As if a ball of red hot chili was stuffed into my head, everytime I turned my head, a sense of its “detaching from the body” would make me sweat more.
I am Mudasir Ahmad (Name Changed) and I am in district hospital with one of my close relative lying on the bed by my side hooked up to an oxygen tank.
Sweat, rising temperature, body ache, anxiety and the viruses flying in the Ward with all the beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.
I was warned earlier, I was given to understand that this virus is not a hoax, you must be thinking that I didn’t follow the protocol I was supposed to, in order not to contract the virus. No, I did! I would sanitize my hands everytime I felt it necessary, I wore the mask everytime I ventured out but I lost to the invisibility and may be the invinciblity of the virus and its strength of utmost transferablity.
It is my 8th day in the hospital and I am loosing all my patience, believe me I wailed this morning, the way our women folk wail at a funeral, everyone in the Ward looked at me in despair.
I hate food, It tastes like metal, it gives me a feeling of chewing an aluminum wire.
My close friend in the Ward is the “Oxymeter,” it gives me a hope and doesn’t disappoint me by showing the dropping oxygen levels.
This morning I looked at my relative admitted next to me in the Ward, he vomited, he is exhausted, he doesn’t want this cold oxygen to irritate him continuously but there is no other option as of now. Imagine, me consoling him while I was myself in unbearable pain with moist eyes.
Doctors’ visit gives me a hope, not because he will declare me “treated” and send me off, but he is the only human who visits us five times in 24 hours.
I have not seen my kid since the day I was admitted in the hospital. I received a call two days back, “Baba why don’t you come back now,”. I didn’t cry, I went to washroom and banged my head against the wall, pulled my hairs, slapped my face. That is it, I didn’t cry!
As if all this was not enough to drain me off my energies, a patient in his early 40’s in my Ward lost the battle to COVID. The screeches of the stretcher he was taken out on, still echoes all around.
My dear friends, conspiracy theories have given birth to disbelief. We can negate anything but science. My hand folded request to you out there is not to take this virus easy. Take precautions, wear a Mask, use sanitizer, don’t venture out unnecessarily. This virus kills.
We have not written the original name of the patient because he wished to remain anonymous.
