FOCus
No Parent Should
By Farhan Shah
Go Through This
No Mum should ever
go through the mental
trauma of seeing her
precious infant undergo
major surgery. Amita Dutt,
lawyer and mother, did.
This is her story.
Barely able to utter a word, yet
having to go under the knife and
fight for his life at an age when most
infants are just learning to breathe
properly, 17-year-old Nikhil Dutt has
survived an arduous journey that
most people would never have to
walk through.
At a time when most parents would
be fretting over diaper brands,
baby food and the colour of the
playroom’s walls, Amita and her
husband had to watch helplessly as
Nikhil, barely a month old, struggled
and shrieked in pain as needles were
inserted into his delicate skin.
It was 1996 when the Dutt family was
all set to celebrate the landmark
occasion of Nikhil’s birth, the first
grandchild in the clan. So, when
Amita started to feel the first
contractions in her womb while she
was hard at work, the family was
immediately mobilised; a whirlwind
of activity blended with the precision
of a trained army brigade.
Yet, it had to be done.
“[The] pregnancy and
childbirth were smooth and
easy,” Amita reminisces.
For the first 15 days after
Nikhil took his primordial
breaths, it seemed like
the Dutts’ family album
would be filled with happy
snapshots of Nikhil blowing
out the candles on his first
birthday cake, taking his
first few steps with his
loving parents awaiting
with outstretched arms,
and more.
?
Hirschsprung Disease
Usually
diagnosed
in
children,
Hirschsprung Disease is an abdominal
disorder that occurs when certain parts
of the large intestine are absent of
nerves, causing the body to be unable
to pass stool. The disease is named
after a Danish physician named Harald
Hirschsprung, who spoke of two infants
passing away as a result of this disorder
during a lecture in 1886.
However, on the sixteenth
day, everything collapsed
like a house of cards.
“Nikhil was put into
intensive care after the
doctors suspected that he
might have Hirschsprung
Disease, a condition that
affects only 1 out of 5,000
babies and is usually seen
more frequently in boys than
girls,” says Amita.
On the seventeenth
day, the doctors’ fears
were confirmed. Nikhil was
the unfortunate one out of five
thousand infants.
People focus on the sick child,
but the child looks to the parent for
everything. Who, then, looks after
the parent? Parents need help,
compassion and love too.
16
Family & Life • Oct 2013
Nikhil was too young and frail
to go through the major surgery
required to rectify his condition,
so the doctors did a colostomy as
a temporary measure until Nikhil
became strong enough to undergo
the operation.
After the colostomy bag was safely
in place, allowing Nikhil to be able to
pass his stool out, he was warded for
a week to ensure that there were no
further complications before he was
allowed to return home. Amita and
her husband’s world turned upside
down; their schedules and lives
revolved around Nikhil’s condition.
“We had no control over Nikhil’s
condition and related matters. For
example, when his colostomy bag
leaked, we would drop everything
that we were doing and rush home
to have it redone. Nikhil would
catch every bug that was spreading,
and was continually fretful and
nervous. The slightest thing would
distract him and he would wake up
screaming,” says Amita.
When Nikhil turned three months
old, he was finally strong enough
to go through the major operation.
Amita and her husband watched with
tears in their eyes and hope in their
hearts, as their bundle of joy was
wheeled into the operating theatre,
where the doctors and nurses in
operating gowns were preparing
to remove the affected section of
Nikhil’s large intestine.
When operation was finally over,
the couple bolted out of their hard,
plastic chairs and was reassured
with the good news of success. The
danger had passed, but the decadelong trudge to full recovery proved
a long and winding road, filled with
almost insurmountable obstacles.
Surmount them they did, but not
without a lot of help and support
from different quarters.
“We had an excellent surgeon who
managed our expectations and
prepared us for each stage. On
the home front, we had a kind and
dedicated nanny for Nikhil, who
loved him as her own grandchild.
My husband and I were surrounded
closely by supportive family and good
friends, who helped us emotionally
and spiritually throughout the
duration of this journey. Our
employers and colleagues too
were incredibly compassionate and
patient,” recalls Amita.
Today, Nikhil Dutt Sundaraj is a
sprightly young man who, just like
his peers, spends too much time
on Facebook and enjoys a regular
kick-a-bout with friends. The only
trace of his time shuttling in and
out of hospital is a small scar at his
stomach, where the colostomy bag
used to be.
“The surgery scar is the only
noticeable remnant of that time and I
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