Surgical Intensive Care Unit

I woke up the next day at the surgical intensive care unit , not knowing what day or time it is . But I suppose I would have woken up much earlier, but kept dozing off . My Saviours Dr. Shahid and Dr.Askar came to see me in the morning. This is what I have been told , though I don’t have much recollection of their 1st visit. But at another visit,I remember Dr. Shahid saying , “Riyaz again!!!??”

Backstory

The connection between Dr. Shahid and me dates two injuries back . Yes people !! Injuries can build relationships ! I had already taken a consultation with him on my 1st freak accident – way back in 2013, after Dr. Faizal Kareem’s unit had managed to saw my thumb back after a wood saw went over it . It was Shahid’s unit that followed up through the recovery. And in 2019, I took another treatment for dislocation and median nerve injury. Yeah you guessed it I am prone to accidents ! and this one tops it all. Hopefully by Allah’s grace this would be it ! No more please .

I remember one of the nurses asking me if I knew Dr Shahid as a classmate or something, I said with a smile “ I know him through injuries !!”

The Good Nurses

Early SICU days was mostly, dozing on and off, my partner would come once in day, stay for a few minutes and leave. Dad came once , and so did Fouad. The nurses were really nice, once in a while they’d come and chat , when I am awake . They’d persuade me to have food, something that did not relish at all. They helped with brushing, body wipe, helped me in changing the Dothi , cleaning the tube, have to admit at that I was bit embarrassed and felt a little awkward. Hey but they were doing their job.

The SICU would be busy by morning and at night mostly it would be just me and the night staff. Among all the good sisters, I remember the names nurse Dilta, we once discussed on the differences between the new Thar and the old Thar, her fiancé had booked one and she was excited about it .Nurse Krishna, I think she was the youngest, kept checking up on me round the clock, not that others did not, all of them were nice to me . Nurse Krishna kept getting her butt kicked around by the seniors but in a nice way, and she took it in good spirits too. At night when I found it difficult to sleep, I’d lay awake, sound of the that unit that keeps a monitor of your pulse heart rate and things , among that hearing the night staff talk about their kid’s birthday , the church festival, their leave stories, about other patients. There was one guy , came in the morning and left by evening, I think he was into soccer or some sports, as I heard the nurses discuss something of the sort with him. This helped me keep my mind distracted. It’s kinda strange, when you look from a grand scheme of things, everyone’s got their own stories, conflicts, climax and resolution, all you need is the heart to listen.

Missing out on prayers

I knew I was missing out on my obligatory prayers , coz I’d start with my noon prayers and then doze off in between and realise that slept through the evening and night prayers. When the shift changed , one day I saw a nurse in hijab, nurse Jasmin , she happened to have worked in Makkah,Saudi Arabia. I requested her call me at time of prayers . Alhamdhulillah was able pray ,almost on time 😊

The dressing and the splinter

Everyday I would have to change the dressing on my leg, so Dr. Shahid and Dr. Askar would come down, give me review on how my legs were fairing . Dressing was painful but getting the leg back into the splinter was a task I didn’t enjoy at all , as my toes would get stubbed at least one or two times .

Feeling low …

One particular day I was really down, and lots of négative thoughts ran through my mind. Felt like I couldn’t think of anything positive, though in reality there was much and more I could have been thankful for. And that’s when Dr. Owais walks in!