My first cataract and some.....
I got to do my first cataract surgery on 09/09/09.The date sound's like a Hollywood movie but just a fortunate coincidence.It's been nearly 2 months and my cataract surgery count stands at 12.along with that count you can add 5 eviserations,8 corneal rupture repairs,half a corneal transplant operation(penetrating keratoplasty),a dacryocystectemy and nearly 30 pterygium excisions to my credit in my surgical career.Not bad for a guy in his first 5 months resident ship.In short I'm getting everything i wanted during my resident ship as far as Ophthalmology is concerned.
Coming back to cataract surgery.for a guy observing a cataract surgery in skilled hands it seems the easiest thing in the world.even i was among those unfortunate fools until on my hands was placed a scalpel to embark on my journey to the clear up the world's vision.I had until then assisted in more than 150 surgeries done by my professors and seniors.it dint seem that difficult from an observer's point of view but i realised how difficult it was once i was in the hot seat so as to say.There's so much skill involved because your field of work is so small that any small mistake can mess up the whole surgery.My professor says "there is no middle ground in cataract surgery,you either have a very good surgery or an extremely bad
one.The margin for error is so small."The eyeball weighs a mere 7gms. with a volume of 6.5ml and a circumference of 75mm.So any surgery involving such a small area requires the dexterity of professional cellist.I have had in this short time the privilege of working under some of the best cataract surgeons who are so good at what they do.I love working with such people who are driven by their work and are passionate about whatever they do.I feel my skill is increasing everyday with every surgery and i feel I'm on the right track towards the thousands of surgeries I'll be doing in the future.I'm doing my fair share of mistakes and hopefully learning from them.I have realised the professional satisfaction a surgeon gets out of his work.I'm getting all this now and more.I know now more than anything that I took the right decision when i chose Ophthalmology as my career choice.
I see how touchy people are about sight and rightfully so since it's our window to the world.A man may limp for a while,live with pain for a few days or even cough up a storm before he sees a doctor but once even a little of his vision gets affected he's so anxious to see an Ophthalmologist that he's get there as promptly as he can.that's how granted people take their vision.Imagine living without seeing and you'll realise what I'm talking about.And now in these professional times the patients are very difficult to satisfy.The area of retinal surgery suffers from this unfortunate tendency.Though cataract and corneal surgery offers much more in terms of patient and doctor satisfaction still patients have become more demanding as technology and surgical skill is improving by the day and even as I speak.Now people aged in their 60s and 70s expect to see and read clearly without having to use their glasses after their cataract surgeries and I'm happy to see that surgeons are rising to the occasion to provide exactly that.Of course everything comes at a price but then cost and professionalism go hand in hand.Occuloplasty is another new field where professional and patient satisfaction is quite good.I'm getting more interested in Occuloplasty with every passing day.
I'm saddened to see the state of corneal transplantation in India.The hospital I work is one of the foremost institutes for corneal transplantation in eastern India and yet I see so many people waiting for months and years on end for an elusive cornea.The unfortunate fact is there's such a serious shortage of donor corneas that something needs to be done to find an alternative to cadaver cornea donation.Maybe a synthetic physiological cornea or cornea production via stem cells should be a thing of reality soon.The reason behind such dismal rate of corneal donation are many but prime among them is superstition that if the eyes are removed on death the person will be born blind in the next birth and due to emotional reasons of family members.They are much better off burning the dead bodies along with their precious corneas rather than have them donated to someone in desperate need.And people will be surprised to know that its not necessarily the uneducated village folk that make up the above large group of people but some of the highly educated families including some doctors that are included in them.
As to my life in Kolkata until now I must admit that I have adjusted quite well to a completely new city.Though food continues to be a problem I have tried to offset it with some good sweets and a safe choice of items I have for breakfast,lunch and dinner.It helps of course that I'm a non-vegetarian for it would be hell for a vegetarian to live in Kolkata especially if he doesn't have family with him..The durga puja during the end of September was something I'll always cherish.I had never previously seen something quite like it.nearly everybody living in Kolkata and all around it and far off from Kolkata
was on the streets celebrating and the whole of Kolkata was looking like one huge art museum.The pandals in various places were a sight to watch and a few of them I couldn't even believe that they are temporary structures.You have to give it to the Bengalis that they have such an enormous amount of talent on display and its no secret that they have a flair for art and are absolute connoisseurs of it.I have resolved that I'll never miss another durga puja as long as I'm in Kolkata.I took some splendid photographs of the the whole event but even those photos didn't do justice to the grandeur of the event.Everybody during that festive season was in a festive mood and even i had a ball of a time during those days.
I guess I'm having the best period of my life right now.I couldn't have asked for more than this even about a year ago when i was studying and was quite desperate to get a postgraduate seat.I'm glad that everything worked out so well that I couldn't have planned it out so well if I had the chance to do so.I'm happy most of the time more so since I'm earning a decent monthly stipend so I can be financially independent.It's a good feeling really to spend your own money and I have realised that you tend to be more careful about spending your own money.My first acquisition with my own money was a digital camera which i had been dreaming to buy since the last 3 yrs.I bought the Sony cybershot DSC-H20.It cost me a whopping 17 grand but well worth it when I see the photographs.
so until i have something new to tell the world.ciao.
Raghuraj Hegde
