Published on: August 26, 2019

Adhvaith Sundaramoorthy Balasubramanian from International school of Stuttgart, Germany, who was at Pallium India as an intern for two weeks, writes:

Palliative care was a very new concept for me. Some patients whom I got the opportunity to see were in advanced conditions whereas others were in a position to take care of themselves. Some of the diseases they had were hypoglycemia, dementia, delirium, constipation, stroke, hemiparesis, and paralysis. Pallium India taught me a lot that I didn’t know before.

My most memorable event from the two weeks was when, on my very first home care visit, I got two gifts from palliative care patients.

The first person gifted me a hand-knit bag that she had made before she became ill. When I entered her home I was greeted by her daughter and maid. They had a smile that lit my face but as we continued towards the room where the patient was, the smiles slowly turned into frowns. As the doctor was consulting with the patient I took some time to analyze the room. I noticed that there was a hand knit fly trap by the window. I started to converse with her about the knitted piece of art. She immediately asked her sister to bring other pieces that she had made to show me. The sister took out so many knit goods, from skirts to bags. Then the patient asked her sister to give me a small knit grocery bag.

The next patient who was an advocate and an author gave me a book he had written, called “The banana bunch and other stories”.

These two presents mean a lot to me.