When I Got Positive
A couple of weeks ago, I’ve been diagnosed positive with covid19. I took a sick leave from the company, and need to head out to the government facility which specialized in treating the disease. Here’s what I learned from the experience.
Grumpy Old Man
I admit that I’m a little bit of an obstinate person (okay maybe a lil’ more than a bit). Before getting diagnosed, there have been symptoms that I felt. One of which is a lite fever. My mom has told me to take up a bunch of vitamins. But being a stubborn person myself, I don’t take it so seriously. I do take ’em, but not as many as my mom prescribed. Resulting in my body can’t take up the virus and I’ve been diagnosed positive afterward. I can’t blame anyone but myself. Because of this, I have this vision that I’m gonna be a grumpy old man when I get sick in my old days.
I can see myself being a stubborn old man who doesn’t want to swallow the pills. An old man who just does what he wants, ignoring the doctor’s advice. The kind that often nagging in the hospital bed.
Well… let’s hope that will not be the case 😂
Youngster
When I got to the facility, often I look youngsters running around. In fact, I was in the ambulance with 2 primary school students when I was going to the facility. Seeing young minds having to experience these kinds of things kinda breaks my heart. They are one of the unlucky generations who must face the difficult situation of the pandemic at such a young age.
But I also saw a glimmer of hope, that these youngsters will turn into one hell of a strong people. If they can endure this hardship and get through this, nothing will be able to stop them. They will have the resilience to face whatever odds may be. So I pray for the young minds out there. I pray for them to come out rising, tough, strong future generations where we can lie our future at.
A Cheerful Nurse
When I was in registration to enter the facility, there’s this nurse who seems to be very cheerful. She lights up the mood with her jokes and her way of saying with a happy attitude. It got me to realize something. These nurses are working in a facility where “gloomy” is the main atmosphere. It was filled with patients which are having all sorts of worries. Happy is not the first word associated when you think about the facility.
So to see one nurse that can still keep her positiveness, and even not be shy to show it is very heartwarming. To you Ms. nurse: thank you for lighted up my mood that day ❤️
Support Group
There’s this saying that humanity can unite when in the face of a force majeure. This pandemic has proven it for real. I see people inside the facility are supporting each other to get recovered. We shared tips about what we know to be able to recover quickly. We met in the facility and encourage each other to get healthy as soon as possible. Sometimes we met on the jogging track, or maybe it’s our roommate, or even a random encounter to keep you company when you were suntanning ☀️ Even after we “graduated”, we still ask our fellow companions who are still insides about their condition.
We don’t judge race, ethnicity, or religion. We look past the identity. Inside the facility we are all the same, we’re patients — and we’re just wanna be healthy once again. Seeing the dynamics that are happening has increased my faith in humanity.
The Cost Of Oxygen
Even though we’re inside a facility, we’re still required to wear masks. I think it’s a collective consciousness that we must do social distancing and practice health protocols. It’s not required tho, there’s no rule about it. In my case, I chose to always wear it, even when I jog.
This is when I think about how expensive oxygens are. It is so hard to breathe the air with a mask on especially when you jog. We often underestimate oxygen cause it’s “free”. But in the midst of this situation when you require to always wear a mask all the time, even when you jog — you will miss how easy it is to inhale such a large portion of the air from your nose.
Pause Moment
Before I got into a facility, several things are going on for me. I had dilemmas regarding my career, my responsibility, even on the question of what I really wanted to do in my life. So when I got sick, my office told me to take up sick leave and don’t think about work — just focus on the recovery. That’s why I left my laptop back home. So there are no distractions from work.
One thing that accompanies me is a book titled Finding Your Element by Ken Robinson. I have nothing much to do when in a facility, so I spend most of my time reading the book. Somehow, in a way or another, I got a glimpse of answers to my dilemmas. The book has offered me clues or food for thought that got me thinking for a while, and later on — come up with a decision myself. Being in the facility also give me some answers to a condition where I always asked myself which is “what if I haven’t been around the house”.
Maybe fate has given me a moment to pause for a bit, to get out from the distractions, to rethink, to reflect. The past 8 days might be considered as an inpatient period for some people. But for me, it’s a pause moment where I can think deeply about myself, to search for answers I’ve always looking for.
That’s all. If you reach this section, then I guess thank you for reading 😀
Let’s pray that this pandemic situation will soon come to an end.
Cheers 🍻 — Ferzos
