How to Wed A Devil

Chapter 2

Ananya Prasad

After speaking with Nidhi, I went to check on the patients and came to the residents' common room and studied the case sheets, and then started working on my research thesis.

Then I got a call from Siddharth, my best friend who works as a resident in General Surgery in the same hospital.

"Hey, Naan".

"Sid, I told you not to call me Naan. Call me Ananya".

"As I will listen to you. Come let's have lunch. I am starving".

"I already ate."

"I hate you, Naan."

He disconnected the call. Drama queen. Sighing I put my phone aside and continued my work. Sid and I are best friends from 5th standard and he is also our neighbor. He knows everything about me and I can speak with him about anything on my mind without the fear of being judged.

I then continued my studying and then went for rounds and again studied and this cycle repeated until 7 PM. Then I got a message from the devil asking me to come to rounds with him as the attending physician Prof. Chadda came.

I met him at the nurses' station in the patient ward along with Veer and Tanya and then we went to greet Prof. Chadda and went for rounds. Prof. Chadda asked us about the patient conditions and we explained to him their conditions and he asked us some technical questions and gave us some advice on what areas should we concentrate on. He then asked the devil to make some changes in the medication for some patients and left for surgery along with Tanya and Veer who are assisting him in the surgery.

The devil told me to make changes in the case sheets of those patients and asked me to administer those drugs and he left.

I did the modifications and then left to continue my research paper. I am a Senior Resident in Neurosurgery. Senior Residents mainly concentrate on research work along with surgeries. Then I got a call from the emergency department that a patient with a comatose state came and I rushed there. The devil was already there when I went and was examining the patient. He nodded at me and continued the examination. I looked at the patient's chart.

He is a 79-year-old male patient, who developed a sudden headache followed by nausea and vomiting with gradual loss of consciousness. The resident at the emergency department examined him and ordered a CT scan and called us.

"Examine and diagnose the patient." Said the devil.

I started examining him. "Sir, The patient is in deeply comatose, with no eye movement or light reflex. The left pupil diameter and the right pupil diameter are uneven. Limb-muscle strength was grade II with normal muscle tension (MRC grading system), and a pathological reflex was not seen. The chart says that he fell 2 weeks ago in the bathroom, so I am suspecting subdural hematoma."

He asked, "How do you diagnose him?"

"Sir, first we need to take his CT scan and monitor his Intracranial Pressure(ICP) and this patient might need emergency surgery because of his comatose state and vital sign instability."

"Take him to the CT scan and then shift him to Neuro ICU. Monitor his ICP and vitals and contact me once the CT report comes."

"Yes, Sir."

He then nodded at me and left and I then proceeded with the formalities. I called him once I got the reports. He told me to send the reports to his phone so that he can see and to bring them to Neuro OT 3 where Dr. Chadda is operating on a patient.

When I reached there, he was just getting out of the lift and nodded at me and we went into the operating room.

He told Prof. Chadda about the case and Prof. Chadda asked the chief resident to take over the operation and came to us to study the CT.

Prof. Chadda asked me, "What is your diagnosis?"

I said, " Sir, Head CT scans reveal visible crescent-shaped, high-density regions in the temporal, occipital, and parietal lobes with uneven density. Cerebral sulci and fissures over the right hemisphere are shallow and seem to be disappeared due to pressure on the brain tissue. Pressure on the right ventricle is reduced, causing a local midline shift to the left for 5 mm."

"It is Acute subdural hematoma, the patient is in a comatose state with GCS 5 (Glasgow Coma Scale)" and reported him about other parameters.

He then turned towards the devil and asked him, " How do you proceed?"

The devil replied, "The patient needs emergency surgery, sir, we can do it by either craniotomy or do preoperative trepanation and drainage and do follow-up surgery. I prefer the latter because it is minimally invasive and due to the age factor of the patient."

Prof. Chadda replied, "Good. Talk with the patient's family and prepare for the surgery." And turned to me and asked, "Ananya, tell me the procedure for preoperative trepanation and drainage."

"Sir, it is burr-hole drainage for subdural hematoma on the right frontal, temporal and parietal regions using local anesthesia. Surgical incisions will be created at the centers of the thickest hematoma regions in the right parietal and temporal lobes. A drainage tube will be placed into the hematomal cavity and the incision will be subsequently sutured and closed. The drainage tube is connected to a sterile drainage bag, and the incision will be covered with a sterile dressing."

"After the procedure, the dehydration drug Mannitol should be administered in three 250-ml doses and urokinase should be injected into the secondary hematoma cavity to drain the hematoma. Any elevated sodium and reduced potassium levels should be corrected. And the patient should be monitored until his CT shows no abnormalities."

Prof. Chadda nodded and asked me to assist the devil in the surgery and asked the devil to guide me to do the burr hole and left to continue his surgery. I was excited. This is the first time I will be doing the entire procedure on my own with little supervision.

The devil asked me to prepare an OT and to inform nurses and then to join him near the patient's bed. I then left to do the formalities. Once the patient was prepped, Dr. Karthik Sharma came as a resident anesthesiologist to assist the anesthesia professor. He is the one person with whom our devil interacts.

He greeted the devil "Hey, baby",

If looks could kill, Karthik sir would be dead by now. He then winked at the devil and proceeded for the surgery.

While the patient is being prepped, the devil asked me about the technicalities and once he was satisfied, he said that he will supervise me and asked me to do the procedure. We did the procedure and asked the junior residents to dress the wound and to shift the patient to the ICU where he will be monitored.

When I exited the OT, the devil and Karthik Sir are cleaning themselves and talking.

I heard Karthik Sir asking the devil, "When is the meeting?"

The devil replied, "I don't know. Might be in this week."

Karthik sir asked, "Wow. I thought you didn't want to get married until your fellowship is completed."

The devil said, "Yeah. But, her parents are pressuring her to marry and you know her career is not at all improving and she is stressed about it, she does everything to impress her parents. She is hoping that her parents won't call her useless at least if she is settled."

And then they left talking.

Wow. So what Tanya said is correct and the devil has a girlfriend and is getting married to her. But I felt pity for his fiancée. It seems her parents are pressuring her. I always thought that marriage should be done for love and not for other people. I don't know why I remembered my sister, maybe because she is also in the same situation as the devil's fiancée. I then left for the ICU to check up on the patients.

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Author's Note:

Hi my devils,

If you guys like the book, please vote, so that I can get motivated and update as early as possible.

Thank you.