Thursday, February 04, 2010

Outpoxed

Recently my command over the English language has transcended great lows such that, the command has been transformed to a mere whimper. I am eagerly waiting for fall when someone from the natives ( read US of A ..........) comes to teach me the language yet again. Till then please bear while i coin new terms and entertain you with flowery language.
Question.: What is the term used when a certain disease fools 3 doctors ?
Answer: Outpoxed.

Why ?
It all started on that fateful saturday. I had gorged on some good chinese food in Ni Hao, a full 7 course, leaving nothing which was open in the buffet. I was a bit feverish but who cares. A full stomach deserves some respect and the best respect you can give is a good nights sleep. Being the very respectful types I went to sleep . Next morning when I woke up, the fever had increased , a slight headache had reared its head and so had some bright red spots on my chest and hands. Uncomfortable as it was I thought it might be some reaction to the chinese cuisine i had the night before. Gulping down an anti-allergic I hoped that the spots would go away and I would be fit and fine again.
However the spots had other plans. Suddenly they displayed their love for mathematics and started multiplying. I cancelled my plans for the day with my friends, when suddenly one of them remarked that it might be chicken pox. Then we all chickened out of the idea. Outside the temperature was -10 C. It was snowing. Which bloody virus could survive in such low temperatures. Must be strong allergy! Gulped down some more of anti-allergic and waited.
By Monday morning the spots were displaying advanced mathematics with a heavy influence of the exponential function. I perceived this to be a good time to test the doctors in Holland. I tried getting an appointment. I did not get one for the day. Apparantly it was not an emergency case. Well to me it was not. So I got an appointment on tuesday. Meanwhile I had to bear the pain !
Jumping over unimportant details I skip to the part where i met my doctor. Dr. Kocks was a young man, not much older than me guess fresh out of medical school. he was all smiling when he asked me my name, my complaints and other chit chat. However when I took off my shirt to introduce him to my new friends the smile vanished. He left his chair came close, peered over a few of the spots and gave his diagnosis, "I think it is chicken pox". I thought "Cool" Atleast now I know what happened to me. Then he looked at my face and looked at the spots. And spoke the magical words " I am not sure, I will have one of my colleagues take a look." And then he went out of the room. "Shit ! " was the only thing I could think of. After a few minutes a middle aged lady enters with Doctor Kocks. She is the other doctor on call. One look at me and she turns to Doctor Kocks and they start discussing in Dutch . My Dutch is broken so the few words i could gather is
" It looks like chicken pox to me"
"See the boils have fluid inside then"
"Definitely not allergy "
"But this is very rare"
"Still seems like chicken pox"

She turns to me and asks if I had ever had chicken pox as a child. I say No. She retorts "Are you sure". I laugh at her face. "Come on I am from India, I know what chicken pox is "
She looks at me , then at doctor Kocks and says "Most likely it is chicken pox" And she leaves the room.
I sigh. Atleast I know whats wrong which me. I sit down again. Suddenly The lady's head reappears from the door. She has a guest with her. The third doctor on call was suddenly free and he too was invited to give his opinion. Some more conversations in dutch. Finally the other two doctors leave leaving me to my fate.
Doctor Kocks sits down and pronounces "We think you have Chicken pox. Normally this happens only to children and it is quite rare for adults to have it. We have not seen many cases like this before. So here is what I will do . I will first take pictures of you. Then I will take a swab and send it to the lab to confirm. And then I will give you some antibiotics for secondary infection."
As he dutifully complied to his words, I thought - Bummer!!! this means I will be in quarantine. He hasnt mentioned anything about hospital admission so I will be at home.
I asked him" After how many days do I join my work " Oh ! he replied "You can go from tomorrow"
F**K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought.
In India doctors advise atleast 2-3 week quarantine. This guy is sending me to infect others from the next day itself!
Anyway I take my prescription give him my thanks and walk out of the hospital.

Oh! Yes. It was indeed pox as was confirmed by the marks on all over my body after I got cured.
And I still think My photos will be displayed to the University medical Students and told " See this is how Chicken pox looks in adults. Side effects are meningitis, brain inflammation and a searing pain in the head as if people are hammering inside your head for all day"

5 comments:

JKMSMKJ said...

What does 'ik' mean in the last line? and is the last line true???
Hope you are all well now... and also hope that nobody was infected!!!

ScrewDriver said...

Ah D da ... seems that blogger did not update my corrections .. Am updating it again
Am well now .
If by the last line you mean side the side effects part, yes it is true. I had to visit my doctor again to make sure that i did not have meningitis

DonQuixote said...

I think you were allowed to go to work as soon as the next day coz most Dutch people probably are vaccinated against chicken pox as children.
Also unless you had really authentic chinese i don't think your bong upbringing leaves any holes in the defense of your digestive system against most manners of land/air/sea food.

ScrewDriver said...

Che - most dutch people are not vaccinated but have had this disease as a child. But I told him i work in an international env with non dutch people. Still he did not seem to get my point.
I agree that the bong stomach can withstand any food. But i do have specific food allergies. Thats why I was worried

crumbs said...

chicken pox as an adult can be a real bummer. u get all the ickyness without the benefit of missing school for a happily long time =/ I had it when I was in coll, 3rd year--a month before my practical exams. not fun =/

glad you are good now :)