The phone rings at 2 am. On the other side was the nurse updating about an emergency case. He alerts himself and gives his expert advice.
The phone rings at 2 am. On the other side was the nurse updating about an emergency case. He alerts himself and gives his expert advice. He goes back to sleep just to be woken up at 2:30 am by another call saying the patient’s condition has worsened and needs to be attended immediately. He pulls out the nearest outfit available and rushes to the hospital. He spends an hour or so in the ICU and when he is satisfied with the patient’s condition, he breathes a sigh of relief. He assured the relatives and heads back home at the break of dawn. He takes a shower and goes back to the hospital after a hurried breakfast.
The past few months have been more hectic due to the covid-19 pandemic. Since every patient is a potential COVID patient, he takes precautions in the form of suffocating PPE gowns and masks for long hours. Food and water breaks are compromised and has minimal time for himself. With all this, he also needs to boost up the morale of his teammates.
He sees outpatients from 9 am to 3 pm after which he is fully exhausted. During the rounds, he is still cheerful and assures the patients and the relatives. It is already 4 pm and he has not had is lunch yet. He thinks he might as well go home and spend time with his family as it was his birthday and heads back home.
Even before the sanitizing ritual at the door, he attends 3 online consultations sitting in his car. The time now is almost 7 pm. His wife and daughter were waiting to celebrate his birthday with a home-baked cake. Finally by 8 pm after a thorough cleaning ritual, he is back to the living room to cut his birthday cake. While cutting the cake, I observed how hard and rough his hands had become with constant use of sanitizers and soaps. My eyes welled up with mixed emotions of concern, happiness, love and pride. Here stood one of the superheroes right in front of me and I am happy and proud to say that he is my DAD.
