CHAPTER 14

Summary

• In 1934, Dr. Digby is in Madras treating a woman named Aavudainayaki, who has a large goiter on her neck.
• Despite turning Aavudainayaki's overactive goiter symptoms around in two weeks with a Potassium Iodide solution, the physical size of the goiter remains unchanged.
• To remove the goiter, Digby needs a skilled teacher. He is introduced to Dr. V.V. Ravichandran, the first Indian full professor in surgery at Madras Medical College who agreed to assist Digby and pass on his surgical knowledge.
• Despite an initial Indian cultural friction regarding Digby's crossing of the ocean to a foreign land, the eventual camaraderie that develops between Digby and Ravichandran reflects mutual respect.
• Together, they handle many complicated surgical procedures, including a gastric cancer case.
• Five weeks after first meeting Ravichandran, Digby brings Aavudainayaki for treatment at General Hospital. Her goiter extends into her chest, a critical complexity that made it required the chest to be sawed through for removal.
• Ravichandran assists Digby, guiding and helping improve Digby's surgical technique throughout the procedure. They successfully remove the goiter with a makeshift surgical tool made by Ravichandran.
• Post-surgery, Digby stays overnight at the hospital to keep watch on Aavudainayaki. He wakes up to find her unable to breathe due to a blood clot, which he hastily removes. He then decides not to take her back to the operating theater as her breathing stabilizes.
• The next morning, Ravichandran reprimands Digby for not calling him or immediately returning Aavudainayaki to the operating theater when the clot was discovered, but acknowledges that Digby took care of his own complications, marking his growth as a surgeon.