He was not willing to die.
Lying flat on a corner bed in Intensive Care Unit with tubes and pipes inserted to all his orifices, his breath was regulated by a continuously beeping machine, for he was too fatigued to be breathing alone. Apathy clinched on to his dry eyes and stale air surrounded his body.
Nurse was briefing the duty doctor about each patient and she had a story to tell about each of them. His story was the longest and caught immediate attention of the doctor.
“Sir, the patient had three episodes of cardiac arrests during last night, but was revived. Now his vitals are stable.”
Doctor knew that this stability is a little curtain before the incidences that will surely unfold in the near future. Patient whose heart has stopped thrice will surely repeat these mischief and will give the doctor tiresome time ahead. Young doctor went through the voluminous case records and queried through it as though a detective to find any possible cause for the ordeals the patient is into.
Time passed on. Soon the intensive care unit settled back to its normal self. The beeping sounds gave it a rhythm, a rather monotonous one oscillating between life and death. Nursing staff scattered across the room between patients, case records and medications. Patients, conscious and unconscious, lay alone and aloof confined to their own world.
Doctor had retired to his duty room indulging himself in a book. The apprehensions about the patients were slowly pushed to back of his mind, soon the words and thoughts from the book masquerading them effectively. It was late in the evening when nursing staff had called upon the doctor.
“Sir, bed no. 12 had an arrest.”
Doctor was pushed into the reality and the inevitability showed its teeth as ever before. When he reached, the patient was already in asystole.(when heart has no activity and ECG lay flat) and nursing staff had started cardiac massage and resuscitation. Medication were given under the auspices of the doctor and desperate attempts of bringing life into his heart was taken up with defibrillation and cardiac massage.
Life was completely drained off from the patient except for occasional respiratory effort. His heart was stubborn as a rock and did not twitch with all the efforts around. His brain showed the signs of withering. Doctor knew the answer to this drama. He checked again to confirm it. No! no signs of life what so ever.
“He has finally given away” Doctor had remarked even as he was rechecking the patient. Something around that patient was making him doubt his own judgement. No! Nothing suggestive of life. Doctor stared at the ECG monitor. It was flat as it was for the last few minutes. His mind was blank as always while confirming a death. This was a defense mechanism he had developed over the years to avoid any emotional back logging.
Suddenly the monitor showed a twitch. The doctor was unsure of what he saw. He tagged his vision on to the monitor. Yes! It twitched again. The resuscitation resumed and it was altogether a new story. The patient’s heart started beating as if suddenly woken from a deep sleep. It was like a train starting from a station now rushing away with utmost vigour and hope.
Every staff including the doctor was awestruck by the resilience with which the patient had jumped back to life from a certain death. May be this drama will continue to unfold with more twists and turns. But one thing was certain about the patient. He was not willing to die.