STUCK UP IN LIFT- A POST DUTY EMERGENCY-[SHORT FICTION]

This blogpost was selected as WOW post for the week 18-25th April. Here is my WOW badge that I bagged.

  It was almost 8a.m in the morning and I had just completed handing over my duties and responsibilities to Dr. Yamini, who was an hour late to take the handing over from me at the ICU. It was a tough night stay at the ICU with a case from emergency department being shifted to the ICU for thrombolysis and cardiac management after a 47 year old patient was diagnosed to have a myocardial Infarction. Starting upon the thrombolytic therapy isn't easy and it does need continuous monitoring of the patient. The whole night went by and I really didn't know when it was morning....

 

    Handing over the responsibilities to Dr. Yamini, was a big relief as I made my way to change, from my ICU scrubs gown to formals. I was desperately in need of sleep as my body was aching. I wore my shirt inside out and realized on time that before I could wear it back again. Once I checked through all my things, I made my way towards the lift. The ICU was on the 3rd floor just above the Operation theater in the second floor and also just below the deluxe wards which was in the 4th.

     It was head nurse Neelam, who wished me morning as I entered into the lift. The moment I entered the lift I saw a pretty young lady, around 20-21 yrs of age who was crying of labor pain and her delivery was near.It looked like she was being shifted to the OT for a cesarean section.  Labor ward nurse Geeta was there 'trying to keep her calm" I gave a blank smile at her as the lift door closed... The lift started moving slowly as it headed down to the second floor. And suddenly there was a thud, There was a power failure and the lift got jammed. The emergency lamp was on. I could see the lady panic. I tried ringing the alarm bell, but it was of no use. The nurse started shouting, and to the patient's condition, she started panicking badly. My mobile phone had no signal and the phone in the lift wasn't working.

    The pain of this lady was intense, But I just couldn't empathize with her and needed to do something. I asked the nurse to connect her an oxygen mask, to the oxygen cylinder present beneath the stretcher, to my shocking notice, the oxygen in the cylinder could stand for another 20-25 minutes only. There was no emergency box in the lift as well. It was time to do something. I broke one part of the stretcher support, used to raise the back height, and then inserted it between the door gap and somehow managed to open 1/4th of the door. To my astonishment, we were betwixt the second and the third floor. All I could see is a major amount of concrete above which there was some light.

    I took my chances and peeped outside. I found Dr. Shalini pass from there. I somehow managed to bag her attention and explained her my situation in a jiffy. She was quick to react, she rushed to the OT, got me the surgical instruments that were required to perform the surgery. She also got the duty gynecologist Dr Radha by the lift, who was there to instruct me.

    I connected the Intravenous cannula and started her on IV fluids. Then I put on my surgical gloves, face mask and decided to go forward with the procedure. Giving spinal anesthesia is something considered to be very difficult, I had done it only once, and gave my try at this and succeed in doing it. I draped the surgical region, then took over the scalpel and made my first incision. I could feel the tiredness take a toll on me, but I never gave up. With the procedure instructions from Dr. Radha I slowly moved deeper, cutting over the tissues over the uterus. I then made a horizontal incision over the uterus and was really spellbound on seeing the baby within the amniotic fluid. It was little difficult as I had to get the amniotic fluid aside. With the help of Sister Geeta, we somehow managed to get the baby out. I decided to cut the umbilical cord. It was such chill, and I felt like cutting an inauguration ribbon. Well, indeed it was an inauguration for a new life. I handed over the boy baby to the nurse and decided to get over with the suturing process.

    The moment I took over the suturing needle, the emergency lamp had given up, the lady was having more blood loss. Situation was going out of control. The Oxygen in the cylinder was soon to end. I quickly called for the blood, which was already arranged at the OT. I hung the blood bag on a lift switch, while another oxygen cylinder was also brought to the spot and somehow connected. I had no other option, but to use the flash light on my phone to complete the suturing procedure. On one side I was sweating, while the baby's cries was boosting me to complete this procedure and save his mother. It took another 10 minutes to finish the suturing procedure. The baby was some how shifted to the neonatal care via the small gap between the floors.

   Now that the procedure was over, it took around 20 minutes for the hospital management somehow get the lift to land on the ground floor. The nurse was exhausted as well. Finally when the lift door open, I could sense relief. There were people gathered all around, there was the hospital management, then came the media , flashing lights and taking video coverage of what had happened. The hospital management was singing praises about me. I had no idea that I was stuck inside the lift for one hour and pulled of a life saving procedure to perform a delivery within the lift. I visited the baby and was greeted by the father, who was into tears as he wrapped his arms around me. The lady was soon shifted to the ward, following which I made a move from there.

    I realized that my shirt was stained with blood, but there was happiness etched up on my face making me feel that I had done something great. I carried this happiness over as I was dropped home by my hospital staff. At the end of the day I was saying to my self "So what if I was stuck in the lift, after my duty was over, I still performed my duty, for the oath that I had taken while graduating".

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend , an initiative for Indian Bloggers  by Blogadda

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P.S --> Disclaimer : This work is completely a work of fiction, and has nothing to do with any person living or dead. Any such resemblance to any person living or dead is purely co-incidental

--> Sulaiman Sait