A new and a different experience I had last month. I had had typhoid since 14th of Feb '10, since The Valentine's Day. I am now recovering from it, in March. It is almost a month. Although new and different, I cannot call it a nice experience exactly.
I was allowed, or better say, forced to sleep all day. I woke up only to eat and to excrete.
The first week of typhoid went horrible. The doctor predicted it to be typhoid on the fifth day, and it was confirmed on the sixth day. But before that, for four days I had been thinking it as just a simple fever, which was supposed to pass away with time. So I would keep reading Pride & Prejudice, the book, for hours and hours of the with its diminished size of the font. And my head would ache a little after I woke up from my sleep. I have also watched many movies in those four days' time, movies I have already watched a hundred times before on the DVD player in the house. I never understood that the headache was the effect of all this stuff I did addictively.
The nights of these four days and the next two were like a terrible nightmare to me. All the day I would sleep, so naturally in the night I wouldn't be tired enough to go deep in sleep like the other members of my family. I have no idea f the reason, but I would have to and pee at any time of the night, like 2O'clock, 3.30AM, any time. At nights my fever would rise to the highest of all, 103 Fahrenheits. That is between 40 and 410C. At this temperature, I would not feel any cold, but burning hot. I would cast off my blankets and think that since I am not feeling cold anymore, my fever must be coming down. And the sweating will probably start in a few moments' time. However, after I would check my fever for it to have come down to 98 Fahrenheits or something near to that, I would receive a shock when the thermometer showed 103 Fahrenheits. I would then remember the stages of malaria which I had memorized for the Maharashtra Board Examination. Everything suited in. In the 'Cold Stage', patient feels terrible cold and desires to be covered by blankets. The stage lasts for 15 minutes to an hour may be. In 'Sweating Stage', fever comes down with profuse sweating and there is intense headache. It happened to me in daytime. And lastly, Hot Stage. In this stage, body temperature rises to 410C and patient cast off his clothes. 410C means 104 Fahrenheits and temperature would be 103 Fahrenheits. The only relieving thing was that the book stated that the hot stage would last 2 to 4 or 6 hours. But mine lasted for 15 minutes to half an hour. Then the fever would come down to 102 or 101. But not less than that. First week went off like that. On the fifth day, the doctor visited me at home as I wasn't able to even climb down the staircase of my building. He suggested a blood test, and nodding his head to my father, said that the test will turn out to typhoid. Although they had said they will come on the same day, a man from that hospital or whatever you call them who do all this test, came on the next morning when I was resting after the breakfast. By that time I had become so weak that I needed support of somebody to walk, or to stand somewhere for sometime. It was always probable that my head would spin if I go to the toilet after sleeping for even half an hour minimum. The first time my head spun was on the third or fourth night perhaps, at around 3 O'clock. I was peeing when suddenly I felt my eyes losing their light, and after a few moments, my father found me, fallen in toilet with my eyes closed. I was conscious, but I had lost the energy to open my eyes and face the light. How could I then dare to lift myself up, in case I fell again? I remained there only without moving a muscle. Fortunately, I hadn't shut the door from the inside. Otherwise I would have remained there only for hours. My father must have heard the sound of me falling, and came hurriedly. He opened the door ajar, only to find me in that condition. He then held my hands, and I stood up with his support. When I got out and was standing with my father's support, I tried to open my eyes only to find that I could see nothing, and so after declaring it, the thought that I had become blind made me lose my balance. My father tightened his grip on me and made me sit somewhere, which felt like a bed. I let my body fall upon it, when my mother shouted, "You have fallen in the toilet. Don't you just sleep there. First wash yourself and change clothes." But my father who knew by then that it was impossible for me to lift myself up without anybody's support, made her quiet and I went on sleeping. From that night on, each time I went to toilet, somebody stood outside, in case I fall again. And I did lose my balance when that man who came to take my blood also demanded for my urine in some small plastic bottle he gave. Luckily I called my father in time and he caught me. I did not go blind again, but everything became blur, so I hurriedly closed my eyes when my father held me. The man was told that he would receive the bottle afterwards, and so he did. By the time the report came in the evening, I had made publicity of me having typhoid amongst my friends. I called and sent SMS to so many friends that my father received a bill of Rs.561 of my cell phone, for the month of February.
I was hoping and hoping it to be typhoid rather than malaria. Not because I was scared of the symptoms of malaria, but because my tutors had also got the wind by then, that I had typhoid. And I wasn't in a mood of changing the name of the disease and doing the publicity again. Luckily, it turned out to be typhoid only, and no sign of malaria did the report show. Otherwise, my father would have received a bill of Rs. 1000 instead what he actually did.
From the next day on, I had gained some confidence, that my recovery from typhoid is going to be very soon. This second week of typhoid was comparatively very nicer than the first. In the first week, my fever had a range of 101 to 103. Not more or less. But in the second week, the fever hardly ever went to 103. It now ranged between 98 to 102. Sounds funny, doesn't it? In the second week, I did not read anything at all. I did not watch any movie also. I gained much balance in this second week. The doctor's dose was very effective; excretion with lose motions proved it. So I started eating fruits that controlled these problems of tummy. Fruits like apple, custard apple, sounded very effective. The doctor had permitted yellow orange too, so it may have also helped a bit as I ate it the most by now. It was the second week, when I looted all the fun and comfort out of it. I began to think in a positive manner. Never in my life was allowed to sleep all day. I had the chance now. Because of headache thing and losing balance, I wasn't told of studying even a single time. At normal days, I don't study at all even if I am told to, so now it was like a heavenly atmosphere. I was just to order things, no matter how stupid or close to me they would be, they were brought to me instantly without any complain made. Life with typhoid was almost similar to a holiday in a luxury hotel. The only difference was, that instead of paying the bill, I was paying some platelets and many of the white blood cells. On Friday, the doctor said that I will be cured of typhoid by Monday, 1st March if exact care of my health would be taken. I made a bet with my elder brother that I'll guaranteed be cured of typhoid on 1st of March. If I win, he was to show me '3 idiots' and 'harishchandrachi factory' on PC and pay 5 bucks. He showed me the movies but I still have got to receive the coin from him.
On 2nd March, I had some fever, but later on it vanished. On 3rd, I went with both my parents to the doctor. We were shown in his cabin when the closing time had neared. I was one of the last patients. The doctor suggested minimum a week's rest and a tonic. It's 11th of March now, and I am well recovered from fever by now. But I still get tired very quickly. My long hands haven't got their original grip yet, and all I can manage to read is Loksatta newspaper. If I read anything else, I feel tired and sleepy and often wish to put the book aside, no matter how much the interesting part has arrived in the story.
I was already a very thin person. Now I am almost invisible. I must be weighing just 30kgs by now. Let's see if the time can help me gain some more weight.
