THE MAYHEM IN MAY

It is everywhere… you breathe, you talk, you take a walk, the crooked fellow catches you, what is happening is an apocalypse, more like the climax of a Hollywood movie, there is so much going around, people gasping for breath, waiting for hospital beds, running short of ventilators, doctors being overworked, caregivers witnessing the trauma of their loved ones dying in front of their eyes, people are scared and unsure of their life ahead, holding their breath…like literally!! We can see that the whole system of healthcare of our nation is collapsing in front of our eyes. But why?? What went wrong? Was it preventable? Or was it unavoidable? Was it neglect? Or was it because the so-called leaders of this nation have failed us? I am pretty sure you should have come across the answers for the above questions, in the news, social media, and in multiple discussions, we would have analyzed and discussed the answers for the above questions. I am not going into the political details of the above. It is a topic for discussion by itself. The dissection of the calamity we are facing now will be done by journalists, social activists, and political analysts. I want to reflect on the part, how the second wave of the pandemic has changed the way we view life and highlight few scenarios I came across at work and read about. We live in a world where money decides most things, and money does buy almost everything, but now with the second wave panning out, I have seen scenarios where people, in spite of having money and enough resources, couldn’t get the care they wanted not because they aren’t able to afford, it is because the care was just not available, the system has exhausted already leading to a shortage of beds, oxygen cylinders, ventilators, etc.

People who took for granted, that they are young and the virus wouldn’t get them are getting hospitalized, and all those who were partying, celebrating the end of the pandemic as they assumed so, around the beginning of 2021, are gasping for breath now. All these situations tell us one thing; LIFE IS UNCERTAIN. You will never know what the future holds, even though this mayhem we are facing right now was a preventable one, we will never know how much of it we could have prevented, even if we had acted accordingly (I am not trying to justify the neglect here). I am just stating a hypothesis. I was on COVID duty a few days back; there I had seen many patients, each with a different story. But few stories truly moved me and put me deep in thought.

One such scenario was that of a 65-year-old woman who was admitted with mild Covid infection with no lung involvement and she was on symptomatic management. She was doing better, but only when I spoke to her I realized that her heart was bearing more burden than her lungs, this person was living with her husband until 1 week back when her husband who was 70 years old tested positive, he was admitted in the nearby government hospital. He was apparently doing better and on the 7th day of the admission he almost got 90% better and was discharged, but in less than 24 hours post his discharge he developed shortness of breath and was rushed back to the hospital, but unfortunately, he did not make it. They shouldn’t have imagined that his happiness is not going to last long when he was discharged 24 hours back. The reason for his death is unclear, probably due to a thromboembolic complication of COVID-19. But soon after (within 2 days) her husband’s death, the wife also had fever and cough for which she got swabbed and tested positive, followed by which she was admitted in our hospital. When I spoke to this patient, she said she is doing better. But I was hesitant to ask about her husband because I was scared of hurting her as it’s a sensitive topic. But she herself opened up about her husband’s death and said she was holding on better. Maybe she is generally a very brave woman, and she is very resilient, but what bothered me was, why should one be so strong, why is this situation of being unable to mourn the death of her husband, to whom she was married for almost 40 years has occurred, Why should one be subjected to such a situation. Isn’t it unfair? When I asked her, how was she doing, was she worried a lot, was she feeling lonely, her reply was “I am being confident and trying to stay optimistic, not because I want to, just because I don’t have another option”. And I have to tell you, that hit me hard. That’s when I also realized that this ongoing disaster is unfolding the parts of us, which we ourselves didn’t know has existed before.

There was another scenario that I came across in the news, an elderly couple in which the husband was a COVID suspect had given a swab, the childless couple both in their late sixties, fearing separation if he turns positive actually ended their lives by hanging self. When I told about this particular incident to some of my friends they called it ‘madness, I wouldn’t completely deny that, but what I feel is we may have to take a different perspective and probably look at it from their point of view, was it blind love or the fear of becoming helpless in the absence of each other, or becoming a burden to the society or is it fear of solitude, if at all one of them passes away? If we look from that point of view, it may not be just madness after all.

One more scenario we came across in social media is a man in his eighties who gave up his bed and oxygen cylinder to a much younger individual and later on the elderly man didn’t make it and succumbed to the virus. He did so, just because he felt it was pertinent to vacate, thereby giving a chance to a young individual who had years ahead of him to live, now that is a true act of selflessness. And there were the other extremes which I had witnessed, where people just wouldn’t get discharged even if they got much better and fulfilled the discharge criteria. They wanted their oxygen saturation level to maintain at 100% not even 99% like as if it is some cut-off of a competitive exam, I had to convince them, that it is ok to have 99% and it is good enough. The above scenarios have brought out different sides of people, the one with a brave heart, the act of unconditional love, the altruistic ones, the dissatisfied ones. I don’t know when this pandemic will be over nor will it ever come to an end. The only thing I can tell is, this disastrous situation has brought out the best as well as the worst in us. If at all we survive this apocalypse and we are fortunate enough to move forward, it would be wise to take the lessons this pandemic has taught us so far and to apply them in our lives, to make better individuals out of us.