My troubles started a week ago. To cut a long story short, I was rather lax about my companions in the bus (I didn't have much choice), my food and my habits in general and so developed all the symptoms they give in the newspaper ads regarding swine flu. Now, I should have been more careful, but I thought that it was only my tonsils giving trouble again. I rushed to the clinic I usually visit, and they told me that they didn't treat patients suffering from fever. I told them that I only had a sore throat. My fever was too mild then; I didn't even feel it. The nurse there checked and told me that I had fever; a mild one though: 99.4 F. I was scared I would be turned out. Luckily, I wasn't. The doctor whom I was asked to consult was not my usual doctor. The old one is a lady in the real sense of the word and she used to explain to me, every time, what my disease was, and what medicines I should take, and why I should take them. She was quite busy then and that was the reason why I was sent to this other doctor.
Now, this new doc seemed more worried than me about my disease. I tried to convince her that it was only my tonsillitis creating trouble again - I am supposed to avoid all cold food, but I generally believe that exceptions were the rule for me with regards to this advice. She checked my pressure and noted it to be 80/100. The pulse was normal. But the pressure reading sent a chill into my heart. My cousin had died only a few weeks back due to a cardiac arrest preceded by a low pressure condition. My dad's cousin too had died rather inexplicably, but now we have come to the conclusion that it was the result of lung infection. Anyway, this situation was rather annoying - I wasn't feeling really that sick - no dizzy head and I was thinking pretty logically all the time. I was sure that the doctor had made a spelling mistake but I did not ask her - she seemed so worried when I told her that my stomach had been upset for the past two days and that I was recovering form it. Finally she gave me the prescription I wanted - an antibiotic, the usual Vitamin B Complex capsules and a new one - an iodine solution for gargling.
Gargling with the iodine solution was a novel experience, to say the least. I was asked to make a 1:1 mixture of the iodine solution with water. I found this solution to be a rather alarming violetish brown colour and adding water didn't improve its appearance much. Besides,as my sis remarked: It smelt like toilet lotion. To pour it in my mouth was a bit disgusting but I did it.
Well, the condition of my throat began to improve. I began to eat 'normal' food as I was to eat the dreaded antibiotic. I was surviving purely on ORS for the past two days.
The antibiotic was one of a kind - eat one and you'll find yourself too weak to move out of the bed for two days. The course ends only today and I still cannot keep my eyelids open.
I made mom and dad buy bread, oranges and all the 'healthy' foodstuffs that doctors normally recommend - and stayed away from my normal diet. (I won't give you the particulars but I assure you that mom strongly disapproves of it.)
That evening my aunt called and mom told her the particulars of my disease. My aunt got worried. Seems a person nearby had died after having the same symptoms as I had. She got so worked up that my parents decided to take a second opinion. I agreed. I was rather worried about the 100 part of my BP reading.
This time I was taken to a hospital - as soon as dad told the lady at the reception counter that I had fever and sore throat, she rushed me into the Casualty. All the people there were wearing the famous N95 masks and looking at me with such pity that I almost read my obituary in my mind. At first my BP was checked. Then the doc asked me about my symptoms. Then they grew a bit more worried and they checked my BP for the second time. This time, I got really worried. Why the hell were they checking my BP for the second time? I showed them the earlier prescription. The doc nodded approvingly and asked me to complete the course. She gave an additional prescription for two more medicines - one for cold and the other for fever. I was back home after the doc told me to rest for two days and get admitted in the General Hospital if the condition worsened. That was the laughable part; I knew of the opinion the General Hospital has in the minds of my parents. Mind you, it is not because of the incompetency of the doctors, it is only that the institution is too crowded given our burgeoning population and the disinterest of the government in improving the basic facilities.
The doctors in public hospitals suffer a lot - the government and the public expect too much of them - they are made to suffer when people suffer, but their salaries are well below par. It is a pretty pathetic situation for them.
Two days later I found from the newspaper that the antibiotic I was taking was the one to be prescribed for people with mild swine flu.
I had no problems during daytime, but I was really scared during night. I knew that this disease - I had heard too many stories about it, and I knew that none of them was an exaggeration - was a really unpredictable one. I slept with my mobile phone in the bed - just in case I couldn't cry out if the condition became really serious and allotted the speed dials. I knew that I had trouble in breathing. My sis had recorded the sound I made while breathing - a moaning, wailing type of sound. One night when my mom slept in my room to make sure I was alright, she used to wake me after every few hours to ask me why I was wailing - she was pretty scared too.
Thankfully, I have a great love for life and God is kind enough to me; though I do not know how to thank Him for being so gracious to such a wicked person that I am. I took my medicines in time without complaint, gargled with that iodine solution (my throat pricked a lot after that) and ate the food that was given without a murmur. (If I had been in the position of my mom, I'd have remarked that I was a far better girl when I was sick than when I was healthy.) So now I am, quite cheerful after a week of the wicked flu, suffering from a minor cough and a cold, barred from going out lest I infect others or worsen my own condition.
I was sort of a VIP all these days. I got all I wanted and save the scolding I received from mom whenever she found me reading Sherlock Holmes for the umpteenth time, I have nothing to complain about. I am really grateful to the doctors who treated me, my parents and my sis who cared for me, my relatives and friends who inquired after me everyday and above all to the God Almighty who saves me whenever I am in trouble. Where would I be, but for Him?
God bless us all!
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