The Seven Days

Tough were the days when only negative news was received from all sides. This was the second wave of Corona, which was gradually nearing its apex. Charu, sitting in the empty room of the school, was in hurry to complete the checking work. There was a cough in between, with slight pain in the throat. She picked up the phone and called her son to go and bring cough syrup from the market. After reaching home, Charu had lunch. She was feeling bit exhausted. She slept for some time after taking cough syrup. When she woke up in the evening, she was not feeling well, the whole body was paining. Hurriedly she finished her evening chores and went to bed to sleep at 9:30.

She began groaning due to body aches and had a high fever one hour later. His fever reached 103-104 at 11:00 p.m. The breathing was getting very challenging. A severe headache that seemed to be taking her life. She had realised by this point that she had been affected by the deadly virus. However, there was a glimmer of hope that it might just be a typical viral infection. She started yelling, “Take me to the hospital immediately” since she was finding it difficult to wait any longer.

The family members asked her to rest by giving her a DOLO. For some time, Charu lay silently in the bed, but her condition was deteriorating. Putting her in the car at 8:30 am, her husband took her to a hospital where she had to come back due to non-availability of beds. They went to another hospital. Special arrangements were made for Corona in all hospitals. Covid patients were allowed to come and go inside a certain distance. And as soon as she went outside the doctor’s OPD, she told his coordinator that her health condition was horrible. Maybe she needed to be admitted.

“Let me talk to the doctor immediately, please.”

He just posed one inquiry.

“Do you have a fever also??”

“Very High “.

As soon as he heard the reply, he had an odd sense of tension and advised us to immediately go and get the chest x-ray and corona test done. He further asked them to be outside till the corona report was not there.

 not permitted inside.

 Charu lay down on the grass outside after giving the sample because she was no longer in a position to even sit. Uncertain of how long had elapsed when she was on the verge of passing away. She saw that everything was starting to appear pale yellow, and that breathing was getting harder. Headaches and muscle aches were at their worst. Then a man entered and asked, “Who is with Mrs. Charu Gupta”?

“I am Charu Gupta. What happened?"

“Your report is here. You are corona positive. You guys stay here now. In a short while, the doctor will come here to meet you and he will tell you what to do next”.

 After some time, Dr. Anurag Bansal came and saw her condition and advised her to get admitted immediately. But it was not sure whether there was a room available or not. The condition was so bad that the doctor said that it was very important to get her admitted without doing anything. He made a couple of calls and only one room was empty. She was asked to go to bed number 2204. Very soon, all the formalities were completed. And she was inside the room. It was a twin-sharing room. However, bed number 2205 was lying vacant. The treatment started on a very war footing, but the doctor had given strict instructions that no one could come to meet her, nor she could come out of the room. Only through video conferencing she could talk to her family members. She was hurriedly taken alone to her room. Her husband was not allowed to go with her. That ward was completely reserved for COVID-19 patients. In the middle was a curtain of plastic sheets, through which only doctors and nurses were allowed to go in and out.

 On the third day, her condition improved. Though her headache was still bothersome, her fever has dropped to 100 and her breathing has improved. She was comfortable even after the oxygen was removed. The following day, once the fever had subsided, her degree of weakness and breathing problems worsened significantly. She believed that a low fever would help, but once the fever subsided, she developed severe weakness, and her body began to tremble.

There were weird noises around 10 a.m. The sound of groaning was coming closer. The nurses were carrying another patient who was writhing in agony due to acute chest discomfort. He was given access to bed 2205. Charu had barely gone to sleep when she was awakened by the events. She found that the patient had serious pneumonia after asking questions. Sharing a room with a man who had pneumonitis greatly offended Charu. She wanted the nurse to speak with the floor supervisor right away to voice her displeasure with this arrangement. She raised the concern that his pneumonia would make her breathing difficulty worse and that her COVID might have an impact on him, when the floor supervisor arrives.

The moment the floor in charge arrived, she recovered all of her strength. She did her best to make her case, but the other person insisted that there were not enough accommodations because of the pandemic. It was quite challenging to set up patient rooms during this pandemic. The only thing he said to end the talk was that she should be grateful that she had a bed because thousands of people are dying every day due to the non-availability of beds and medical care. The nurses set the curtain in such a way that she was not able to see the other person.

