It indeed hit him like a bolt out of blue. Little did Dr. Rakesh Khera realise that when he was not able to use his hand while operating a computer, a large clot had obstructed the middle cerebral artery. The clot looked ominous, threatening to deprive a large chunk of his brain of its blood supply.
He was very lucky, though. He developed acute ischaemic stroke in the very hospital he works- Medanta Medicity, Gurgaon. Most consultants had not left for home when the news travelled –thick and fast—that Rakesh had suffered a stroke. Medanta carries a reputation of 34 minutes for the door- to- needle time for administering thrombolysis in acute ischaemic stroke. Rakesh had a clot buster flowing in his veins five times as fast—barely seven minutes after his hand went limp.
Also, the neurology team successfully got rid of the clot that had clogged his artery. A few hours of intensive monitoring, including a mechanical ventilator, Rakesh began to recover almost as fast as he developed stroke symptoms.
Dr. Jyoti Jawatkar-Sehgal (1991) called me this morning. She could barely conceal her joy as she explained to me that Rakesh had woken up from his slumber in the Medanta Neuro ICU . He has regained consciousness, power, and speech. He no longer required the endotracheal tube and got himself off the ventilator this morning.
Fully conscious and alert, he not only identified Jyoti—his neurophysician— by her maiden name but was also reported to be remarkably articulate and cohesive.
Jyoti Jawatkar-Sehgal believes that the collective prayers of the MGIMS community did work. A clot buster and the clot extraction device did their job beautifully, but beyond that Rakesh needed incessant good wishes from his loved ones to get him off the bed. Jyoti believes that the prayers did work.
Although both the patient and his neurophysician are a thousand mile away from Sevagram, not too long ago, they had spent their formative years in MGIMS. And I am glad that this illness has strengthened the bond between the two MGIMS alumni!