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| CLOSE ENCOUNTERS |
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| Year : 2022 | Volume
: 2
| Issue : 2 | Page : 132 |
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The experiences of a physician working during the covid 19 pandemic
Rahul Sinha
Department of Pediatrics and Pediatric Neurology, Command Hospital, Chandimandir, Panchkula, Haryana, India
| Date of Submission | 01-Nov-2021 |
| Date of Decision | 23-Jan-2022 |
| Date of Acceptance | 27-Jan-2022 |
| Date of Web Publication | 30-May-2022 |
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Rahul Sinha
Department of Pediatrics, Command Hospital, Chandimandir, Panchkula, Haryana
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/ipcares.ipcares_334_21
How to cite this article:
Sinha R. The experiences of a physician working during the covid 19 pandemic. Indian Pediatr Case Rep 2022;2:132 |
This is a description of the experiences I encountered in May and June 2021, when the entire country was in the grip of the second wave of the COVID pandemic. I was working in the COVID Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital run by the Defense Research Development Organization at Varanasi. After completing an ICU shift duty, I felt that I must pen down my the feelings and thoughts regarding the patients currently admitted under our care.
I will never forget the faces of my patients and their families in these difficult times: the son who is waiting to meet his father; the 40-year-old woman who wants to meet her daughter; the old gentleman who is only worried whether he will survive or not, because he feels there is no one else who will take care of his children (incidentally, all adults); and many others. These people have taught me the true meaning of grief and loss. I was astounded by the beauty and grace of their acceptance of their illness and possible impending mortality. It made me wonder, again and again, that when I reach the end of the journey of my life, will I be able to embrace the end so courageously. We, the doctors, are called “COVID warriors,” but our patients who passed away without their loved ones around them, with only the name of their Lord on their lips, were no less truly heroic than anyone of us.
The last 3 weeks has also made me realize the importance and value of the little things in life that we simply take for granted: a conversation with family members at teatime, spending quality time with friends and colleagues, coming to work and doing our jobs, and many more. These regular, mundane daily acts acquired a much deeper spiritual significance than before, as the days rolled by, and I was surrounded by the perpetual bleeping of ventilators and monitors, the sound of my own suffocating breathing through the personal protective equipment (PPE) gear, and suffering through the forced solitude of quarantine after completing my posting. Amid all these hardships and trying circumstances, these memories are some of the little things that keep our hopes alive and make us glad to be alive. There will be anxieties, failures, and sadness, but these are valleys into which you transiently descend, only to stand up and climb out bravely to be the real hero!
I have always been a firm believer that I must invest myself completely in whatever I do, and at the same time, I stay emotionally detached from the results or consequences. Living through these times has just made my convictions stronger. We just need to believe in ourselves and keep doing the best that we can in the prevailing circumstances. Even when things start to get really hard, we should try to persevere through adversity. Many people give up on following their dreams because the work appears to become too difficult, tedious, or tiresome; however, often, you are much closer to the finish line than you may think. Moreover, if you push just a little bit harder, you will surely succeed. Every obstacle we face offers an opportunity to improve. If we are able to get by these challenging moments, we may end up much better off than when we started. We have to let go of our limiting beliefs to make the breakthroughs that are required to ultimately succeed. Do not let other people tell you that you cannot do something and do not hold onto an assumption that you cannot grow and learn from past failures. Moreover, last but not least, my prayers go out to all those who have lost their near and dear ones during this pandemic.
I am proud to be a part of the medical fraternity.
Jai Hind
Declaration of patient consent
The authors certify that they have obtained all appropriate patient consent forms. In the form the patient(s) has/have given his/her/their consent for his/her/their images and other clinical information to be reported in the journal. The patients understand that their names and initials will not be published and due efforts will be made to conceal their identity, but anonymity cannot be guaranteed.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
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