Sleep had always been a problem with Charu, and especially whenever she was ill, she was not able to sleep at all. Now this new tension was giving her another headache. He was making her condition worse by constantly coughing and crying in discomfort. Her headache had really worsened. She clicked the call button and begged the nurse to give her something for headache, she gave her an injection and left. At 7 o’clock in the evening, the doctor came to see her. She tried to explain her situation to him, but it was ineffective, so she talked about her headache, growing weakness, and exhaustion instead. He told her,

“After the 3rd day, when the fever is on the lower side, these issues appear. It’s natural. Don’t worry, you will be OK.”

The phone has since become a second God because, at the time, it was the only way for patients to communicate with their loved ones and friends. Her constant contact with the family prevented her from feeling isolated or distant. She occasionally spoke with her parents as well. Additionally, things had begun to become worse at home. A brand-new issue for them was food. Second, Sanjay and Ritu had begun to experience the same symptoms. COVID had been spreading like a fire in a jungle. Every third person was a Covid victim. On being tested, her husband, as well as both of her children, were found positive. Even a sip of water had become special to them because they were confined to three bedrooms, as neither of them was able to stir.

She made a couple of calls and arranged for a full-time nurse for them. In every 30 minutes, they were instructed to check their oxygen level on oximeter, it was a new added tension for Charu.

At 7:15, his doctor also came to visit him and was worried to see his high fever and breathing problems. The doctor asked the escorting staff for the reports and unluckily he was found to be Corona positive. Oxygen was immediately given to him as his oxygen level was going down and things were getting serious as his pneumonia and COVID were giving a threat to his life. He was continuously crying in pain.

In the evening, she had several messages from her colleagues who had asked about her present condition and told them that 17 more people from their school had been found corona positive and three of them had lost their battle with life. It was really shocking. Mrs. Chanchal, who was famous for being the fittest person in their staff, had gone too. Charu remembered how she used to win every race on Teacher's Day. She was an inspiration to the staff. Nobody was so regular in their exercise schedule like she was. Her eating habits were exceptionally good. She won all the races on different days but lost the last race of her life. Charu really loved her, it was heartbreaking news for her, just like a personal loss.

At 8:30, a nurse came to check the vitals, oxygen level was on the lower side, and she had a 103-degree fever. Her severe headache was killing her again. The nurse ran to call the doctor, the doctor on the duty, came to examine her and asked the nurse to check the oxygen level at every 15-minute interval, few injections were given through the fluid. She was feeling like a lifeless thing, lying on a bed with no energy left. She felt as if she would not be able to go home alive. This corona will swallow her up.

Now, it was the turn of her room partner. He started crying because he had a headache, but no one was coming; perhaps the nurses were busy somewhere else. 

He was crying loudly. I said,

“Why don’t you press the call button?”

This was the first conversation between us.

“I tried but it is not working.”

Oh! Charu pressed her call button, the nurse came,

 “See the patient on bed number 2205 is crying so loudly. His call button is also not working. Do something. Call the doctor immediately”.

The nurse brought all of her vital checking instruments and examined him. He had 104-degree fever, 65 oxygen level and 190/95 BP. The nurse abruptly called for the staff-nurse. Both of them examined him again. This time the oxygen level had come to 60 only. The staff nurse asked another nurse to call Dr Vipin immediately. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Dr Vipin was on the dinner table. The nurse first hesitated, but then she spoke in one go,

“Sir, the patient on bed number 2205 is in a critical position. kindly come immediately. He is not able to breathe."

The doctor told the proprietor of the canteen to forgo his dinner and promised to return later.

The doctor entered the room. He asked for the vitals. The records tensed the doctor. He took his phone out of his pocket and went outside to speak with his senior physician. He went into great detail about the current situation.

After the call ended, Dr. Vipin returned and asked the nurses to immediately transfer him to the intensive care unit. He asked for a wheelchair. The situation was so chaotic. It was like watching someone drowning helplessly into death’s jaws. The nurses helped the patient, and suddenly they couldn’t hold him, and he was on the ground. The doctor shouted,

“Mr. Rahul, Mr. Rahul Gaur, please talk to me. I am Dr. Vipin."

“Rahul Gaur” the name almost froze Charu. She couldn’t stop herself and came there.

A stretcher was called for, he was shifted on that. Now, he was conscious. Charu was looking at him as if she was alive to see that face only. When they were going out of the room, accidentally Rahul too saw frozen Charu on the gate. He was immediately shifted to the ICU.

Charu was on her bed, lying lifelessly.

