Review by: Ms Sindhu S, an End of Life Care Advocate and a Writer.
Anyone turning the pages of M.R Rajagopal’s ‘Walk with the Weary’, is in for a pleasant surprise for, in spite of being stories wrapped around heart-wrenching human suffering, the memoir rolls out with ease, akin to stories narrated around a campfire – gripping and animated.
The chronicles of a doctor, who became obsessed with relieving patient suffering even before pain management became a speciality (popularly known today as palliative care), becomes interesting with his unwavering dedication to the cause.
A compilation of shared experiences from his years of walking along the road with people suffering from life limiting illnesses, the book holds many lessons on living and dying well. The author has put together stories showcasing love, faith, hope and grief in the backdrop of illness, while sharing insights into his own life alongside.
These look at how a young anaesthesiologist began persistantly caring for seriously-ill patients with the will to reduce their burden, in the process of bringing forth more drama than one would expect.
The stories are initially narrated in a chatty style, which later on change to a more conversational yet ruminative pattern. Though his palliative care adventure and that of India as a whole run parallel, they blend effortlessly at crucial turning points.
The author unveils a path he chose, through thirty-odd stories, of patients who allowed him into their suffering, trying to relieve pain, and sometimes not succeeding in easing their agony. Some patients who stand out are Ramesh, who suffered a lot after a failed suicide attempt; a college professor, who succeeded in taking his own life due to hopelessness; Rahmath, who had the saddest smile and the children who taught valuable lessons about accepting the inevitable.
At times, the author makes fun of himself, admitting mistakes, misunderstandings, or misadventures. He is not shy when he talks about his naive entry into the world of pain relief, or his amateurish attempts at nerve blocking, even before he had a clue that his now speciality palliative care was more than the art and science of relieving illness related suffering.
He names all of his fellow travellers, from mentors to colleagues as well as magnanimous donors to supportive family caregivers. He acknowledges every doctor, nurse, philanthropist, mentor and patient he met and walked along during his formative years as a palliative care enthusiast and later crusader. Among them are pharmaceutical pioneer Yusuf Hammed, mentor Dr. Robert Twycross, philanthropist Bruce Davis, and leading specialist Gilly Burn, whom the reader will come to admire.
As way of critique one could say, at times the narration momentarily loses track setting the scene, or jumps awkwardly from reflection to description and back to narration in no particular order. Those apart, this trailblazer doctor works like anaesthesia for the reader, allowing one to negotiate the sufferings with ease.
In the writer’s words, “I believe I have a right to a compassionate and responsive medical system that will not reject the human being in me simply because my disease is incurable. I will consider it the greatest outrage on my person if, at that time, I am subjected to the ultimate indignity of a tube in every orifice, the agony of a suction catheter in my lungs and the horror of a friendless, cable-covered, electronic inhumane death.”
He says it is a paradox that people have to protect themselves against the medical system by signing “advance medical directives”.
”Can we not integrate palliative care into all health-care as recommended by the World Health Assembly in 2014 so as to relieve suffering along with treatment of diseases?”
Author Bio:
Padma Shri Dr M.R. Rajagopal is the Founder Chairman of Pallium India, an organisation formed in 2003 with the intention of building palliative care capacity throughout India. The organisation continues to work with governments to change relevant laws and creation of national and state policies, invests heavily in palliative care training professionals, and creating awareness among the general public on the need for home based compassionate care including end of life care.
‘Walk with the Weary’ is currently available on Amazon.in, Flipkart and Notion Press store. It is also available on Amazon.com (USA and UK) and as an eBook at the Kindle store.
Publisher: Notion Press (February2, 2022)
Language: English,
Paperback: 242 pages/Kindle
ISBN: 979-8885559416
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