I have the Flu

Well OK this isn't exactly something like the proclamation Prince Adam made before he turned to He-Man, but it is a fact nevertheless. However, it’s not a particularly memorable event in my life that I would wish to record in my blog, and most certainly not something that would drag me out of my year long blogosphere slumber; in fact my unpleasant “experience” so far has made me want to write about this despite the 101 F temperature(last measured) that it has brought along.

Ok, 1st things 1st, I don’t seem to have the swine flu yet. My local general physician told me I didn’t seem likely to have it and yet told me to get a throat/nasal swab test done-If I wanted to. However, with the way things are going in India in general, and Bangalore in particular, you can’t really blame me for being a bit cautious.

Flashback to last Friday night, I was as hale and hearty as I could be, and celebrated the onset of yet another weekend with a friend at a local watering hole. Next morning as I woke up with a stuffy nose I realized that I’d forgotten to slow down the fan at night, which, in this cold Bangalore weather, at least to me seemed to be the only plausible reason for it.
Now as luck would have it, my colleagues’ had already booked tickets for the noon show of “Kaminey”, and I figured when so many of us were going there could be no reason for me not to.

So knowing fully well the extent of the spread of Swine flu in the city, I went to a chemist and got myself a surgical mask(just in case), and went for the show. As soon as I stepped in, however, whatever little fear of ridicule I had in my mind over wearing that mask evaporated immediately since the whole theatre looked like a sea of green masks(wish I could take that pic).We all too wore our masks and watched the movie ( OK I agree the movie wasn’t really worth all that trouble, but what the heck- let’s not go there right now.)

So the point is I came back from the movie same as before, nothing but a nasal congestion.
Now I wake up late on Sunday and it’s yet another lazy Sunday for me, nothing out of the ordinary, had a late brunch, the usual siesta, talked to some friends and that’s about it.

Monday was back to office and the usual routine, however, by this time almost everyone was talking about the flu, maybe because the death of 2 more women from Bangalore had made it the city with 2nd most fatalities in India. Circulars were going around, our washrooms, cafeteria etc. - there were health advisory posters everywhere.
I tried to follow all safety norms as advised, washing my hands frequently-especially after touching door knobs etc. , not shaking hands with people etc. However, I noticed in the afternoon that there were 2 people in my immediate vicinity coughing and sneezing intermittently, and each time they did, it sent alarm bells ringing everywhere.
I too had a blocked nose till then, but their conditions seemed at least like a very bad cold, if nothing worse. I didn’t pay much attention to them and continued my work as usual, however, by late evening I noticed my voice getting hoarse(besides the stuffy nose) . Either ways, this day too passed as usual.
On Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat and the same nasal blockage, but otherwise was still feeling fine so never even paid it much attention. At work, those 2 colleagues were still present without any visible signs of improvements, making almost everyone around uncomfortable. By late noon (post lunch) I had a running nose, and that’s the 1st time I had any idea that there was something wrong. By 5 pm I found the cold getting worse so I told boss I would be leaving early.
I immediately rushed to the chemist(with my mask on), got a few paracetamols, a thermometer, some disposable masks, a strip of strepsils and a hand sanitizer, then ate some hot Mexican soup and reached home. I checked my fever to find it at fluctuating between 99-100 F, so wasn’t anything alarming. Yet I took the meds and went to sleep.
Today morning I wake up late again to the same fever (100F) accompanied by All the symptoms of this “Swine” flu- running nose, heavy breathing, congestion in the chest, sore throat, exhaustion as well as watery eyes. That almost all these symptoms are also common to the – well what else, “common” flu, is another matter.
I called up boss to tell him I wasn’t well and was taking an off, then had lunch home delivered, and then decided to visit the closest hospital- a private medical college where apparently they were conducting the swine flu test too.
Now this is where I had the experience that left me embittered.
I reached the hospital around 3 pm, went to the pharmacy 1st to get an N95 mask(since I was about to go into a room full of H1N1 suspects), then I asked my way around and was told to fill a form and submit it to the reception 1st.
This was the 1st jolt I got, out there in the open, there was a table with some stacks of forms with pens lying around, which people were supposed to come, fill up using those pens, out the pens back, and then submit those forms at the counter.
Now is it just me or is the hospital management blind to the most basic of precautionary measures to help prevent the spread of the flu?
Here were suspected H1N1 patients (such as myself), using those pens to write, which would be used again by some poor patient later. Now of course I disinfected my hands before/after using that pen with the sanitiser, but I’m sure not everyone visiting here would’ve been that cautious.
After filling in the form I was supposed to submit it at a counter, where again a poor lady was collecting the forms from everyone and manually feeding the information into a computer.
I was told to go to the general physician, where I was given a token (mine was #20 and #8 had just gone inside) and was told to wait for my turn. An hour passed and the counter had just moved to #10. There were patients with routine illnesses interspersed with swine flu suspects, most of them without any masks, and it was clearly just a matter of time before some poor chap would contract it. I waited for an excruciating 4.5 hours(with 100F fever) in the queue before my turn finally came.
The doctor enquired about my symptoms:
Running Nose-“Yes”,
Sore throat-“Yes”,
Headache-“No”,
Nausea-“No”,
Heavy Breathing-“Yes”,
Fever-“Yes”,
High fever for more than 3 days-“No”
Then he checked my BP and pulse and told me that most probably it was seasonal influenza, and it was upto me whether to get tested for swine flu or not.Then he prescribed some antibiotics and that was the end of it.

What I was really piqued by was not just that it took 4.5 hours for the doc to tell me there was nothing to indicate H1N1, but the lack of proper arrangements for people who might require immediate medical care.

When it’s a known fact how this virus is spreading like wild fire, and when this hospital claimed to be taking care of swine flu suspects, why couldn’t they have a separate doctor dedicated for swine flu suspects only? Not only would that insure swift diagnosis for flu suspects, it would shield the other patients from catching it!
Why couldn’t the patients be segregated to give a higher priority to those running a high fever/ chances of complications? Imagine some old person with H1N1 running a high fever having to wait it out for 4.5 hours, by the time he reaches the doc it just might be too late!


Now as I write this after having returned from that rather exhausting diagnosis, my fever has gone up to 101, still I’ve taken solace in the assurance of the doc that this is just another “common” flu. I sure hope that's what it remains!