Sunday, April 12, 2009

An episode at the hospital!

Falling sick is the last thing one wants. And visiting a Doctor is the thing after the last thing one wants. And if the doctor carries a injection, thats the thing after the thing after the last thing one wants. Ok, you get the idea.

Last week I was down with cold and fever for a good 5 days. What started as a mild cold graduated itself into a matured cough-attack which then blossomed into a solid flue-stint and then stagnated itself showing no signs of growth nor exit. 

"I'm a survivor" I said to myself and fought the germs. Evenings they would seem to subside and as I feel better and sleep, they attack with full blow. Those germ bastards.

Attempting to work from (not for) home did not offer the solution. Sleeping in the bed for hours together (alone!) did not help either. For a guy who normally says "Aeemm, I'll rough it out", this fever seemed one of its kind.

I realized I was fighting a losing battle and decided to go see a Doctor (inspite of a well-wishing friend who warned that the doctor most likely say 'It's nothing. Go home and take rest. You'll be fine').

Being somebody who hates appointments (and the gargantuan wait time associated with it), I walked into the Emergency care center at a hospital right next to my apartment. After registering my name, I waited in the reception area for about 20 minutes. I was then ushered into one of the emergency rooms and made to sit in a stretcher. 

A nurse stopped by and asked me 'what do we have here, sir?'. I said 'I have fever and cold that wouldn't subside'. She asked 'Anything else?'. I said 'No'. She asked  'Are you sure? do you have breathing problems or any such emergency?'. I said 'No'. She looked at me a for a moment, as if she was going to ask 'why the hell did you come to ER then?!'. Instead, she said 'A doctor will come and see you shortly sir', and disappeared.

Two hours passed by. Before I fainted with a mixed feeling of hunger, tiredness and angst, an old doctor entered the room saying 'Hi'. I returned the pleasantry. "So, what brings you here today?!", asked the doctor. I offered the same reply for the third time. 'Just fever?', 'Yes'. 'Okay' said the doctor and got into action.

He took a torch with a pointed lens and he inserted that into my ears to see what's happening inside. He jerked out immediately saying he can't see much, but as far as he can see, I was all clear. He moved to the next ear. This time, he did not even enter - he slowly said 'Interesting!'

'What?', I asked. "On the outside rim of your ear, you have a pimple. We need to get rid of that first" said the doctor and walked out. Before I could realise, he came back with a small injection. I freaked out. He understood and said 'No, dont worry - it'll be a small prick'. Knowing that's the universal doctor's language of saying 'you are gonna be punctured dude!', I said 'I hate injections doctor, should we do this now?!'.

'Oh definitely' he replied as readied himself with the torch light and the injection weapon. I closed my fist and my eyes as tight as I could and expected a prick. One hell of a prick it was. I screamed mildly and thought it was done. The doctor attempted again and 'bang!', another prick. I almost called him names, when the doctor mildly said 'whatever is in there doesn't want to let go that easily'. So are you, I thought. 

He then threw the injection into the trash and I saw blood on his hands. F*ck! "Is that my blood?' I asked the doctor. He replied 'yes, but don't worry. I'll go get some bandage' and gave me some cotton to try and hold the blood. My fever was long gone.

Doctor came back with a bandage and put it across my ears as he said 'a slightly awkward place for a band-aid, ain't it?!' He laughed. Damn your humour, I thought. He then said 'your fever is a minor viral infection. It's nothing. Go home and take rest. You'll be fine'.

I thought of my clairvoyant friend, as I walked out of the hospital with a bandage on my ears and my wallet emptied by about 80 bucks.

13 comments:

RukmaniRam said...

achacho.. paavam. get well soon, okva?

p.s: im reading ur blog repeatedly often. so ure being blogrolled.

chutneycase said...

have kashaayam :D

Nandini Vishwanath said...

ERs in the US are the worse places to go to, I've learned the hard way :D

And - sleeping alone and all - :D too much I say!

Arun Sundar said...

Rukmani,
Thanks. Ippo I'm perfectly alright. And thanks for the blogroll. Shall I buy you lunch? ;)

Chutney,
Yaaa, I should have kashaayam with vodka.

Nandini,
Yaa sleeping alone is too much. Poor me.

Gradwolf said...

hahaha, so now Mr. Arun Sundar will be more appealing to girls with a pimple removed!! :p

Idling in Top Gear said...

I have very little respect for the medical system in the US. It's unnecessarily bureaucratic, what with the 30 minute wait at the reception (even with an appointment) and 10 min pre-screening by a nurse all to get 2 mins attention from the doctor. This is probably the only field in which India wins hands-down. Too lazy to go to a doc? Go to the pharmacy, the in-house "expert" will give you something that makes the ailment disappear.

Zeppelin said...

dude, CVS has got something called a "minute clinic"... dont know if thats a "chain", but if it is, try it out..

i also the doctor bayams ya...have been on medicine diet for the last couple of months... i totally feel your pain man!

on the lighter side, your ear punture reminds me of vadivel's 'cheym blat'.. :D (no offense)

take care!

N.V.Prashanth said...

LOL. Nalla experience. Research mudivu: pimple edutha viral fever poidum!

Anjana R said...

this reminds me my ER experience, equally horrible. ugh!

Bala said...

hey arun!!! hope you are doing fine now.... you could have better took hot water and did steaming....
Anyways!! I was laughing like anything here as people thought that I went Mad!!! take care dude!!!!

maxdavinci said...

i'm assuming insurance covered for the rest.

so with the pimple gone, you look even more dashing than before? Now prolly you wudn't have to sleep alone!

Gauri said...

I dont remember who has compared doctors to god ;) The "calling" from both could take equally long and once it comes all you can hope is that they know what they are doing ;)
Enjoyed reading the post ..came back after a while ..but will be back soon :)

Saya said...

Stumbled on this blog through some links.. nice work..