16 October is World Anaesthesia Day.

This year marks 171 years since the first successful documented anaesthesia was performed for a surgery. And yet, even today, not many know what to expect when they are redirected by their doctor to meet an anaesthesiologist.

Some know I make you unconscious, some come fearful for their lives because they have heard scary tales, some... well, there are a lot of weird and whacky 'somes' to fill the list. One thing that amuses patients during their first meeting are the 'seemingly unrelated questions' we ask. 

With that in mind, I decided I would try to break it down to you so that your eyebrows don't pop up should you ever have to go meet your anaesthesiologist. 


So what are the 10 things your anaesthesiologist asks you at your first meeting?

1. What happened to you? 

When asking about past operations, we also ask about the type of anaesthesia given and whether there were any complications so that we can be better prepared. 

Your medical history can relate to past admissions, diagnoses for disorders like hypertension, diabetes etc which will again be important when we need to choose the drugs best suited to you and the type of anaesthesia.

3. Are you on any medication? 

Very important that you know and tell us the medicines you are / were on. Surprisingly common even with the educated class, patients are blissfully unaware of the diseases they take medicines for. 

It is always better to have the drug name (not brand name) and dosage written down in a paper safely stored in your wallet/purse beforehand, I advice. This matters because it isn't enough to say you are on medicines for (say) hypertension - different ones act differently and interact with other drugs we may give during anaesthesia. We also need to determine which drugs to stop and which to continue hours before surgery.

If you have had an allergic reaction to any food or drug in the past, please note the name. People who have allergic reactions often develop it to common drugs (eg: penicillins) and so there is a high risk the same drug may be given to you again unless you inform your doctor. 

If you cannot recall the name, at least tell the doctor what the drug was given to you for (pain, cold, an antibiotic) and the severity of the reaction (from skin rashes to difficulty in breathing)

A question asked when the surgery is posted for the same day, this often draws stern eyebrows from the patient. Trust me, I am not trying to live vicariously by hearing descriptions of your awesome curries or desserts (okay, maybe 'I' personally am but my colleagues aren't!) 

This matters because we need to determine the duration before safe anaesthesia is provided to you without the risk of you vomiting or worse, having that same food and drink enter your lungs. The latter scenario is horribly dangerous and can be fatal. 

So - and I cannot stress this enough - be honest with us. Do not conceal from us because you may go in for a minor surgery of your thumb and end up dead by choosing not to tell us you had food an hour before the surgery. 

We have safety guidelines which differentiates even between clear and opaque drinks - so yes, you may wonder why we are asking you whether the juice was lime or pineapple.

Alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and recreational drugs; tell us the duration and when you last had them. Some of our drugs behave differently in long standing users because of the effect the latter has had on your lungs, liver, kidneys or even heart.

Whether it be removable dentures or metallic implants, please remember to tell us. Many have suffered and died because they forgot (or we forgot to ask also, I agree). Metallic implants are an absolute NO-NO before entering MRI suites. Please never forget that. Similarly, if you have removable dentures, be prepared to hear us ask you to remove them on the day of the surgery.

Patients who are clutching their abdomen in pain sometimes snarl when I ask them this but trust me, I am not mocking your pain. This is a primary way of estimating your heart and lung functions. It is a pre-cursor to the detailed physical examination that comes later.

Some patients get annoyed when we postpone elective surgeries to allow colds and chest infections to heal, wondering why a runny nose matters for a surgery on the feet. I agree that such surgeries may, more often than not, be done under spinal surgeries and so not involve your nose but you need to understand - we value your safety above all else. And for us, for any surgery, we always need to consider the possibility that a case done under spinal anaesthesia (SA) can become one under general anaesthesia (GA), involving your airway, at anytime due to various factors during the surgery. And if we play with your airway while it is sensitive, there is a high possibility of a bad to even deadly outcome when your airway responds adversely to our manipulations.

Another 'why the heck is this doctor asking me this' question! 

When you see me beginning my physical examination, you expect me to use my stethoscope and check your heart and lungs. What leaves patients quizzical is when I ask them to open their mouth as wide as possible. Again, you wonder what relation your mouth has to the surgery on your foot. 

We go back to the fact mentioned a point earlier - any case can require GA. And we need to assess your airway to determine the possibility that we may struggle to 'secure your airway safely' once we take your breath and consciousness away. This means observing the possibility of a small mouth, less space within it to maneuver our airway securing devices, restriction of neck movements, distance between various parts of your mouth and neck etc. 

Have you heard of an English indie rock band called Florence and the Machine?
No? Well, I hope you watch out for them after this.

