Fixing Bullet Holes
I was a third year medical student. My first clinical rotation was General Surgery. I still remember the first weekend I was on call. I remember the first time I received a patient on call in the OR. I remember his name. I remember his face. I remember everything about him. If he were to walk by I would still recognise him. Except he won't. He won't be able to walk by ever. That night, a single, small bullet had taken away from our patient his ability to walk, forever. And so it had taken from him life as he knew it. He was a young man, with dreams and hopes. He was to be married in a few days before this happened. And all that he was left with was a colostomy bag and wheel chair. Every time a resident, a consultant, a medical student visited him he would say, 'please make me walk again'. It can make one think of all the time we spent on learning the tracts and leminisci in the spine, the pathways travelling in the spinal cord in beautiful nerve bundles. And how a sm...