The person whom she had hated for the last 27 years; the face which she had never wanted to see. That face suddenly became her world all of a sudden. Where did the hatred go? Where did the complaints go? She forgot everything. She went into a time loop. The face she had always cursed, hated had become the most important face in that moment. Within a few seconds, she changed so dramatically. What changed things at an angle of 360? She never expected that she would meet him one day in this situation. She had been with him for the last 16 hours. She had so many questions to ask, so many complaints to make.

Suddenly, she had a severe anxiety attack. Her body was almost sinking. She pressed the call button. The nurse came after 10 minutes. She was wet with sweat. She spoke with a choked throat,

“Mam, the beautiful lady in room no. 2210 has expired. She was in ICU since morning."

She became silent as a stone. The nurse was taking her vitals. Her BP was getting low, heart rate had decreased to a dangerous level. She had a high fever and was trembling due to the fever. The nurse put another blanket on her. She immediately gave her glucose water to drink, put a wet cloth on her forehead. She was shivering badly. Neither weeping nor not weeping, she was in a strange position.

Her phone rang, it was from home. The children had called.

“Mummy, how are you? Any improvement???

“A bit low right now. Fever and breathing problems."

How are you all?”

“Better, Papa and Di have recovered a lot.”

“I have on and off fever?”

“Are you all checking your oxygen level on the oximeter?"

“Yes”.

“One minute, Ritu…. "Feeling like puking…”

All of a sudden, Charu felt like puking. She ran into the toilet, where she vomited and saw a few blood stains in it. She trembled with fear. This one vomiting took all of her energy. She called the nurse and told her everything. The nurse gave her medicine and an injection. It lulled her to sleep for some time.

A nurse was standing in front of her when she opened her eyes.

“Mam, I need to take you down for a CT scan as the doctor has asked for it.”

“Any problem?”

“That I don’t know, Mam.”

Charu sat on the chair, was towards the lift. Charu asked her, "Geeta, how is that person on 2205?

“How is he”?

“Mam, Anita was telling me that he is better and will be shifted to the room by the evening. “

“It’s good. “

After that there was a complete silence between them. CT was done. Charu was again on her bed. She had a low-grade fever. No other major problems.

She went 27 years back to a day when she had gone to an STD booth to make a call. She dialed a number. Sonu picked up from the other side.

“Hello di, how are you?

“I am good, please call Rahul. I am sitting here and waiting."

“Sorry di, he will not come now."

“What do you mean by “now”?

“Sorry di”

“OK. Tell me why he will not come.”

Di….

“What? you are scaring me now”

“He is married now”.

See Sonu, I like your sense of humour but please don’t make such jokes.

“It is true, di. He married your classmate Vandana Mehta”.

The receiver fell from her hand, and she fell down unconscious on the ground. A crowd gathered there; they sprinkled water on her face. She came to senses.

Why, when, where and how were the only bubbles in her head. She went into depression for sometime. She wanted all the answers but didn’t want to see the person who cheated on her so mercilessly. Who ripped her apart for all of her life. After that day, she could never become the old Charu. Something was slaughtered inside her. Something swallowed her completely.

After 5 months, she was ready for marriage. She wanted to start again. She got married, had two children and experienced almost hell in her first 13 years of her marriage. After that, she started to move along with the flow. She made a small and beautiful empire for herself with lots of hard work. She did it all alone. She won and established herself. She had an easy, comfortable, and contented life. She never counted the negative aspects, nor we will do.

It was 7 p.m. when nurses brought him back to his bed. She was in complete silence.

Soup was brought as she was taking it. He spoke in a very feeble voice.

“I tried to meet you many times. I made the greatest blunder of my life. I had become blind at that time. I wanted to tell you how traumatic my married life has been. Please remove the plastic sheet. Let me see you. Let me tell you everything."

She was still.

“Please Charu, please give me one more chance. I have divorced her. We can be together again. I want to give you all what you deserve. I want to start a new life with you. I know you too are not happy in your marriage. After your children have settled, we can be together once again.”

“Hmmm…”

“Don’t you have anything to say or ask?” Please say something. We too have all the rights to live and enjoy the best of our lives. Say something.

“Just one question, were you dating me and Vandana simultaneously?”

“Answer is yes or no” Charu added.

Rahul didn’t answer, but Charu had the answers to all of her questions.

The next morning, she requested discharge from the doctor as her condition was better. Doctor denied but she said that they will hire a full-time nurse who will take care of her just like hospital. And in case of emergency, she can immediately come to the hospital again. The doctor agreed and approved her request. She was discharged, and she silently entered her nest.