The Cloth Tourniquet

CONQUEST OF DEATH 6

As a corollary to the anecdote of “The Swollen Leg,” it would not be totally out of context to narrate an incident that happened in my family. My wife is from Pune, a city about three hours away from Mumbai in the State of Maharashtra, India. Her father became stable after having sustained a heart attack. He started his routine. To meet him and relax during the vacation, she went to Pune.

One day while on a routine walk, he suddenly developed cramps in his calf. He limped, somehow managed to come home. Anticipating a clot, but not knowing whether in the artery of the leg or in the vein, she fastened a cloth tourniquet above the level of the calf. The physician treating her father was called. 

Soon he came.

Seeing the tourniquet he asked, “Who fastened this?”

“I” Replied my wife.

Not knowing her relation to the patient in question, he asked, “What is your name doctor?”

“I am his daughter. I am not a doctor, my husband is! He is a surgeon. I have heard him teach his students: ‘sudden pain in the calf muscles while walking is claudication.  It can be due to a clot. The clot can be in the artery or in the vein. If the clot slips and enters into general circulation, the complications can be horrendous.’ So to avert a debacle, I fastened it!” she replied.

“Brilliant prudence! By giving important first aid, you have certainly averted a life threatening debacle. Not all house wives of surgeons are curious enough and possess a sense of presence of mind! Kudos to you!!,” the attending physician lauded my wife. 

“Let us shift you to a well equipped hospital and take a vascular surgeon’s opinion” said the physician, to my father in law.

“Well, we will be guided by your advice.” He replied.

My father in law was shifted to a hospital. Soon a vascular surgeon was consulted. He assessed the case and came to the conclusion that the clot was in the important artery of the leg.

So he advised an operation for removal of the clot. He and all the relatives around agreed.

The operation was successful. My father in law’s recovery was uneventful.

There is a well-known saying: “Behind every successful man there is a woman”

I beg to modify it and say, juxtaposition to a man, however successful, there is a woman!!

A True Story in Real Life!!

A Drama in My Life!!