She smiles through pain

Fighting fit: Piali in her office. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Namaste, this is Piali, may I help you?,” the 27-year-old said softly into the phone, peering into the computer screen through her thick glasses and simultaneously keying in some data. At first sight, Piali Mukherjee seems totally in control as she sits at her cosy workdesk in the administrative block of Apollo Gleneagles Hospital. She is smart, articulate and well-suited for the department of media and public relations of the hospital.

But all’s not well with her. Piali suffers from Brittle Asthma Type I and bronchiectasis, a progressive lung disease, Atrial Fibrillation, where several areas of atria or upper chambers of the heart start beating erratically causing rhythm disturbances, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and severe osteoporosis.

“I fell prey to asthma attacks as a result of frequent lung infections in my childhood. But it was during my graduation that I was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia. All of a sudden, my heart rate would jump to 200-300 per minute,” said Piali, who lived in Krishnagar till she completed her graduation. In 1995, Piali’s elder sister died of cardiac problems. So, their only surviving child’s health condition came as a big shock for Piali’s parents.

Even when she went to Manipal Hospital in Bangalore for treatment she developed severe pulmonary distress. “I went into respiratory distress and had to be revived with assisted ventilation,” Piali recalled.

In 2000, Piali cleared B.Sc honours and decided to take up medical transcription. She took the tough step of moving out of home and shifting to a paying guest accommodation in Calcutta. “My asthma continued and I learnt to self-inject the life-saving medicines during an attack,” said Piali, who has been implanted with a permanent intravenous (IV) line in her chest for drug transfusions to the heart.

But while Piali’s health deteriorated, her career took flight. She climbed the ladder from a teacher at the institute where she was pursuing the medical transcription course to the centre manager. “I always dreamt of working with Devi Shetty. So despite my health condition I gladly took up the job of a part-time copywriter at Rabindranath Tagore International Institute for Cardiac Sciences, along with my full-time job in Millennium Campus. For eight months, I worked seven days a week, juggling the two. In 2003, I joined Apollo Gleneagles,” said the girl with a passion for writing poetry.

Apollo Gleneagles soon became her second home. Respiratory attacks forced her to get admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital almost every 15 days. “My oxygen level fell so low that I used to pass out while eating. By the end of 2005, I was confined to a wheelchair and dependent on artificial oxygen supply,” recounted Piali, leaning against the backrest of her chair.

It’s been exactly a year since then and Piali is up and about. Her desk is a busy one, with dime a dozen phone calls, colleagues dropping by with queries and office meetings. So what brought about the turnaround? “I had drowned in depression when I was suggested by Pranic healer Vidisha Bhattacharjee to undergo the no-drug no-touch complementary energy therapy. Initially, I was doubtful whether it would work. But it did,” she smiled.

Piali is still suffering from the ailments but her respiratory attacks, blackouts and bouts of erratic heart beat have reduced considerably. “In the past two-three months her condition has improved a lot. She needs to continue her medication and exercises,” said Ashok Sengupta, senior pulmonologist with Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals.

Piali even ventures outdoors for a while now. “With a spirit as resilient as Piali’s, destiny has had to bow to her optimism, hope and dreams that many others don’t put up a fight for,” said her colleague Ekta Bubna.

V. Shubha