110-year-old survives bull attack, on road to recovery
The victim has suffered deep injuries on right side of his chest after bull attack
By : joyeeta chakravorty
Update: 2014-08-25 06:23 GMT
Bengaluru: The family members of 110-year-old Chikkaveerappa had a shock of their life when they heard the news that he was attacked by a raging bull. “It was during 6.30 am when he was returning home after a morning walk. The bull attacked him brutally on the chest. We panicked on hearing the news, mainly because of his age,” said Nagendra, his son-in-law. Chikkaveerappa was attacked near Siddaganga High School at Raghuvanahalli, Kanakapura main road and had sustained deep injuries on the right side of his chest.
“He was brought to the emergency section of Sagar Hospitals on Thursday with multiple fractures on the right side and contusion of the right lung, leading to haemopneumothorax. His blood pressure was also very low,” says Dr Ashwini Pasarad, cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon, who along with his team of doctors treated Chikkaveerappa.
The doctor said that Chikkaveerappa was having difficulty in breathing because of blood clot in the chest. “It was a two hour long surgery with five ribs in the chest wall fractured and considering his age it was a life threatening injury. Such accidents are actually considered serious,” says Dr Ashwini. The doctor further informed that his team had to drain out around half a litre of blood that was collected in the old man’s chest cavity. The chest wall was stabilized, and he was being given an epidural analgesic, he added.
For the family and doctors it was almost unbelievable that Chikkaveerappa survived the accident and within 24 hours he was on road to recovery, with stable BP and ECG parameters. “We couldn’t believe that he would recover so soon and it is the first one of a kind case. His ECG was perfectly normal just like that of young man,” Dr Ashwini said.“We were not able to believe that he would survive this attack and when the doctors informed us that he was recovering within 24 hours of the surgery, we were surprised,” said Nagendra.
However, the hospital informed that he would be kept in the ICU for another one day. “We would be keeping him under observation for another day for lung infection, but he is very active for his age,” sums up Dr Ashwini.