First off, this post is not about my real nice experiences sight-seeing where something bad happened and I learned a lesson kind..you get the drift, right?
It was the month of August, 2009. I was in second year. It had been a couple of months since I went home & home sickness was in full swing. I had booked tickets to go home during independence day holidays. I was pretty much excited about it.
A few days before I could go home, I developed fever. I just took some medicines, but the fever wasn't responding much.
I had to almost drag my aching self to catch the train and I curled up to one of the berths. My fellow passengers were giving me suspicious looks, wondering if I was afflicted with swine flu. To top it all off, I ran out of fever medicines.Which meant that I had to travel for 14 hours feeling like I was inside the deep freezer. I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it till tomorrow morning.
Mom wasn't too happy with me seeing my sick self and decided to take me to the hospital. Let's call it hospital X.
Like I told, as stupid and lazy I was, I was ready to do anything if it extended my vacation. I was staggering like a drunkard by that time we reached there, they took me in a wheel-chair and I got admitted to a waiting room. I spent the night sleepless, listening to quite a few loud snores, and staring at the i.v fluid needle stuck into my arm.
The next two days were mostly injections and blood tests. My fever was responding. The nurses were dutifully giving me a dozen tablets, mostly multi vitamins assuring me that they were treating my fever ( Who are you kidding? I study medicine, you know )
The doctors came for rounds. The tests had turned up normal ( I found out that they had lost my blood sample, so they switched it )
My fever was almost gone. But I developed a sudden distaste for food. I couldn't even imagine chicken in my mind. I told the doctors this, but since the tests were normal, they just thought it was a viral fever and I was discharged.
Well, nausea worsened over the next few days. Finally mom saw me one day when I was standing outside in the sun, she was shocked to find that my eyes were yellow!!
I got admitted to another hospital for the second time. My lab results were highly abnormal. I had hepatitis A infection..That was responsible for my jaundice !
I couldn't eat anything, or even drink water due to my nausea.They had to change my i.v lines often as my veins were very thin. My arms were full of plasters from blood tests and i.v lines. One Sunday morning, they forgot to start the fluids and my blood sugar levels dropped so low. I was feeling all giddy, started imagining weird things. The preacher near by was speaking that Sunday on the topic of 'Prepare to meet thy God'. Somehow I confirmed I was dying..Everyone were almost mourning for me..Sheesh..
I finally went home. As it happened, lots of people offered suggestions on how to take care of me. Since I had jaundice, I wasn't supposed to eat any kind of meat, turmeric, oil, or drink tea/ coffee for 3 months. But through all this, I was happy..I sound weird, but I really was. After all, I didn't have to go back to the hostel so soon right? So I didn't bother arguing with my family about all those superstitions. I lazed out at home, celebrated my birthday, finally went back after a month or so.
Points I wanted to make :
1. . Mom called the hospital X doctors after diagnosing me. They were so casual about it and told "Sorry, we missed it as the lab reports were normal. " Jaundice is something basic we medical students are not supposed to miss. My fault..I guess. But no one was ready to listen to me either. And mom was sort of angry at me too..
2. Somehow the bill at the other hospital came to a whopping Rs.20,000 which included loads of medicines we didn't even buy. We weren't in the mood for arguing so we just paid them and left.
3. My stupidity. I deserved all of it. I was in a medical college and capable of diagnosing myself. But what if me and my mother were from a non-medical background? I wonder...What I had wasn't dangerous, but what if it was?
4. The doctor who gave me the antibiotic was the same one who diagnosed my grandfather's pneumonia as Tuberculosis. Grandpa got treated for TB and died a few days later as his pneumonia worsened. I don't have a grudge against him or anything...but mom still feels pretty hurt. They didn't take her opinions in that hospital both regarding me and my grandfather when we were there. So..she has a thing against him. Being single and if it's your own kid's life on the line ...not a nice situation to think rationally and diagnose.
This post is not meant for blaming anyone except me I guess..I was too lazy to go back to college and that was it..things just got twisted to my advantage..
And this is the tale of the worst/ best vacation I ever had.
