The intersecting and complimentary sets.......

With hazard lamps flickering and headlights on high beam , i was not driving fast; i was flying low. For the first time in my life the speedometer hit 100 kmph with my mom and dad as passengers. mmmmm...Better to say that dad was the patient. The red coloured car dashing like a fire engine was really an ambulance driven by me. My dad lost his body balance, a kind of problem due to fluid imbalance in cochlea of inner ear. With vomiting, dehydration and loss of postural stability as usual symptoms, the situation is really annoying. You feel like sitting and looking up on a merry go round. There was nothing to fear, but all i wanted was to get him to the hospital at the earliest, so that he can rest on a bed.

We got admitted into the casualty and paramedics rushed in. Following my mom's briefing they began to conduct all preliminary check ups- BP, heart beat, so and so... The duty doctor rushed in and checked his iris. He pointed a finger and asked my dad to look at it. He began to move the finger from one side to another. For a normal person, the cornea traces the exact path, while for the person suffering from imbalance, the case is different. He confirmed my dad's status and referred to ENT dept. for immediate medical attention. I should admire their co-ordination; they worked like a Quick Response Team of the police force. He was moved to the OP, in a trolley bed. They were fast enough that literally, we had to run. While moving through the corridors, few people gave way by sticking on to the wall. Curious children pointed the fast moving bed to their parents. While running along with the pack, it was more or less like looking through a steady cam in movies. We reached the OP. Dad was shifted to a bed and we were informed by a staff that we would meet a doctor soon....

Things were entirely different, here at the OP. We waited for a while, but remained unnoticed. There were five cabins occupied with doctors. Patients got in and out frequently. There were to assistants, one was a nursing student; i suppose. She was busy with the duty of issuing a discharge summary to one of the patients. The other was a casual labour who called out patient's name upon their turn. I asked the first lady about my dad's turn. She in-turn asked the second lady. She just looked at my dad's MRD file (medical records dept. file) with her jaws dropped. I thought that there was something strange with my dad's case, but after observing her for a while (looking into her mouth) i realized that her jaw's hinge had a problem. It always remained dropped, which reminded me of a poodle with an MRD file in her hand. "I will be back soon". She told me and left the place...

"How long should i wait?"..It was dad's voice.

"mmmm...we will be in soon. I have told them."...i replied.

He slipped back to his sleep. My dad, the patient, really lacked patience. But as soon as i looked at my watch, even i lost my patience. We had been here for over 20 mins. As i looked up, she was walking towards me; not so fast, but in good pace. It gave me sometime to judge her B, B & B (don't know what B, B & B are?...well.. refer my previous post -" The college Panorama"). Her Body was tan, beautifully curved. I am not speaking about Second B, but her third B was designed in an exaggerated scale. Thats enough. Don't strip her any more. So this lady approached me, opened the file and asked few questions. She gave out a nerd's look. I answered. The viva comprised of few questions about our previous visits, in-patient history, name of allergic drugs, symptoms of my dad's present sickness etc. I took it for a usual procedure. She now checked the availability of doctor in a cabin. The doctor was busy and anyone could have read it from her face. Now she came to my mom and asked the same questions. I was precise, but mom was elaborate. Dad thought it was because of my fault in answering and thats why she again came up with the same question. He wanted me to make things clear. She again left to check the doctor's availability. When she again started with the same question, i realized that it was more or less a "Gap filler". She was trying to engage us. Now She turned towards my dad and started asking the same. She didn't listen properly. Now my dad stared at me and shouted that i should have answered her properly. I raised my voice against him and asked to stay in bed. I regret for that act. I shouldn't have behaved so. I turned towards the lady and told her about all things i knew...

She now turned page after page and asked about the last time he was admitted in the hospital. We told her that it was about 4 years before. But she wanted the exact year.
"Where is your discharge summary?"... I stared into her eyes...deeper and deeper...

"I'm sorry...mmmmm... i didn't bring it.." I replied.
"Why?"..
"How dare you ask such a foolish question? .."
"Foolish?..You are supposed to bring the discharge summary during your revisits." I pointed few patients who were waiting in queue.
"See those people sitting over there? And show to me someone who has brought their discharge summary."
"But sir you are supposed to bring..."
"Then why the hell do you have a medical records department? And how the hell am i supposed to look for a summary while hurrying to the hospital during an emergency? And the first and foremost document necessary for a mediclaim reimbursement is nothing but a discharge summary. So whatever might those documents might be, its with them. Not me. And never annoy anyone by a handful of questions and please pay proper attention to our answers. And why do you ask the same set of questions like the ads during a commercial breaks of a serial? What is that you think you do here?...."

"Sir,Where is your discharge summary?"...
The question was a wake up call. I stepped out of my hallucination. Within a split second, i had won over a debate. But that was not the real case. She told my mom that we were supposed to bring the discharge summary, and i didn't pay any attention to her words. She was delivering a lecture on certain "things -to -do". I wish i should have had a real talk like the one mentioned above, with her. When she left us for the last time, i came up with my arguments and told dad that she was mad.

"Why do you tell me all these stuffs? You could have argued with her..."
Well..I should have done so,  but it was not the right place and right time.
Few minutes later, we were taken to a doctor's cabin. He ran a thorough check up and administered him with few medicines. While i left the cabin along with dad, i looked for the girl. She was not seen anywhere around......

I thought for a moment....
In one way or the other, both of us were the same. We both knew many things. She was good in talking. Me too.  But we also had few differences. While She spoke unnecessarily at inappropriate time, I didn't speak any necessary things at appropriate time.
We all are different.....Still, we all are the same......Next time i see this girl, these lines will be the first thought to keep my mind busy......