Part 2

We felt so helpless. We can’t take him forcibly without his parents’ consent. Then my husband asked me ‘why don’t you go to his school and talk to the school people? ‘. We did just that. Luckily they saw how serious the matter was and went to his home. Then this Sunday morning I saw him and his mother, for the first time, in front of our home. I tried telling the mother that one day we all have to die no matter whether he keeps his extra finger or not. The fact was that, the mother was not aware of the situation fully. She said he didn’t show it to her until now! She said she is ready and he can do the surgery. She reminded me of actress Padmapriya in Karutha pakshikal. Looked like, the teachers have done their job well.

We decided to see the doctor yesterday. The doctor was so angry seeing the condition of the finger after almost a week. He told his mother to take the other finger too as that finger too will have the same fate sometime later. But she stood her stand and said NO, only the ruined finger must go. Leave the other finger alone. The surgeon is a family friend of ours. He got mad at me. He asked me,
‘Why are you dragging these people with you, why can’t you let them go somewhere else? They don’t understand a thing, they are stubborn etc etc’.
I saw those two were surprised at seeing him jumping like that. And I told them by action not to feel bad. Then I told the doctor, I couldn’t ignore the kid when I saw him like this. And if they want only one finger removed, you must do that. He didn’t reply to that.
They have fixed the surgery for today. I won’t be able to go but I will be sending our helper lady with them. I told his mother to be specific and tell the doctor to take only the damaged finger and not to touch the other one. If he says he will cut both, I told her to take the kid back and go somewhere else. I hope the doctor will take only the finger that is in bad shape away.
At first I got angry at his behavior. But we also felt frustrated and angry and helpless when they refused to remove the finger. If we felt frustrated, how can we really blame the doctor when he sees such ignorance and foolishness? But I wish he could have been a little more understanding. Patients have their own rights too. Just because he is doctor I don’t think he should ignore their concern and worries. May be some other time when I see him I will talk to him about this. But right now I am waiting home to see how things went!