BRAIN-DEAD BORN AGAIN

Dr. Pravin Suravashe, neurosurgeon, shares the story of one of his patients from Pune, INDIA:

   "When you have done all you could, you can never predict what change you have wrought in your life or in the life of another."  - Helen Keller

   With a rich experience of 5000 brain surgeries to my credit, I was working as a consultant neurosurgeon at the Columbia Asia Hospital, in Pune.

   On that Saturday night, I was having dinner with my family when the phone rang. The CMO was calling from the hospital emergency section, "The relatives have brought a 20-year-old young lad. His bike slipped and he was hit on the head. The nearby hospital declared him brain-dead, so they have brought him here." I asked what his status was then. He added, "His pupils are not responding and his breathing has also stopped. We have shifted him to the ventilator. I got his CT Scan done and I am sending the images to your mobile."

   I ran down the images on my mobile. There was a big hematoma (blood accumulation due to bleeding) pressing on the right side of his brain and as a result, the brain had been pushed to the left.

   I instructed the staff to shift the patient to the operation theater immediately in spite of the fact that the chances of a brain dead patient bouncing back to normal life are virtually none.

   I knocked off my dinner halfway, grabbed the keys of my car and rushed to the hospital. Within 7 minutes I was in the hospital. I ran to the ICU without waiting for the lift. My car doors were probably open and I had forgotten to take out the keys back!

   The patient was in an extremely critical condition. With his pupils dilated, unresponsive and his respiration hanging on to a ventilator, I told his family, "His chances of Survival are less than 5%. Now surgery is the only option available to me. Decide quickly. Every moment is precious."

This unexpected trail of events had left the patient's relatives benumbed. They were not in a position to decide. Without waiting for their decision, I shouted out to my staff, "Take the young man on the the operating table. Don't waste your time taking hand wash or arranging instruments on the trolley. Call the anesthetist fast." I didn't want to waste even a single moment because thousands of brain cells die with increasing pressure on the brain every second which could never be regenerated.

   Everybody was on their toes. The ward-man shaved his head while I took a sterile hand wash and put on the gloves. The anesthetist was still on his way which means that we must wait for at least 15 minutes before the anesthesia would set in.

   To me, waiting was out of the question. All the rules were being violated in this case. I injected a local anesthetic drug and started drilling in his skull. I opened a flap of the skull bone. A large hematoma formed by approximately half a liter of blood was pressing on the brain. It was sucked in and removed. I waited for the response of the brain. Within 2 minutes, pulsations started appearing in the brain. I looked at the clock. The whole process had dissipated 27 minutes after I had received the emergency call. I asked the staff to relax and complete the formalities.

   The operation was complete but my Sixth Sense was still not at ease. I had a sense of foreboding that something was still incomplete. I got another CT scan done and my qualms were right. There was a ruptured blood vessel on the left side of the brain and now it had started to bleed after we had removed the pressure compounded by the earlier hematoma. Until then, it was compressed and there was no bleeding. Now another hematoma had started to form on the left side also. Relatives of the patients were informed of the grim situation. The chances of survival were diminishing fast. What should I do? Shall I go for another operation?

   I decided to operate again. I opened the skull. The left hematoma was removed but the blood showed no chance of clotting! Another serious problem was making the scene. The blood flowed like water. I did a trick. I inserted a drain. One end the tube was embedded in the site of the bleeding and another was inside a bag to collect that blood. The drain continued to drain the blood out while we continued to transfuse the fresh blood to the patient via another vein. I shifted the patient back to ICU from the operation theater. Still, there were no signs of revival.

   The cloud of disappointment settled on all of us. When you run out of all your options, the only way left is to surrender, surrender to the Lord. I humbly beg the Almighty to infuse life into my patient who was naturally dead and was alive by artificial means. I could do nothing but wait. After half an hour, I was urgently summoned to the ICU. Now the pupils had started responding to the light!

   The flame of hope flickered. Relatives were informed. I decided to keep the patient unconscious for the next 48 hours. The bleeding had not yet stopped completely.

   For the next 48 hours his relatives were very restless, me too. I used to go and check on him every now and then. They used to bombard me with all sorts of questions. Giving answers was in my hands, not the outcome.

   After 48 hours I got a third CT Scan done. Fortunately, everything seemed normal. My drain trick had worked! Tranquilizers were discontinued. Now, we started to bring the patient back to consciousness. After an hour, the patient started to open his eyes and move his limbs! Everyone rejoiced. He started to breathe naturally and the ventilator was also removed after 4 hours.

   I let his parents inside the ICU. Surprisingly, he was smiling while looking at them. I asked him, "Who are they? Do you recognize them?" He said, "Yes, they are my mom and dad." A miracle had transpired!

   There was no end to the flow of tears his mother shed. The atmosphere in the hospital was full of joy. Fortunately, he recovered without any neurological deficit which was another miracle. He was discharged after one week. He assured me that he will utilize his life for good purposes in the future.

   There are some experiences in life which oblige you to acknowledge the power and existence of the Divine!

   *This miracle happened at: Columbia Asia Hospital, Kharadi, Pune - 411014 
    COLUMBIA ASIA is an international Private Healthcare company with an extensive 
    network of hospitals across Africa, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.    


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