It was already too long. I left out some in betweeners. Any queries, please comment or inbox me at Facebook.. Have a good day :)
It was the month of August, 2009. I was in second year. It had been a couple of months since I went home & home sickness was in full swing. I had booked tickets to go home during independence day holidays. I was pretty much excited about it.
A few days before I could go home, I developed fever. I just took some medicines, but the fever wasn't responding much.
I had to almost drag my aching self to catch the train and I curled up to one of the berths. My fellow passengers were giving me suspicious looks, wondering if I was afflicted with swine flu. To top it all off, I ran out of fever medicines.Which meant that I had to travel for 14 hours feeling like I was inside the deep freezer. I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it till tomorrow morning.
Mom wasn't too happy with me seeing my sick self and decided to take me to the hospital. Let's call it hospital X.
Like I told, as stupid and lazy I was, I was ready to do anything if it extended my vacation. I was staggering like a drunkard by that time we reached there, they took me in a wheel-chair and I got admitted to a waiting room. I spent the night sleepless, listening to quite a few loud snores, and staring at the i.v fluid needle stuck into my arm.
The next two days were mostly injections and blood tests. My fever was responding. The nurses were dutifully giving me a dozen tablets, mostly multi vitamins assuring me that they were treating my fever ( Who are you kidding? I study medicine, you know )
The doctors came for rounds. The tests had turned up normal ( I found out that they had lost my blood sample, so they switched it )
My fever was almost gone. But I developed a sudden distaste for food. I couldn't even imagine chicken in my mind. I told the doctors this, but since the tests were normal, they just thought it was a viral fever and I was discharged.
Well, nausea worsened over the next few days. Finally mom saw me one day when I was standing outside in the sun, she was shocked to find that my eyes were yellow!!
I got admitted to another hospital for the second time. My lab results were highly abnormal. I had hepatitis A infection..That was responsible for my jaundice !
I couldn't eat anything, or even drink water due to my nausea.They had to change my i.v lines often as my veins were very thin. My arms were full of plasters from blood tests and i.v lines. One Sunday morning, they forgot to start the fluids and my blood sugar levels dropped so low. I was feeling all giddy, started imagining weird things. The preacher near by was speaking that Sunday on the topic of 'Prepare to meet thy God'. Somehow I confirmed I was dying..Everyone were almost mourning for me..Sheesh..
I finally went home. As it happened, lots of people offered suggestions on how to take care of me. Since I had jaundice, I wasn't supposed to eat any kind of meat, turmeric, oil, or drink tea/ coffee for 3 months. But through all this, I was happy..I sound weird, but I really was. After all, I didn't have to go back to the hostel so soon right? So I didn't bother arguing with my family about all those superstitions. I lazed out at home, celebrated my birthday, finally went back after a month or so.
Points I wanted to make :
1. . Mom called the hospital X doctors after diagnosing me. They were so casual about it and told "Sorry, we missed it as the lab reports were normal. " Jaundice is something basic we medical students are not supposed to miss. My fault..I guess. But no one was ready to listen to me either. And mom was sort of angry at me too..
2. Somehow the bill at the other hospital came to a whopping Rs.20,000 which included loads of medicines we didn't even buy. We weren't in the mood for arguing so we just paid them and left.
3. My stupidity. I deserved all of it. I was in a medical college and capable of diagnosing myself. But what if me and my mother were from a non-medical background? I wonder...What I had wasn't dangerous, but what if it was?
4. The doctor who gave me the antibiotic was the same one who diagnosed my grandfather's pneumonia as Tuberculosis. Grandpa got treated for TB and died a few days later as his pneumonia worsened. I don't have a grudge against him or anything...but mom still feels pretty hurt. They didn't take her opinions in that hospital both regarding me and my grandfather when we were there. So..she has a thing against him. Being single and if it's your own kid's life on the line ...not a nice situation to think rationally and diagnose.
This post is not meant for blaming anyone except me I guess..I was too lazy to go back to college and that was it..things just got twisted to my advantage..
And this is the tale of the worst/ best vacation I ever had.
It was already too long. I left out some in betweeners. Any queries, please comment or inbox me at Facebook.. Have a good day :)
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