To Navanjun S. Grewal, M.D. and the public at large: This is a letter of particular thanks for Divine grace.
It’s hard to talk about this. I am a writer, and the fact that I write these words now I owe to the skill and genius of a man, Navanjun S. Grewal, MD, I never met before this past June 2013. I say this because if he were not born with the skill and prescience to see and do what needed to be done, I would have lost the use of the hand with which I write. So this is not your average perfunctory recommendation. Because for a writer, the hand is an essential tool that is needed in order to survive.
– Eric John Priestley
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“A Helping Hand”
Written by Eric John Priestley, Los Angeles, 10/29/2013
It was about two in the afternoon, and I was getting off the Expo Line train at Culver City last stop, and lightly hit the back of my right hand on the passenger rail. I looked at my hand moments later, and there was blood erupting under the skin which appeared like a volcano. I quickly started massaging it in the hope it would stop. It did not stop, and later after I got home, my friend noticed the swelling and agreed to take me to Cedars-Sinai hospital. I was seen by an attending physician, who ordered x-rays, which revealed no broken bones, gave me some pain medication, told me to keep ice on it, and if it got worse to return. I took the medication immediately and went home and went to sleep.
At 4 a.m. I was jolted awake by a throbbing pain. I looked at my hand, and it was as large as a soccer ball. I called 911, gave them my address and told the ambulance to hurry. I ran down and waited in front of the house. By the time we got to the hospital and the physician came out I told him, “I don’t want to talk to you. I need a surgeon – now.”
He told me one was on duty, and in moments a very tall, striking figure of a man came into the emergency room. He took one look at my hand and said, “You’re going to need surgery right now.”
I totally agreed, and signed as best I could, the necessary forms. Moments later I heard the same surgeon’s voice, “Wake up.”
“When are we going to start, doc?” I asked. He told me we were finished. I was astonished.
I spent a few days at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and later Doctor Grewal sent me to hand therapy, where I am happy to say I healed quickly, got the stitches removed with very little scaring per the assurance of Doctor Grewal. I have blessings and eternal thanks to him and to the Divine grace which brought about my meeting him and his superb skills, which to this day enable me to write and create. I cannot imagine my life without being able to write.