As a student, I wanted to become a doctor just like all other girls of my age, but my scores didn't allow me to become one. The closest I came to working in a hospital was as a paramedic. I worked as a laboratory technologist for a couple of years in a reputed hospital. Handling scores of patients everyday, it was a nightmare to work round the clock. Sometimes, I would be so tired at the end of the day, that preparing blood test reports as the last duty of the day used to be a very tiresome one. I never attached any importance to the numbers I put down as test values. The fact that a patient's blood sugar was too low or that his urea was high didn't matter to me. They all boiled down to just figures which I had to fill up, wind up and go home.
But now, as a responsible wife, daughter and mother, my attitude towards the blood test reports has changed drastically. Every time I take my mother to the doctor or my husband goes for a check up , I am so nervous about the test results. I don't want my husband's blood sugar level to go up by even one milligram and I can't stand the sight of a red mark (sign of high value). I pray fervently that this doesn't mean something grave. Every time I take my children for a blood test , I forge deals with God-an offering for a perfect blood test report.
The same numbers which didn't matter to me as a paramedic is of utmost importance to me now. Now I realize how much it must have mattered to that person involved; how many prayers would have been said while collecting a report. I wish I had more understanding of the responsibility I had towards the patients while preparing those reports. I wish I understood the pain of the person who saw a not- so- good report. Most of the times, our sympathy for people in distress is very superficial and we actually don't connect with their pain.
We never realize the plight of another person unless we're forced into their shoes.
