COVID was a difficult nightmare to relive. However, it has horror stories but also stories of overcoming all obstacles.
New Delhi (India), July 11: The story of Shreya Brahma, a 9-year-old girl at that time, is a case in point. It was the first wave of COVID when Shreya's parents noticed the large bruises on her body and she complained of fatigue, aches and pains. However, visiting a doctor at that time was not an option most parents were likely to make. Then came the fever, implacable and continuous, which the little girl endured with strength. Fearful, the parents visited a local doctor who diagnosed them with COVID.
Most pediatric units struggled with a lack of beds and staff. Shreya Brahma's parents finally found a bed for her in the COVID ward of Peerless Hospital.
The Pediatrics team at Peerless Hospital, led by Dr. Sanjukta De, and the Hematology team, led by Dr. Shazi Gulshan, soon understood that all of Shreya's symptoms were not due to COVID. The preliminary test confirmed his worst fears that she had acute leukemia. This double misfortune hit Shreya's parents hard. They were almost ready to give up, but Shreya was a fighter and so were her doctors at Peerless Hospital.
“The hardest part of dealing with her at the time was the lack of proper human contact. Relating to a girl struggling with her illness and the fear of being surrounded by strangers who wear PPE and whose faces she cannot see was very challenging. She continued to test positive for COVID for weeks as her immune system coped with the attack,” said Dr. Sanjukta De, her pediatrician.
There were no guidelines for treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in the case of COVID positive. "It was a slow and cautious step to balance her chemotherapy regimen with her COVID treatment and adjust the dosage of her steroids, which are necessary for both," says Dr. Shazia Gulshan, her hemat-oncologist.
Her other logistics were finding enough blood products and platelets for her when her counts went down. These were COVID times and blood banks were running out. To give her parents the best possible outcome despite the difficulties, doctors at Peerless Hospital, including Dr. Sanjukta De, donated blood to keep the blood bank running. It was humanity at its finest.
Over the next two years of ALL remission and maintenance therapy, Shreya was admitted several times. Despite everything, she channeled her energy into her drawings and continued creating her masterpieces. Her pain kept her from her favorite pastime, dancing, but her imagination found new wings.
She was immensely brave in the worst of times, but she collapsed when her beautiful hair began to fall out in clumps.
Two years later, she is in remission, that is, cured. Her hair has grown back. She has returned to dancing, although she remains a prolific painter.
The walls of doctors Sanjukta De and Shazia Gulshan's room were a silent testimony to the struggle of this girl who, through her artwork, gave the doctors the strength to fight for her.
.
New Delhi (India), July 11: The story of Shreya Brahma, a 9-year-old girl at that time, is a case in point. It was the first wave of COVID when Shreya's parents noticed the large bruises on her body and she complained of fatigue, aches and pains. However, visiting a doctor at that time was not an option most parents were likely to make. Then came the fever, implacable and continuous, which the little girl endured with strength. Fearful, the parents visited a local doctor who diagnosed them with COVID.
Most pediatric units struggled with a lack of beds and staff. Shreya Brahma's parents finally found a bed for her in the COVID ward of Peerless Hospital.
The Pediatrics team at Peerless Hospital, led by Dr. Sanjukta De, and the Hematology team, led by Dr. Shazi Gulshan, soon understood that all of Shreya's symptoms were not due to COVID. The preliminary test confirmed his worst fears that she had acute leukemia. This double misfortune hit Shreya's parents hard. They were almost ready to give up, but Shreya was a fighter and so were her doctors at Peerless Hospital.
“The hardest part of dealing with her at the time was the lack of proper human contact. Relating to a girl struggling with her illness and the fear of being surrounded by strangers who wear PPE and whose faces she cannot see was very challenging. She continued to test positive for COVID for weeks as her immune system coped with the attack,” said Dr. Sanjukta De, her pediatrician.
There were no guidelines for treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in the case of COVID positive. "It was a slow and cautious step to balance her chemotherapy regimen with her COVID treatment and adjust the dosage of her steroids, which are necessary for both," says Dr. Shazia Gulshan, her hemat-oncologist.
Her other logistics were finding enough blood products and platelets for her when her counts went down. These were COVID times and blood banks were running out. To give her parents the best possible outcome despite the difficulties, doctors at Peerless Hospital, including Dr. Sanjukta De, donated blood to keep the blood bank running. It was humanity at its finest.
Over the next two years of ALL remission and maintenance therapy, Shreya was admitted several times. Despite everything, she channeled her energy into her drawings and continued creating her masterpieces. Her pain kept her from her favorite pastime, dancing, but her imagination found new wings.
She was immensely brave in the worst of times, but she collapsed when her beautiful hair began to fall out in clumps.
Two years later, she is in remission, that is, cured. Her hair has grown back. She has returned to dancing, although she remains a prolific painter.
The walls of doctors Sanjukta De and Shazia Gulshan's room were a silent testimony to the struggle of this girl who, through her artwork, gave the doctors the strength to fight for her.
.
