Feb 19, 2007 - Friends Geeta and Mohan were stepping into their 2nd year of togetherness. We were all set to have a Dinner party, I got to hear over the phone about Ayya's (that's how I address my father) illness. I panicked, as I heard it to be a mild heart attack. It was shocking, as Ayya had always done well with his health, agile and active. My parents accompanied by my cousins were heading to Bangalore that night. It was a very difficult night to pass through, all sorts of thoughts crossing my mind, being unsure of what has happened fuelled my scares, felt guilty or rather helpless at being unavailabe at this crucial time. That night was crawling...
Next morning, I caught up with ayya at the Narayana Hrudayalaya. It felt better. He was composed and looked normal, extremely opposite to how Mom was. Mom has always been over-anxious. Vishanna (Dr. Vishwanath, my cousin) felt Ayya is safe as he had crossed those crucial initial hours after the attack. There was a long day ahead of us, deciding our next course of actions. Ayya underwent a set of cardiovascular tests, angiogram reports were asking for his surgery at the earliest. Doctors suggested about 10 days of wait so that his heart tissues could strengthen. Things started to settle, the feeling started to sink in and we were in preparation and anticipation of the surgery.
Feb 23, 2007 - That was a Black Friday, a day that would haunt me for ever. After attending to my anxious Mom's call about Ayya being taken down to the CCU(Coronary Care Unit) due to fever and chills, I started early from the office. I found Mom and Shubhakka worried there. I rushed into the CCU to have a look of Ayya, I got devastated. He was literally on life support system. His Pulse rate was in the range of 150's and the Blood Pressure well below 80/60. Those were scary scenes, which I couldn't convey to my Mom and Akka either. He was being administered a high dosage of medicines to stabilize both his heart rate and BP. On strong insistence from Mom, I decided to take her inside the CCU. Mom was shattered, right then a sad demise of a fellow Muslim patient added to her scare. She was on the floors. By then I had realized the magnitude of the issue, and promptly called up Vishanna for support. We had a night to pass by, a crucial one. Deciding to take it all by myself I sent both Amma and Akka home with some false-at-that-time but optimistic assurances. I was alone. Shilpa, Smita, Geeta, Mohan came to help me pass through that dreadful night. I don't remember praying that hard for anything before that. There were Lot's of prayers, phone calls to the CCU to check on the Ayya's reading all through the night. With sun shine, it started to get better. Two more days at the CCU, and Ayya was out of danger for then.
March 7th was decided to be the surgery day. The big day was nearing. Doctors, Surgeon were up against a not-so-easy task. The anxiety was building. By God's grace, Ayya was successfully operated by Dr. Sanjay Dhaded. The surgery went smoother than ever expected. Our prayers were heard. Four days Post Surgery, Ayya was in the ICU. It was quite a feeling when I spoke to him for the first time after his consciousness returned. To be able to recover from those Black Friday's lows was truly exhilarating. As my doctor cousin puts it "It was quite a miracle!".
March 22nd, Ayya was discharged from the hospital. Ayya has always had a great zeal in what ever he does. We were in for a rehabilitation period, with lot of care required towards what Ayya does, eats, sleeps etc.
Last week, ayya met up with his heart surgeon at Narayana Hrudayalaya for his 6 months follow-up. His LVEF (Left ventricular Ejection Fraction - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LVEF) was 50%, from a mere 34% pre-surgery. I believe its his zeal for life and will power which helped him fight this battle of life and emerge triumphant.
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