Taking Medicines Regularly

We had to spend time waiting in a taxi which we had engaged to go in and around visiting Kolhapur.

The taxi driver was an elderly man of about 75 years.
We passed our waiting time in the taxi by talking to him about the local markets, vegetarian hotels, clothes, kolhapuri chappals, the ancient and famous Mahalakshmi temple...and his children, his having lunch in the taxi itself on some busy days.

He said he has 3 daughters and a son, all married and with grown up kids. He told us he was staying with the son, daughter-in-law and their only son.

Where was his wife then? He said she passed away 12 years back.
I asked him what happened to her and was he there at that time.
He said he was very much with her. Both had had dinner and were sitting and chatting. All of a sudden she started complaining of acute pain in both her hands and legs. Even in that pain she had given her son's phone number and asked her husband to call over their son and daughter-in-law immediately. They rushed and began pressing her legs and hands. Later took her to a hospital where the doctor began testing her. Alas before any treatment could be administered, she had a massive heart attack and passed away. She was just 54 years old, he said. When I remarked that it was quite a young age to die, he told me that his father-in-law and wife's elder sister too died at 54! He wondered whether it was some family curse. I said it could be due to some other reason and asked whether there was something else that stressed her or was she on regular medicines for any ailment like BP, Heart or sugar complaint?
Yes she was taking BP drugs everyday.

Minutes before her death she was talking about their only son who was married but unemployed, roaming around, borrowing money from his mother on the sly for his expenses and wondered whether he will get alright, if at all.

I enquired whether she took those drugs regularly as per the doctor's advice?
He revealed that she had secretly given her son, the money kept aside for buying her medicines and how she had stopped taking her BP medicines for a week prior to her death. She had hidden that fact from her husband and used to complain often about some dizziness and pain during that last week.

Later he sold his cloth shop to buy 2 taxis. One for himself and one for his son to eke out a living. Now his son is responsible and takes care of his family and his aged father too. The mother is no more to see this! In fact there were two taxis waiting at the stand, but we engaged the elderly man's taxi. If we had hired the son's taxi, we would have been treated to a different version of the same story at least how fortunate he and his wife were to have pressed her hands and legs minutes before his mother's death.

The rate we fixed for the round trip was Rs.500/- but he grinned so I gave him an extra Rs.100/- which was purely for the story session! He had unburdened himself and I my purse!

A similar incident occurred to a relative of mine. He died because he neglected taking his regular medicines for just 2 days due to some function at home (leading to irregular and delayed meals) for which he paid with his life.

It is due to neglect to take medicines on time and regularly, 'if' the doctor advises the same for BP, heart condition or sugar complaint as stopping them for any reason could prove fatal. These are prescribed for life long for long life!

Mahalakshmi.