Ray of hope in dark skies

– Dr. Manasi Rege

We, as doctors and Mumbaikars too, keep reminiscing
the times when COVID was just in Wuhan and the
cases in India were 2 digit numbers. The city did not
take things casually back then and the hub of testing
and admission of COVID patients was a name known
to all- Kasturba hospital. Being a doctor there when it
all started, it was more about the fear of the disease,
later it was all about the sheer number. From testing
every single person who turned up with a sore throat,
to not being able to give beds to those who came
gasping, I had seen it all.
Doctors were put on turns. They did their duties for a
fixed number of days after which the duties were taken
over by another doctor. However, I have been working
here for every single day for the past 2 months. But
never will I say that I regret it. As a doctor, this post has
taught me innumerable life lessons. But the biggest
one that I learnt was , the power of positivity.
It is only the most unfortunate that are capable of
giving the biggest life lessons to us. While I was
among the team that manned the ICU, I came across
a patient who had every reason to be unhappy with
life. He was COVID positive to say the least. Along
with this he was HIV positive, which made him
immunocompromised with an extremely high risk of
developing complications. And complications, he did
have. Basically the man was staring death in it face.
He spent 11 days in the ICU. Not only was he facing
death because of his own ailment, but death lurked in
the room. Because most other people with him in the
ICU succumbed to the disease one by one. Swab after
swab came positive with no respite from the disease.
And yet, this man had decided to be happy despite
everything. Happiness was a choice he made which
seemingly had nothing to do with his ailment. Death
did not bother him. Instead he chose to be grateful for
whatever he had. And eventually, God chose to give
a new lease of life to this man. Never have I been so
happy to see a man walk out of the ICU the way I was
for him.
The word ‘positive’ has had a new meaning in COVID
times. But the power being positive, surely defeated
the problem of being COVID positive. Because it is
only a little hope that can help overcome seemingly
unsurmountable odds and that is what keeps the
world going.

– Dr. Prakash
As narrated to Dr. Manasi Rege

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