Kochi: He suffered a stroke while doing surgery at a private hospital in the city. That was nine years ago and he survived it with 70 percent damage to mobility on his left side. However, Dr George Jacob, 49, a gastroenterology surgeon, is today looking at the silver lining of life and has penned down his experiences as a survivor of one of the much-feared disease conditions.
The book titled ‘Kaleidoscope of a stroke survivor’ gives a graphic description of the doctor’s experiences while suffering the stroke, the different treatments he underwent, including physiotherapy and ayurveda, and the life that he is leading afterwards and also his reflections on his full-fledged life before and after the stroke.
“I was fully conscious when the stroke came. Initially, I didn’t have any idea what was happening and tried to focus on the surgery. Then I went to the post-operative surgical ward where all of a sudden I collapsed.
Then my colleagues took me to the main ICU. I thought I tripped on some telephone wire but when the doctors beside me were talking about stroke, I was shocked. I was fully conscious then. An angiogram showed a block in the right artery. Later, the skull was also operated to release pressure as well,” Dr George recalls.
He did not have a history of blood pressure prior to the incident and could not believe how life had turned upside down as he could no longer perform surgeries after the stroke. “However, I regained my composure looking at the positive side of life later. If the stroke had paralysed my right side, I would have lost my speech and use of the more flexible part.
I have been in the midst of patients before and after and I know the conditions which are worse, including that of young cancer patients. I was lucky being at the hospital at the time of the stroke,” says Dr George who is now taking care of post-operative patients at ICUs.
The link to access the book: https://notionpress.com/read/kaleidoscope-of-a-stroke-survivor
