Remember me

I pride myself with a more than decent memory for names and faces. But even after thirty years in medical practice, giving relief to patients with ear nose throat disorders, I still get uneasy when the ‘familiar’ patient , whom I do not recognise, pops the ‘remember me?’ question. Two stand out stories …

S A was a nineteen year old pretty Muslim girl from a conservative family, married to a taxi driver from Mumbra. She came to the clinic with her friends because she was driven away from her marital home by the husband and in-laws claiming that she was inattentive. I diagnosed otosclerosis ie. hearing loss due to fixation of the stapes. The stapes is the smallest bone in the body and weighs just 1.2gm. I did stapedotomy surgery and she did extremely well. I did not see her for the next twenty years. In 2013 she came to me with an elderly lady in tow – her mother – and sprung the ‘remember me’ question -I didn’t – and then she told me her story.

After the successful operation, she returned to her marital home and had two children  in quick succession. Her husband died in a car accident six years after her surgery. She began a tailoring shop, thrived in business and educated her children. The younger son was studying in a premier technology institute and the older daughter had just married. Freedom from hearing loss had made her a successful business woman and a mother. Now she was insisting that her 70 year old mother (otosclerosis can be familial) undergo the same operation and hence the visit to the clinic!

Very early in my practice I diagnosed a thirty year old lady with cancer of the tonsil. She was a widow with two young boys and did two jobs to run a household. She underwent massive surgery involving jaw bone removal. Fortunately she got a good cosmetic result. After that she was given a full course of radiation. She followed up with me diligently for almost eight years . Two years back, a middle aged lady came to me with two young men and popped the ‘remember me’ question. She identified herself as the the same lady on whom I had performed the massive cancer surgery. She had returned to work and had educated her children. The handsome young men were her sons -now successful businessmen in the Silicon Valley. They had brought her for a final follow -up with me as they were taking her to live permanently in the USA!

Its impossible to remember faces and names of all your patients but some memories and stories remain etched in memory forever.

Prabodh Karnik