Valli’s baby has been with us for a month now. She is frail, premature, weighs about 1 kg and today we finally had to make the tough decision – she wouldn’t make it. The parents have been very, very caring and even today they were hoping… but all of us knew that the baby wouldn’t make. She had showed great endurance and courage – ventilation, jaundice, apnea, sepsis, recurrent intestinal bleeds, a failing liver, oxygen dependancy, hypoglycemia, anemia…… the list is looooong…. but finally her frail body was giving up – she was just too premature and sick. the parents were out of money and we were out of medical ideas and options. They left sad but not disheartened –…

Another kid who had an accident at home! Grampa used an airgun to scare monkeys away and left the gun carelessly in the house. Eight year old kid picks it up and shoots herself in the arm. She comes into the ER with a little pain and some swelling. an Xray confirmed our fears – the metal pellet was lodged in her arm – thats the white blob that you see right next to the bone. She now needs a surgery to remove it!I was appalled at the lack of remorse by the grandfather! This child could have ended up dead, blink or seriously sick but was lucky!! I guess God watches over the kids even if their grampas don’t!(But…

Praburam and I try hard to manage all the children ourselves in our hospital and never refer a child. If we need a second opinion we usually send them to Vellore to meet one of our Professors or Specialists we know.Right now we have a baby on a ventilator and it will be at least three days before we can take him off it. Then out of the blue – TWINS! Born at 32 weeks and very tiny. Both of them had severe breathing difficulty and my gut feeling was that they would not hold on for too long. So I made a couple of phonecalls and sent them in an hour to another hospital. It was a wise decision…

This video is not for the weak hearted. This child had a dog-bite a couple of months ago and did not receive his vaccinations.He now has full blown rabies. he has both aerophobia and hydrophobia – fear of air and water. The child died the next day.I strongly recommend that you vaccinate your dog and in case of a dog bite see a doctor to decide what to do. Delay and ignorance mean death. Click here to see the video.

The student nurses as a part of their training held a free health camp for kids. Praburam and I were the chosen doctors (no other choice for the nurses!!) After dropping off Becky at the parlour we went to the camp and ended up seeing about 80 kids in a make-shift clinic. We had a useful time. The highlight of the camp was a health education program the student nurses organised after the camp. There was a traditional Villu paatu and a skit followed by a couple of talks. Praburam and I sat in the back and enjoyed the program as the kids were naughty and kept disturbing the proceedings. we managed to get back to the OPD on time…

Sorry for the bland title – but I couldnt think of anything interesting.1. The day started off with Sruthika – a cute 1 year old girl who was admitted with a severe pneumonia and needed 10 days of expensive antibiotics before she was fit for discharge today. She’s back to her bubbly self today and when I saw her today – there she was with a very macho looking mustache drawn by some nurse. She seemed to be enjoying it and I’m glad she got better. Here’s a pic2. Badminton: Yesterday all of us (Arun, Catherine, Praburam, Rajendran, Becky and I) went crazy and played badminton till it was too dark to see and we decided to make our own…

“Look doc – I have a hole in my head”Thats what Vigneswaran seems to be telling me in the pic below!Unfortunately the story isnt as funny although it has a happy ending.Vignesh was brough a couple of weeks ago after he fell off the gate which he was playing on. He had a huge swelling on the head and a black eye. An Xray and CT revealed a skull fracture. He was a little dull and drowsy and we started him on several meds, transfused blood (His Hemoglobin dropped to 6 gm%) and as soon as he was stable he was wheeled into the Operation Theater where a bit of his skullbone was removed and some blood clots removed. He…

Its a long story, but Merlin aunty and uncle (Beckys aunt and uncle) usually do a social/charity project every year and they entrust the responsibility with Beckys mom (my Athai). Athai decided this year to spruce up the Paediatric OPD and after loooong hours of making toys etc at Kodaikanal, early in December everything was set up. So here is an album of all the colors, toys, tiles, curtains etc that made the OPD really child friendly!Click here to see the pics of the Pediatric OPD after the transformation

Today was the longest Becky and I were away from each other. I was on duty so i was stuck at the hospital and Becky went for a retreat organized by the hospital at a place 1 hour away. The day was quite eventful I started off early and went to church at 7.30 AM when Becky left for the retreat. I got no calls during the church service. Unfortunately I wasnt so lucky the rest of the day. Rounds took a long time and I had to squeeze in some shopping, cleaning and cooking (yes…. I said cooking). There were frequent interruptions and lots of sick children. Becky too came back tired but we had a joyful reunion (the…

Just one of those perks when you are a paediatrician!!I’d asked my parents to buy a couple of cheap toys on the train when they came home and they got two cute plastic toys. And did the kids love them – you BET!!So here’s a video of a kid playing with both of them – he could do it for hours if we allowed him to!!The video is a low quality mobile cam video – but you dont need a high resolution camera to see that the kid is enjoying himself!