Page 28 - Seniorstoday January 2022 Issue
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scriptures recommend as a way of dealing one be required to travel, RTPCR anyway
with life and vicissitudes. will need to be done. After all, the treatment
That’s one part of the story. The other and tests are quite prohibitive and daunting.
interesting or rather worrying part was Worst, health insurance does not provide
the divergent opinions of doctors which for reimbursement of the expenses if there
can throw the most stoic asunder. The is no hospitalisation involved. The fine print
opinions ranged from advice against any finally wins and the entire system of health
medical intervention to the other extreme of insurance is ranged against practicalities
recommending antibody cocktail injections that a patient has to go through.
costing Rs. 1.20 lakh to expensive CTC The near 10-day home isolation was a
scans to the standard broad-spectrum neat test of one’s ability to be with oneself,
antibiotics, paracetamol, zinc and vitamins especially if one is wont to be constantly
supplements. One specialist said that just a active either physically or mentally.
mere RTPCR report is not enough because Given the seemingly interminable time of
it does not specify whether it is Covid or quarantine, one soon realises that OTTs,
Delta variant or Omicron, one has to get an Instagram, LinkedIn etc are ephemeral and
SGTF test done, which most path labs do not enervating and completely avoidable. Books
do, to determine a specific line of treatment. were a reprieve, but again not a lasting one.
To cut a long story short, one has to take a The sporadic phone calls with well-wishers
call on what is the best line of treatment. I were a fleeting diversion, but a welcome one.
opted for the routine ingestion of the usual
prophylactic pills, gargling and steaming
and the usual household remedies. Soon,
thankfully, I was back to normal. Again,
there were different opinions if one has to get
a retest done so that one gets the comfort and
the statutory records and app get updated
about the recovery. Most doctors opined that
a retest is not necessary. Hence, I decided
against retesting, with the logic that should
Books as a reprieve, but not a lasting one
The enforced seclusion, in a way, is a
reckoning with the self and a realisation
that when it comes to a crunch, our journey
in life will necessarily be solo, except for
the periodic joys of family, friends and
co-travellers who will keep hopping in and
out of our train of life, extending whatever
support is possible. Social support is indeed
a good fortune and cannot be emphasised
enough. But if one cannot have it for
whatever reasons, what happens? How does
one cope? I could not help remember the
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