A daughter recounts her father’s pain and agony

Sir,

As my father had a throat surgery two years back, he could not eat or drink through the mouth. So, the doctors fitted a PEG tube to his stomach for feeding. Then his throat became clear and as he could consume food and liquid through the mouth, the PEG pipe was removed.

The doctors assured that the small opening in the stomach would close by itself within 4 to 8 weeks, but we were surprised when it did not close for 32 weeks (8 months). Every day dressing was to be done and it was hell for my father.

Half a dozen doctors kept on saying it will close by itself. Having lost our patience, we went to Bengaluru for consultation at a very good hospital situated on Airport Road. There the doctors examined and explained that if the small opening in the stomach does not close after 8 weeks then it will not close at all. They advised endoscopy and laparoscopic surgery with two days of stay in the hospital and gave us an estimate of Rs. 2,57,000.

We came back to Mysuru, worried. My father decided to take a chance and met a doctor by name  Dr. G. Siddesh, Director and Surgeon, Endoscopist and Laparoscopic Surgeon at Sigma Hospital, as a last visit. Dr. Siddesh went through the entire case report and problems my father was facing. He examined the wound and sprinkled some copper powder to the wound and prescribed an ointment tube costing Rs. 800 available at all medical shops, made in Denmark.

My father started applying the very thick ointment, with lot of burning sensation. The wound started to heal drastically and finally closed after a total of 15 days.

We are very thankful to Dr. Siddesh for healing my father’s wound and saving him from the agony of an operation at Bengaluru. The doctor also saved a huge amount of hard-earned money for my father.

Me and my family are very grateful to Dr. Siddesh.

— M.S. Soumya, V.V. Mohalla, 15.3.2025

Note: When the Mughal Viceroy of the South, Raja Jai Singh, was dismissed from his post by Emperor Aurangzeb and ordered to go to Agra to meet him, Raja Jai Singh knew his fate and bemoaned his fate saying, “There is no medicine against fate.” The headline for this voice is inspired from these words of Raja Jai Singh.—Ed