SCARS ARE FOREVER

A dhoti-clad man stood next to the reception counter where I stood to attend to my daily records. A brief look at his face made me question the nature of his work in the hospital. He opened up his file and handed me his papers.

He had undergone surgery for sarcoma maxillary sinus, a carcinoma in the hollow bone adjacent to the nose, twenty years ago. He held a dentist responsible for the negligence caused in extracting his tooth. It resulted in this lifelong illness. My attempts to shake the belief he had held for twenty years seemed an impossible feat. So, I aimed to alleviate his current problem and provide him some relief.

The man continued further; he pulled up his dhoti to his thigh. What I saw was no less scary and unsightly. It imitated the brown extensions of the roots of trees above the ground. The lengths and heights varied. Truncated lines existed on those roots and merged well with the background. Nature has its way of designing things up. The thigh from where doctors had removed his skin to repair the sinus had left an ugly scar, a keloid.

To him, this keloid was a kind of historical document where a dramatic episode of tooth extraction lay memorialized. It reminded him of his journey, how far he had traveled, and how far more he had to, telling a tale of his survival.

Time heals all wounds. I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time the mind protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.

Rose F. Kennedy

With these incredible words, we close all wounds and veil them forever.