Kauvery Kathaigal: 5
The Two Questions a Farmer-Father Asked
Patient: The patient was a young, lean, sad and deeply depressed farmer I had seen in the ward a few weeks earlier who had a brain stroke.
Setting: Seen first in the ward, then again in Rehabilitation.
Patient's Story
The patient was young, lean, and sad. His young wife was with him, and so was his father. The farmer-father was fit, strong and wiry. The father asked me two questions which showed both his love for his son and his deep wisdom. His first question was ” Why did this happen to my son who was healthy and had no bad habits?” Frankly, Science does not know why some ” young strokes’ happen. His second question was ” Okay, this happened; what can you, or we do, to make sure this will not happen again?”. There was no simple answer to that question, nor a simple solution.
Outcome
I examined the young man. Thanks to his healthy lifestyle he was indeed recovering very well from the stroke. As I was leaving after our discussion, he made the final statement ” You have not answered my question“
Conclusion
We learned what is required to be learned by all of us who take care of sick people. His final statement reminded all of us that our mission was to learn all the time the answers to such questions.
Our mission is to learn the answers to all questions about health and disease
