the little krishna

The little Krishna

The woman had married her maternal uncle, her mother and grandmother had done the same. This repeated consanguinity over three generations had resulted in a lot of miscarriages and abortions until  finally, glory  halleluiah after 15 years they had a son.

He was brought to the paediatric OPD , very sick, with methhaemoglobinaemia in a crisis. The infant was very sick and the professor told me to admit him immediately and give intravenous methylene blue. The calculation was really complicated. The child weighed 6.2 kg. The dose was Xmg/kg. The solution supplied was X% of methylene blue.

After starting the IV line (this was before the era of cell phones and Google) I sat down and calculated the dose. It was very complicated. Maths was not my strong point. I had given it up in 9^th std  in favour of English Literature. I administered the dose intravenously.

The effect was immediate. Before my horrified eyes the light skinned baby turned a dusky blue. For good measure, he pissed out urine that could be filled in my pen as a substitute for the ususal “Quink Royal Blue”.

This was a really precious baby and I thought the relatives would attack me.

All of a sudden the lady from the next bed said

“The child will live, Lord Krishna has returned in a new avatar.”

I slipped a way to the phone to find out what to do.

“Don’t worry”, said my professor after yelling at me for 5 minutes, “the methylene blue will be excreted by the kidneys.”

By the time I returned to the bed, someone had tied a peacock feather on the baby’s forehead.

He recovered and was discharged two days later after the urine was not “ink” any longer.

He apparently was “cured” and funnily enough did not have another episode.

Perhaps the “overdose” was correct?

His blue colour gradually faded over the next week.

“Lord Krishna left after saving my son,” said the mother when she brought the child to the OPD for a check up.

I nodded my head and said ,”Yes, yes,” just relieved that “alls well that ends well.”

http://velloretimes.blogspot.in/