Blood, Guts and Glory: Thalassemia Patients Battle for a Better Life :: Journalism Journalistic Essays

Blood, Guts and Glory thalassemia Patients Battle for a improve LifeWhen his company offered Vikram*, a systems analyst in Toronto, a counterchange to Montreal with a promotion and pay raise, he was delighted but concerned.The 31-year-old unmarried Vikram worked twice as hard in his job to make up for the time he took off for medical reasons. The promotion was a reassert reward for his hard work. But the question bothering Vikram, the issue that would determine his close whether to accept the posting, was Will I find a Thalassemia business center in Montreal?It was not the first time this unique note disorder was the deciding factor for the choices Vikram made. Thalassemia makes all the decisions for me, he said. At nine months, Vikram was diagnosed with Thalassemia, a genetic non-communicable relationship disorder. Born and raised in India, he spent his early years in and out of hospitals. His parents move to Canada but Vikram had to stay back with his grandparents because his parents could not cope with earning a victuals and paying his medical bills. After my grandparents passed away, I struggled with the costs and poor facilities for Thalassemia care in Delhi before deciding to move to Canada, said Vikram, who shifted to Toronto when he was in his twenties.He has needed consistent and frequent blood transfusions, ranging from nonpareil unit (or bag) of blood any two months to one unit every seven days. Currently, he needs three units of blood every quartet weeks. Vikram explained that he visits a clinic for the transfusion. Here, a heart and soul pushes blood into his veins at a constant speed. Each unit takes close to two hours to be transfused which heart and soul Vikram must spend from six to eight hours in the clinic. This transfusion gives his blood an iron overload.Vikarm then has to take iron chelation (kee-LAY-shun) which involves infusions of the drug Desferal to remove overweening iron from his blood and organs for five full days .The Desferal infusion, he added, is more(prenominal) painful. He has a portocathetor, which is a device under his skin in his chest. This is connected to a needle which is attached to a syringe pump every Monday to infuse the drug continuously for five days. The pump, which Vikram wears on his waist, is about the size of an oversized palm-pilot and weighs a pound-and-a-half. It buzzes every time it pushes the medicine.