patient success story
Ramakrishnan
patient success story
Ramakrishnan
Testimonial
Ramakrishnan
The year 2015 – it was a year perfect for me. I got married. I got an onsite opportunity in the UK for a very large FMCG company. Within 5 months of my marriage, I came to know that I was going to be a father. Like in Will Smith’s movie, I was indeed in the little phase of “happiness”.
In January, Completely Cured of TB and With Titanium Implants in My Vertebrae, I Gave a Dance Performance at My Sister’s Sangeet
advanced stages of TB
We then met Dr Meenakshi Sundaram. He calmly asked me to describe every one of my symptoms. He then went through all my reports line by line and then gave me the news – I was at advanced stages of TB and that it has affected my vertebrae so much that two bones just behind my lungs have collapsed. He advised immediate surgery and asked us to take an MRI scan and rush to an orthopaedic.
Moment of Faith
SURGERY IS ALWAYS SCARY
A surgery is always scary. No matter how small it is. In this case it was for my spine. We couldn’t digest the news. He warned us that a small fall could paralyze me for life. He then sternly asked me to get admitted the following morning. We were informed that imported bones similar in shape to mine would be surgically implanted in the place of the collapsed ones. A day later I was taken to the ICU. Inside, I wished Dr. Arumugam Good Morning. To which he smiled and said, “Everything is going to be alright, we have the best team in Chennai for you”. I was introduced to his team of doctors. All of them looked calm and confident. Seeing their calm faces somehow calmed me too. Without much delay I was administered a full anaesthesia and before I could count three, I was out.
A New Dawn
I woke up in a room, I don’t know after how long. My sister and my wife were standing next to me. The pain of the surgery slowly started creeping in as the anaesthesia wore out. However, this time the pain was different. It wasn’t like the severe back pains which I used to have. The pain was more confined to the 30-odd stapler stitches. Strangely the pain was tolerable. The next day Dr. Arumugam came to my room for a visit and checked my vitals. He then asked me to move my toes. I did. He smiled at me and said everything is good.
I stayed at the hospital for two more weeks and then shifted back home, where I had rented an ortho bed. After a week, Dr. Arumugam sent a fellow surgeon to my home to remove my stitches. That was very considerate, as it saved me an ambulance trip to the hospital. He helped us get in touch with a physiotherapist named Dr. Shankar who helped me strengthen my leg muscles. After two more weeks, I was ready to take my first step. A moment which my entire family was waiting for. Shankar held me, and with a walker, I made it to the hall of my room!
A Fast Recovery
In four months, I was back at work. Though still wearing a lumbar jacket, I was confidently walking on my own. Without fail, I would visit Dr. Arumugam every week for follow-up appointments and he would have some encouraging words for me on how much I have improved. I must admit that I went to the follow-up appointments to hear his words of encouragement more than for anything else. He never charged me for any of my follow-up appointments. After 13 months, I was asked to discontinue my TB medicines.
In Conclusion
Tuberculosis is the world’s biggest killer. One in three TB deaths in the world occurs in India. Some deaths occur because of people discontinuing medicines after a couple of months. They end up getting resistant to further treatment when it relapses. Even with advancements and social media, Tuberculosis still carries a stigma. It is also a myth that TB affects only smokers. Tuberculosis can affect anyone and any part of your body. I know people who have had TB near their hearts, TB in the hand muscles, TB in the neck etc. In my case TB got to my lungs and vertebrae. Dr. Arumugam, sent to me by God, got me up and running. I can now walk normally without jackets, walkers or support.
Hard Time
My stint at the UK came to an end by April 2016, just around the time my daughter was born. I flew couple of days earlier than my end date of my project, just so I could be with my wife during labour. All my relatives were disturbed at the way I looked and advised me to go for a full health check-up. I was thin, pale and constantly coughing. I chose to ignore them and went to an ENT. I was given meds, which helped with the cough. Now that I was back in Chennai, with good homemade food, seasonal dry fruits, and nice hot weather, I regained some kilos. While not much but was encouraging signs.
When winter approached, I slowly started getting my cough back. One day in December, I went out to play football and hurt my knee. Generally I recover very quickly, but this time it took me weeks to walk without a limp. I convinced myself that it was because I wasn’t playing frequently enough. By the end of that month, I couldn’t eat properly and was losing weight rapidly. I couldn’t eat more than couple of idlis. Dosas – my go-to food, I could hardly finish one.
Come January 2017, things worsened. I started getting severe back aches. After work, I would just come home and head straight to bed without even change of clothes. All these things affected my mental health. I easily would become irritated and raise my voice
We decided to consult a doctor and booked an appointment with a Gastro Specialist in a famous hospital nearby. The doctor made us take few scans and then asked me to get admitted immediately. We were told that there was some infection and a then whole bunch of scary things. We were promised that spending few days would get me completely cured of it. Knowing we had health insurance to back us up, I got admitted. Little did we know, the doctor brainwashed us and the treatment given was in no way related to my illness. The doctor was also rude to me and my family members. Like a blessing, one of the attendants who got friendly with us told my mother to escape from the hospital or risk wrong treatment. We made up a family emergency and immediately got out of there. We then booked an appointment with another doctor, who initially diagnosed it as GERD and gave medicines. On a follow-up consultation, he was unhappy that my condition was not improving. He asked me to take a CT scan and come back again.
ALL IS WELL
