My search for the right nephrologist got me more than what I wanted. You see, I had this habit of writing down quotable quotes from the Reader's Digest as a twelve year old and it was my greatest loss when one day during my engineering college days I lost that precious diary full of quotes and thoughts. Of particular interest to me was one which was written by someone about what to do with his body when he was gone. It was beautiful and it inspired me no end, and I searched high and low for that quote for a long time.
When I met Dr. Krishnan I heard high praise from many about his balanced, calm and neutral outloook, his accessibility and his wonderful care. What sealed my decision to stick with him when I needed a biopsy was when I found that he had pasted the one thing I had been searching for in the last 20 years on the wall outside his room at BBR Hospital.
When I told him I had been searching for it for a long time he smiled and said 'I have the full version on my door at Apollo. I got it at BBR itself and the good doctor was kind enough to let me take a copy:
To remember me
At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens don't call this my 'DEATHBED', call it my 'BED OF LIFE' and let my body be used by others to lead fuller lives.
Give my eyes to a man who has never seen a sunrise,
a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman,
Give my heart to a person whose heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain,
Give my blood to a teenager who has been pulled from the wreckage of his car,
Give my kidneys to one who depended on a machine to exist from week to week,
Take my bone, my muscle, every nerve from my body to find a way to make a crippled child walk,
Explore every corner of my brain, take my cells and let them grow
so that someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow,
If you must bury something, let it be my faults and weaknesss and all my prejudices against my fellowmen,
Give my sins to the devil and my soul to God,
If you do what I asked, then I will live forever.
This then becomes my offical will about what should be done when I die. My body shall be disposed of exactly as this says.
And then I would like my family, friends and all who shared my life to have a good time and laugh endlessly with shining eyes, and an irrepresible joy for life while they remember some good stories we shared until early next morning!
When I met Dr. Krishnan I heard high praise from many about his balanced, calm and neutral outloook, his accessibility and his wonderful care. What sealed my decision to stick with him when I needed a biopsy was when I found that he had pasted the one thing I had been searching for in the last 20 years on the wall outside his room at BBR Hospital.
When I told him I had been searching for it for a long time he smiled and said 'I have the full version on my door at Apollo. I got it at BBR itself and the good doctor was kind enough to let me take a copy:
To remember me
At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens don't call this my 'DEATHBED', call it my 'BED OF LIFE' and let my body be used by others to lead fuller lives.
Give my eyes to a man who has never seen a sunrise,
a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman,
Give my heart to a person whose heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain,
Give my blood to a teenager who has been pulled from the wreckage of his car,
Give my kidneys to one who depended on a machine to exist from week to week,
Take my bone, my muscle, every nerve from my body to find a way to make a crippled child walk,
Explore every corner of my brain, take my cells and let them grow
so that someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow,
If you must bury something, let it be my faults and weaknesss and all my prejudices against my fellowmen,
Give my sins to the devil and my soul to God,
If you do what I asked, then I will live forever.
This then becomes my offical will about what should be done when I die. My body shall be disposed of exactly as this says.
And then I would like my family, friends and all who shared my life to have a good time and laugh endlessly with shining eyes, and an irrepresible joy for life while they remember some good stories we shared until early next morning!
1 comment:
Hari, I guess it is still too early to think of that. But then, better late than never! Great post as well as a great idea- just the thing I expect from you.
Post a Comment