On Call
I continued my general surgical rotation this month. It was a terrible month as far as the weather was concerned; the heat and humidity were really raring to achieve new heights and break all previous records. Our general wards have no air conditioning so working conditions were really difficult. Whilst taking histories and performing physical examinations, half of my time was spent getting rid of the sweat from the heat. Air conditioned hospitals in the developing world should not be taken for granted! Any how we continued our tasks, taking note of residents who were far more overworked and still not complaining…
Things continued and one day I made a decision which I lived to regret for the next 20 days. I decided to eat on a roadside DHABA (restaurant) and as usual the food was nice and spicy, as it was at any other time, but the place was bit unhygienic. I ignored that though, thinking “my machinery (intestine) will take care of all little pathogens if there were to be any.” Soon though I realized that I was very wrong about this! A few days after eating there I started to feel tired, with a not–willing-to-work kind of attitude. Again I ignored it, thinking it was the effects of the bad weather, but then suddenly someone told me, “Buddy, your eyes are looking yellowish!” Straight away I recognized a clinical diagnosis of hepatitis.
Then the whole process started; consultation with my physician and those blood tests, and repeated LFT’s which no one likes to have performed on himself. The good news in all this mess was that markers for hepatitis B and C were thankfully negative.
Off Duty
Most of the time has been spent lying in bed and watching television, nothing much. The process of recovery has already started. I’m living on a high carbohydrate, low fat diet which doesn’t feel nice, but has got to be done for a few more days yet,
Till then, bye for now
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