Affairs of the heart - The day my heart played on me

Affairs of the heart

The day my heart played on me

By K Atique -e- Rabbani

It was Tuesday the 8th of May, 2001. I woke up earlier than usual because I had an invitation to attend the foundation laying ceremony of BCC (Bangladesh Computer Council) Bhaban at 9:40 am and it would take me almost 50 minutes to reach there given Dhaka's perpetual and notorious traffic jams. Parveen, my wife took Inti, our son and Mayee, our daughter to school at 7:20 am. I bid them good bye, scanned through the newspapers, took a shower and said my morning ‘kaaza' prayers ( this is the only prayer I normally say during the whole day). While I was dressing up I thought I have been keeping well, (I do not know if I mentioned by the grace of God in my mind or not), for quite some time. I catch cold easily (not necessarily only during winter) and have frequent congestions and the last time I remember I was unwell was when I came back from USA in Nov 2000. I have been taking honey every morning for a number of months now and inhale hot vapour every morning at Parveen's behest (who is my resident physician and I find it immensely convenient and less stressful to agree to her) and these may seem to have worked, I thought. Parveen came back after dropping Inti and

Mayee at school at about 8:20 am and served me breakfast (grateful to Parveen for these small gestures even after fifteen years of marriage - I wrote her a song on our fifteenth anniversary and she says she liked it - I write her songs and she serves me breakfast - that's how it goes). The BCC bhaban foundation laying would be in a makeshift place under a tent in Agargaon, Shere Bangla Nagar. As I would not have control over time while there at the ceremony and Parveen would have to leave at 11:45 am to pick up Inti from school I planned to drive myself taking along an office assistant, Hasan, with me to guard the car while I attend the ceremony. It continued to rain torrentially and at Parveen's insistence I took both the driver, Anwar and Hasan along to Agargaon. Anwar would drop me, park the car and come back home to Shantinagar by tempo/rickshaw to take Parveen to school. I reached Agargaon just before 10 am and rain was pelting down. I called Parveen to tell her that I am sending Anwar back and that I will not have cell phone with me for the next two hours or so as mobile phones are not allowed where Prime Minister is there.

A policeman helped me with an umbrella into the tent where security stopped me because although I was not carrying a mobile phone I had my digital diary in my pocket. However they let me in and I found my friends from the industry and sat with them in the third row. Anwar was instructed to park the car and leave the key with Hasan who would wait near the car. As it was a proposed building site all arrangements were make shift and raindrops seeped in through the tent and dropped on the sofa where I sat. I closed in to the left and it was not much of a bother. I got to chatting with people around me and we waited for the PM to arrive.

PM arrived half an hour late and when her turn came for her to speak she drooled over her speech for quite some time and I dozed off for about five minutes or so. The whole event was over at about 12 noon and I did not feel anything unusual. I got to talking to others after the event for another ten minutes or so while waiting for the rain to stop. The rain held, I started looking for my car as I did not quite know where it would be parked. I went to one parking lot and it was not there. I soon located both Hasan and the car from a distance and I began to feel slight discomfort and pain in the middle of my chest and I loosened my tie. I reached the car, called Parveen just to say I was not feeling all that well and that I might go back to Shantinagar to rest. She said she was caught in a traffic jam and would come directly home after picking Inti. As I began to drive I felt worse and turned instead to go to my office in IDB Bhaban in Agargaon as I thought I would not be able to make it to Shantinagar driving. God gave me strength and I was not scared and started reciting ‘La Ilaha ..' in my mind. I reached IDB Bhaban car park, parked the car and started to feel dizzy.

I somehow reached the door of my office wobbling. My colleagues quickly got hold of me, sat me down and started to fan me with a cardboard. My colleagues went to fetch a local doctor but none could be found. I began to feel better but took off my vest and shirt as I sweated quite profusely. I requested Juboraj, one of my colleague to buy me a vest as I was feeling cold. He went to the nearby Agargaon bazaar and bought me one and I lay down on a table. Ignorance is bliss but that ignorance can also be fatal did not quite occur to me. Never in my mind crossed the thought that my heart was the problem. I kept thinking it must be acidity or hunger pain as I had them before when I was irregular with my food. I took some water and had a bite of an apple. My colleagues were in constant touch with Parveen who was on her way to IDB Bhaban. Parveen informed my sister who in turn informed my brother, Habib Rabbani (whom I call Dabhai).

Raquib Azam and other colleagues wanted to take me to Suhrwardy but then we thought let Parveen come and I was not showing tremendous amount of desperation. Another colleague, Ashiq, arrived and called his doctor brother Dr Rupak on the phone. Dr Rupak asked to feel my pulse which Tariquzzaman, another of my colleague counted to be 60. Luckily Raquib Sb drives and without waiting for Parveen and at Ashiq's and other colleague's insistence we drove to Suhrwardy Cardiac Unit. Ashiq called Parveen and Dabhai from the car and asked them to go directly to Suhrwardy. At Suhrwardy two stout ladies took my ECG and whisked me almost instantly in a wheel chair up two ramps to CCU. I was most impressed with their prompt reaction but whether they saw death in my face or Ashique tipped them well, I was not quite so sure. Parveen and Dabhai reached CCU by then. I overheard that I was having continuous attacks and my ECG was not good. A young doctor and soon Prof G M Farooq attended me, plugged me to machines, IVs and all and I lay still, relaxed and conscious.

By about 6 pm I began to feel quite at ease, the pain having shifted slightly to the left. Two days in CCU, one night in a ward, few hours in a paying bed next to a bed where a party was going on (one young man of 32 was feasting with ten of his friends with chicken roasts and others- he is a nice guy - a body guard of an important person) and after four days in a comfortable cabin I am backat home now. Prof Farooq and his team were very efficient, extremely nice and I am grateful to them.

Prof Farooq advised either to have my CAG done in Dhaka or in Delhi/Spore within about a month while the wound, if any, is young. I have full confidence on Prof Farooq but naturally systems around him may be wanting and we have sort of decided to have CAG done in Delhi/Spore. I am under strict orders to go easy for about a month which I think will be quite unbearable. Plans are afoot for me to go to either to ESCORTS Heart Institute and Research Centre in New Delhi or Mt Elizabeth in Singapore for CAG any eventual heart repair. During my six days in Suhrwardy Dabhai kept all night vigil and managed everything with my colleagues, family members, in laws and friends. I am grateful to all of them for helping me come through this quite painlessly. My cell is with Ashiq and/or Parveen, I do not receive any phones and I am beginning to feel I do not want all this peace and quiet.

K Atique -e- Rabbani is a Chartered Accountant. He however prefers IT to Accountancy. His company, The Computers Ltd develops software and provides IT training. He plays a guitar, sings and writes.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com