Discharged after miraculous recovery, Carmel attendant Sheela elated to meet school staff, kids

Tribune News Service

Naina Mishra 

Chandigarh, August 8 

Sheela Devi, the 40-year-old attendant of Carmel Convent School, Chandigarh, was discharged today from PGIMER after her miraculous recovery. Her joy knew no bounds when she saw the school staff and students waiting for her. She stood up from her wheelchair and walked up to the school staff and kids to greet them. Sheela had sustained head injury when a tree fell on her and some students on July 8 at the Carmel Convent School during lunch time. A girl had lost her life in the incident.

Sheela hugged the kids and staff and expressed her willingness to get back to work. Although, she faintly remembers what tragedy had unfolded on that fateful day. Her daughter Jaspreet shared that her mother has been told that she had fallen off from the stairs at the school as she couldn’t recollect that tragic incident. She desperately wants to get back to work but school staff has told her to take some rest till she is perfectly fit.  

“In such cases, the patient feels amnesia and hardly remembers the accidents due to trauma. The way she hugged the school kids, it could tell that she was emotional to see them. However, she doesn’t know yet. During her stay, we would often interact with her daughter and share the health update of her mother. She would always tell that her mother would open her eyes and she did. So much courage from a girl of her age. Remember what I told you? She asked me today while leaving,” said Prof Vipin Kaushal, Medical Superintendent, PGIMER. 

Sheela Devi while sharing her sentiments said, “It was an extremely challenging time. Though this one month of struggles and tribulations, there were thousand moments of fear and anxiety of the unknown, of hopelessness and despair. But the PGIMER team, with their constant medical and psychological support, made me come out victorious of this near-death-like situation and I am deeply touched by the care and compassion.”    

Sheela was brought to the Advanced Trauma Centre of PGIMER on July 8 in a very critical condition, after she sustained head injury due to the fall of the tree on her in Carmel Convent School. Following the incident, she was in altered sensorium with multiple grievous injuries. She was mechanically ventilated and tracheotomised on fourth day of her admission. Gradually, her sensorium improved, and she was weaned off the ventilator on 18th day of her stay. She responded well to all treatment interventions and thereafter discharged today after exactly one month long stay in PGIMER. 

Prof Kajal Jain, Incharge Trauma and Acute Care, PGIMER said, “We were prepared for the disaster management at the trauma centre. The head injury was very severe and the patient was very critical. She had sustained a high velocity injury which damaged the brain. But, she was saved as she reached within the “golden hours” of her trauma, which is within three hours of the injury.” 

She added, “She was showing signs of severe head injury through the deranged parameters like high blood pressure and sugar level. She stayed on ventilator for 10 days and started showing signs of consciousness after then. She started accepting orally within a few days and also mobilised on wheelchair. Another challenge was that the patient also had cervical spine fracture and if you don’t manage it properly, the patient can slip into paralysis.” 

Holding bunches of flowers, Sheela Devi along with her two children was escorted by principal and teachers of the school towards the vehicle parked there, bound for her home.      

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