seen earlier. The same mistakes, the bad formatting, the wrong spellings. These things did not matter of course, as long as the guy knew his job well!
The interview lasted about 45 minutes. The doctor and technician took an instant liking for one another. Prakash knew dialysis. He was passionate about it. It was easy to see. Unlike many other technicians Dr. Jha had encountered in his career who had at best, a superficial understanding of dialysis, Prakash knew the concepts. About twenty minutes into the interview Dr. Jha had made up his mind to hire him. But he continued because it had been a long time since he had had an interesting discussion on the subject with someone of Prakash's background. More than anything, Prakash's enthusiasm intrigued the doctor. They discussed Kt/V, its merits and demerits, Peritoneal Dialysis, using high flux dialyzers, cross infections and much more. Towards the end, Prakash also felt the interview was going well and was quite confident of being hired.
Dr. Jha then broached the topic of the salary. Prakash's expectations were reasonable. He asked for about 25% more than what they were paying Ramesh and about 30% more than what he was being paid at his previous job. Prakash would serve his notice period of a month and then join Charaka.
"Welcome to Charaka!", Dr. Suketu Jha said as he offered a handshake to Prakash. Prakash beamed as he took the doctor's hand and excitedly said, "Thank you sir!"
"Good morning Anu!", Dr. Jha said as he entered his department. Anu had just got in and was surprised to see her boss come in so early. He looked quite excited. He quickly put his things in his room and dashed off towards the IP rooms on his daily rounds of the admitted patients. He had also found something to try for the troubling IgA Nephropathy case.
Dr. Jha hated for a transplant to fail. A transplant, he believed was the ultimate challenge in nephrology. It was the only real treatment, he felt. Dialysis - even daily - was at best a compromise. Yes, good, frequent, long duration dialysis did offer a good quality of life but it wasn't even close to the quality of life offered by a transplant. And then you had the whole act of donating an organ. This, he felt, was the ultimate donation anyone could ever make, the ultimate act of altruism. Dr. Jha would always have a one-on-one session with the donor before the transplant allaying any fears, giving strength and strongly praising the decision to donate. One of the main reasons he was very keen that every transplant succeeded, apart from the well-being of his patients, was that he did not want the donation to go in vain.
Dr. Jha made his way to the Transplant ICU where the IgA Nephropathy case was being kept. It was a young boy of about 28 years. Everything went well during the transplant. His mother had donated. The mother was fine, as expected. For about a month, everything was fine and then suddenly the creatinine started rising. Dr. Jha, the boy and his family, everyone was on tenterhooks. This wasn't a new occurrence for the doctor. He had handled rejections and worse in the past. Yet, with every case, there was this nervousness. The stakes, after all, were so high! For Dr. Jha, it was one of many transplants. For the patient however, this was his only shot at a normal life. His one chance. Dr. Jha realized this.
As he greeted the patient after donning the mandatory gown, mask, gloves and slippers, he said he was changing one of the drugs in his prescription and hopefully that should improve the kidney function. The patient understood. Transplants are a tricky business. You are never quite sure of what to do. The boy was aware of this and was happy to be in good hands. He trusted Dr. Jha completely.
By the time he completed his rounds of the other IP patients and returned to his room, it was around 11:30. He asked Anu for a cup of black tea and settled down at his table rummaging through the journals to read up a little more on one of the IP cases he had just seen.
"Sir, Prakash, dialysis technician, is here for an interview", Anu's voice announced on the phone.
"Send him in!"
In his preoccupation with the transplant case, Dr. Jha forgot to visit the dialysis unit and all about his problems with the understaffing. He looked up in anticipation as a short, lean and unassuming young guy, twenty five perhaps, asked to come in. Dr. Jha gestured him to come and sit just as his cell phone rang. Quickly muttering an apology to the caller, Dr. Jha focussed on the resume which the candidate gave him respectfully. It was the same resume that he had seen earlier. The same mistakes, the bad formatting, the wrong spellings. These things did not matter of course, as long as the guy knew his job well!
The interview lasted about 45 minutes. The doctor and technician took an instant liking for one another. Prakash knew dialysis. He was passionate about it. It was easy to see. Unlike many other technicians Dr. Jha had encountered in his career who had at best, a superficial understanding of dialysis, Prakash knew the concepts. About twenty minutes into the interview Dr. Jha had made up his mind to hire him. But he continued because it had been a long time since he had had an interesting discussion on the subject with someone of Prakash's background. More than anything, Prakash's enthusiasm intrigued the doctor. They discussed Kt/V, its merits and demerits, Peritoneal Dialysis, using high flux dialyzers, cross infections and much more. Towards the end, Prakash also felt the interview was going well and was quite confident of being hired.
Dr. Jha then broached the topic of the salary. Prakash's expectations were reasonable. He asked for about 25% more than what they were paying Ramesh and about 30% more than what he was being paid at his previous job. Prakash would serve his notice period of a month and then join Charaka.
"Welcome to Charaka!", Dr. Suketu Jha said as he offered a handshake to Prakash. Prakash beamed as he took the doctor's hand and excitedly said, "Thank you sir!"
... http://www.kamaldshah.com/2012/06/in-you-we-trust-2.html