In May 2016, teenager Karinya Chen's dream to watch her favourite band seemed so near yet so far. She had tickets to the Florence + the Machine concert being held in her hometown of Austin, Texas but unfortunately, the bone cancer she had been battling with for 6 years had taken a turn for the worse, leaving her frail and bedridden at the hospice.

When Florence found out, she decided to make that concert ticket count and so paid a visit to the Hospice Austin and give her fan a private concert of her own.


In addition to a ton of merchandise, the band sang for her (including getting Karinya to sing along with the lead singer) for almost an hour.



Karinya Chen would succumb to her illness a few months later at the age of 15. In her last interview a week before she died, she talked about how that private concert by Florence and the Machine was 'the best 45 minutes of her life.'

The theme of Nostalgia for WriteTribe's #WriteBravely blogging challenge got me thinking of the books I read growing up. Today's children have at their disposal a mobile well before they hit their teens and thus access to literally all sorts of reading material should they choose it. That makes the need to get them to read the right kind of literature really important. 

The list below is purely what got me addicted to literature as I grew up and I am sure there will be more valuable additions from your side. For me, the series' which got me started off on the joys of reading were:

Yes, shortly thereafter, the reading would evolve for me to the likes of Jeffrey Archer, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Sidney Sheldon, John Connolly, Jeffrey Deaver et al. But I honestly don't think it would have been that way had I not had a good, interesting series of books to start off my journey.   

So here is my question to you: Which books/ series would you as a parent want your children to read to help develop 

a) a love for reading and 

b) a view of the world around them?

"No human being is so bad as to be beyond redemption."

In 2014, Chris Wright was driving his family to church when he came across a woman walking in the rain in search of a gas station after her car broke down. Moved by her plight - TunDe Hector had all of $5 in her purse - Chris drove her to a gas station, paid for her gas and gave her all the money he had in his wallet. Overwhelmed, Hector cried as she watched the stranger leave, unable to repay him and never expecting to see him again.

Three years later, in 2017, Chris's mother Judy fell ill. As she deteriorated, Chris took the help of nursing aides to help look after her. Of the lot, one stood out for her devotion to Judy. It was while the family was sitting and chatting with the nursing aide a few days later that the latter told them a story of how years ago, she had been stuck in the rain after her car broke down, praying for help when a kind stranger pulled over and selflessly helped her.



Tears fell down Nurse Tunde Hector's eyes as Chris recognized her and revealed that it had been him she had encountered years ago and how the Lord he had no much faith had indeed found a way for her to help him in his time of need.

When Judy passed away on Hector's birthday, she rushed over, still in her birthday attire just to be there for the family. To the Wrights, TunDe had become family by then and for all that she had done for them during these trying times, they wanted to do more for her.

With the goal of raising $1000 (Rs 65,000) to help pay off her nursing school tuition, they secretly set up a crowdfunding page, telling the public of her kindness and loving spirit. To quote from the page: “TunDe exudes joy and lives every breath to serve people as she was designed to do by our Heavenly Father. To know her is to love her and we are all in awe of how God worked so miraculously for our paths to cross again when we needed her most.”

A week later, when they revealed to TunDe what they had done, the donations received from strangers moved by her story had crossed $35,000 (Rs 23,00,000). You can watch the moment Chris's family reveal to the emotional nurse what they had done for her here.
(Spoiler alert: Keep a tissue nearby.)

Why I want you to remember the story of Chris Wright and TunDe Hector

Chris said it best in his crowd funding page for TunDe Hector:

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some people have entertained angels without knowing it."  - Hebrews 13:2.


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People know of a Rajghat that is in Delhi and a memorial to Late Sh. Mahatma Gandhi, but there is one more in India - a Rajghat, a small village at the banks of Chambal in Dhaulpur, which even 70 years after Independence, is covered in darkness and despair.

This Rajghat is devoid of all basic infrastructure to sustain Life (as per The Fundamental right to Dignified Life Under Article 21) with no connectivity to other districts. 

At the age of 21, you filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) on their behalf. What is the present state of the Rajghat case? 

"I want it." the little boy said, licking his lips as he stared at the last slice of bread lying on the plate. His mother's eyes however rested on the hollowed out shape her son had playfully carved into the bread.

"I want it too." she replied wistfully, her eyes never leaving the heart within the bread as she stroked the empty spot on her left finger where, a lifetime ago, a wedding ring had rested, blissfully unaware.

Linking this post to  Friday Fictioneers, hosted by the lovely Rochelle Wisoff – Fields. You can find other awesome entries to this week's Friday Fictioneers here.

The first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War will likely arrive close to the release of Thor: Ragnarok in October and the description (available online) features everyone. Makes sense thus to catch up on your Marvel Cinematic Universe story line then, does it not?