Hospital Blues

I somehow feel proud gaining good experience in visiting a variety of doctors and hospitals as compared to the normal populace, but none of them on the grounds of illness. However, this whole situation arose for me in my institute hospital for all the wrong reasons and all the more convincing circumstances.

It was at the end of first year, with the final exams due in a couple of weeks and was looking forward to it since I had done the quizzes quite well. This however, wouldn’t be the case for a long time to come in the rest of my life in IIT. Anyways, I had got rashes all over my body and didn’t feel quite well, though I didn’t develop a fever or anything. So I went to my institute hospital wanting to check it. And what a drama in real life it was.

First, the doctor inspects the rashes on my body, checks my temperature etc. Then he asks a fellow doctor to come and asks her to inspect the rashes and confirms something. And they go on to have a minute of talk between them in a kinda low voice, which psyched me out completely since anyone in my position would have got the feeling that he’s got a rare intestine worm, found only in the deeps of Pacific Ocean. And then they break the news finally: I have got chicken pox/small pox, I don’t remember which one. And they show another guy from a different hostel who has got the same symptoms as me. They inform me about some kind of epidemic that is going to dawn on the whole student body, and that all the students who suffer from this are going to be admitted for week and a half. (Gulp!) This buildup of things was certainly the kind that people see only in X Files. And seeing such drama in real life was a bit too much for me, especially in my innocent fresher year.

They immediately command me to get admitted into the hospital. I walked out to the corridor slowly and then stopped. My legs were giving in… I couldn’t face the truth. And as I stood there in the middle of the corridor I saw three paths winding away from where I stood: One, which led back to the doctor’s room where I could go again and ask him whether he was really sure of what he told me; Second, which was the exit to the hospital which I could take and run back to my hostel and deny all that I had heard; The third and the darkest one which lead to the room where the patients were admitted which I dreaded taking.

I suddenly had the feeling that I was going to die, and I would see all my friends, studies, my precious IIT life snatched away right in front of my very own eyes. Another part of me told that I would be missing my exams and staying back for a year more.

What was going to happen?

Would I die?

Would there be the great epidemic to gulp everyone in a big sea of madness and misery?

Which path of the three was I supposed to take?

Part II

After all the options that I went through, my intelligence of course made me agree to take a bed in the hospital. And so I made some arrangements for my stay here. I had two more people staying in the dormitory that I was put in. One guy in 2^nd year had a fracture in the leg and the other was a final year dude who was ill. I stayed at the hospital for the next 4 days and how.

I was skeptical of getting bored like anything, but fortunately these guys had some good books to read. Lord of the Rings is one book really suited for such an occasion when you take a long break with nothing much to do. And another book which I completed was: Surely You Must be Joking Mr. Feynman. The hospital had a brilliant service for the in-patients. We could order the type of meals we wanted and they would buy it from the campus canteen “Nandini”, which was extremely good at that time. What a brilliant time pass it was. It’s very nice when someone decides to put a full stop on life for you and gives you a 1 week vacation to read the nicest of books and be at peace getting a 24 hour service at your disposal.

Though I was ill, it wasn’t fever or anything. My rashes slowly disappeared and I was just a bit weak. I really started doubting what the doctors had said was true. Then I remembered some great hospital incidents which had happened earlier, and understood that I was just too hasty in judging these stupid doctors.

Once, my friend Aziz drank petrol from a plastic bottle thinking it was Sherbat. Well, he rushed to the hospital just in case some internal combustion happened. And lo… what treatment do they give him? They make him lie on the bed and put an Oxygen Mask on him!!! Another time, another guy goes to the hospital because he had a fever. They checked his blood pressure and sent him back. One of my friends went to hospital because he ran out of cough syrup and he needed one. These people check him for cough & cold and give him 7 sets of medicines including 3 antibiotics, brufen and aspirin. Hospital was such a great risk. But as they say… high risk, high returns. I guess I just took one and got nice returns.

What an idiot I was, to think that even doctors in our campus were equally well qualified to serve us and make great judgments on epidemics and alien landings. Only a freshie would think that way out of sheer ignorance. Even the other 2 guys laughed at me for believing the doctors. They said that there were more facilities added in the hospital than before. There were a lot of testing instruments, new pharmacy etc which were much better than before. I was told that the hospital earlier had only 3 sets of medicines available, and I was asked to guess which ones.

I thought it was paracetamol, aspirin and maybe brufen. But it wasn’t.

Take a guess…

Wanna know?

Ans: Red, Blue and Yellow tablets (ROTFL)