Pratap Bhogilal Journey Through Life

Author(s): Rauf Ahmed
Publisher: Bhupendra Singh Anand

Page 41

THE JOURNEY
35
October 2003 - I visited London for First Ahimsa Day organised by Institute of Indology in co-operation with WJC in the British Parliament. This was quite successful. I, on behalf of WJC, presented a set of books to the presiding MP - who was the MP of the Opposition Party - and to the Indian High Commission.
However, this was on a very windy night of autumn and I caught a chill and also had fever. I had to arrange to call an Indian doctor at Vardhan's home where I was staying through a telephone call to Dr. Singhvi in India who was treating him when he was the High Commissioner. He advised me to go home and cancel all other visits In Europe. So I returned to Mumbai and was confined to bed for a month. I had called Dr. Sujeet Rajan for consultation for the first time.
After I recovered from cold, a few months later, during my morning walk, I felt uneasy and I was feeling very weak. So the next morning I called both Dr. Atul Nathwani, my cardiologist and Dr. Jamshed Soonawala and after examining me and after taking the cardiogram, they diagnosed that I had a mild heart attack during the night. Dr. Atul Nathwani said that further medication could prolong life but I would have to slow down and also one can never be sure when one might have a sudden attack; however, if I wanted to have my usual active life, I should have by-pass surgery but it was a high risk.I asked him what was meant by high risk, he said it was around 10%. They advised that if I went for surgery I should get it done abroad because of the risk involved and my age. Therefore I decided to have the cardiac surgery done at Cleveland Clinic in USA since I had sent my earlier angiogram and Dr. Nathwani's prescription to the cardiologist there and he had confirmed what Dr. Nathwani had prescribed and I had carried on with medication.
Although Nirmal and rest of the family were against my going to Cleveland, I was insistent and made all preparations for treatment at Cleveland Clinic and even fixed the date of operation being 21st June 2004. When Vasanti (my brother-in-law's wife) came to visit me, after hearing about my heart problem, she insisted that I should visit the Asian Heart Institute and see Dr. Ramakant Panda. Although I was initially reluctant to go there since
There are no barriers that cannot be bridged, except the ones men create in their own minds - Zen Saying