Comeback from Hell

It was the night of Dec 10, Wednesday. I went to sleep around 11pm, almost my normal time. But nothing remained ‘normal’ subsequently. Probably because of the shower I had had a few hours before going to bed, or something else, but I felt unusually cold that night. Not just cold, cold enough that wearing extra layer of clothes and putting an additional blanket also did not help. I generally prefer to just get out of bed if not getting sleep, but I did not do so that night. I just kept changing postures and sides almost all night. 

When I finally  got up at about 6:30am, I knew things were not right. Mummy confirmed that I was running temperature and rushed to make me some tea. This was day 1 of 6, when my cherished morning routine was gone for a toss. 

Now you must be wondering what’s the big deal about morning routine and what if went for a toss. The challenge is not with the routine being followed, the challenge is specifically when its broken. I get jittery about the change, as I am so not used to the same !

It was just 2 days back, on Dec 8th that I had completed a half marathon run as my workout routine. If not a run, then I  generally have combination of  core strength, cardio, and stretching exercises that I do for an hour. That workout is followed by 30 mins of meditation on the Black Lotus app. 

My workout is not the first thing in my morning routine. Its my journaling, where I make notes on the day gone by and the salient points of the day to be recorded. The journaling is of course, accompanied by a cup of tea or glass of hot lemon water with tinge of honey.

The meditation just precedes the rush to the kitchen to help mother with the ‘juice of the day’ for breakfast. The shower and quick puja subsequently is timed well to ensure I am at my work-desk by 9:30 am.

But the morning of 11th Dec 2021, all that changed. Did not have the energy to even move around the house, forget the exercise. Was not able to decide what to eat, forget about being any help for the breakfast. Visit to the Homeopathy doc and getting the meds meant we were home just in time for the lunch by little after 12 noon.

Post Lunch I rested but did not feel good at all. I threw up couple of times in the evening and was visiting the toilet frequently, giving the indication that the stomach was not in good shape.

As the fever recurred a few times the next day and there was cough and choked throat, we felt it best to get the CoVid RTPCR Test done on day 3. Had gone into quarantine right after coming back from the doctor, as a safety measure. It was unusual to be inside the room all day. While the room is very well lit and ventilated, I could definitely sense feeling claustrophobic. Any visits outside the room would be strictly with 2 masks and ensuring I was not touching anything anywhere unnecessarily. I know this would be nothing great for most of the people, but I had been fortunate to stay away from Corona through all of the first and second waves. 

On the third day night, I went to sleep, it was still 2 hours before the RTPCR report was to be shared, estimated time was midnight. We had got my mother sample also taken, just to be sure. I had a dream or an intuition at about 2pm, that the tests are negative and recollect having a very sound sleep when I woke up at about 4am to check my whatsapp message. Forwarded the reports with ‘NEGATIVE’ in bold in both the reports. 

The next morning, the 5th day, the CoVid report overnight automatically made me feel lot more stronger and had a proper healthy breakfast after a short walk around the apartment (without the mask). I suddenly felt very light and could really appreciate the value of ‘feeling healthy’.

Decided to meet an allopathy  doctor. The blood test reports had come in with some concerns on Cholestrol, vitamin D, etc. He indicated nothing serious and said its basically a stomach infection which has caused bulk of the problem.

By the second day of the dosage from the allopathy doctor, I was almost back to normal with no fever, no weakness, etc. 

But the experience of falling ‘sick’ was quite an eye opener for me, honestly. How a supposedly ultra-fit person can become ultra-weak in no time. How someone who prides in being mentally strong and self-driven, fails to muster the courage  to do most trivial of tasks in daily routine. How food loses its taste and water fails to quench the thirst. The change is sudden and dramatic. The origin is within and hence there is very little that an outside entity can really do. The corrective action has to be from within. Father would compare being unwell with road repair work ‘rasta band hain, kaam chaalu hain‘. 

Our body is oriented to be able to find solutions to most complicated of problems, right from headache to cancer. The key is for us to be patient and also provide a conducive environment (meaning not consume wrong time of food and take rest when we have to, etc.) and more importantly, not to do anything that will aggravate the problem. 

Jaan hain, to Jahan Hain !