Chapter 17: chapter 17

It was a matter of a few seconds but it scared the hell out of me. I felt as if my nose will start bleeding. The interference caused me a lot of pain. He insisted on letting him do the chore for a satisfactory report and dug my nose more deeply. My husband had to step in clutching my hands tightly so that the lab boy may proceed without further interruption. Finally, he collected the desired sample and announced the result indifferently like before with a bit of sincere advice. My reports announced the onset of the infection. By God's grace, my husband's test result was negative then. An iron routine awaited us. We were sent upstairs to the vacant flat for the safety of my husband and mother-in-law. That was the last I and my sons saw my father-in-law after which we were sent for quarantine. The word itself makes me uncomfortable. My husband spent a huge amount in procuring masks, medicines, syrups, and steamers in bulk. A special oximeter and digital thermometer were brought to note down our oxygen levels and temperature from the time to time. A vaporizer was purchased instantly for my father-in-law to extricate his cough as his throat started choking at times. Day by day he refused to take anything into his mouth. It was turmeric milk that I offered him to drink before my isolation.Even my husband and his mother had to consume several precautionary medicines for security purposes. 'Health is wealth', better to take precautions as long as the situation is under control. The main hurdle that stood in front of my husband was the question of food. To survive, we need to feed our stomachs despite losing our appetite. I am the sole food provider of my family. The cook was dispensed off her services last year because she was serving a family who was hit by the virus in the first wave. Since special safety measures had to be employed for cooking, I asked her to return after some time but it wasn't possible at all after that. In the hot, sweltering weather, we adjusted ourselves on the second floor. The scorching heat of the sun made us thirsty all the time. There was a time when there was no one to fill our bucket of water owing to the serious condition of my father-in-law. Two blankets were rolled in different corners of the hall for me and my younger son. My elder son chose a separate room. We brought the induction for the sake of boiling water. On the first day, I had no fever. The elder one was taken for a chest x-ray in the evening to check the intensity of the virus in his body. He came back with his ppt kit consisting of a light blue coloured plastic jacket and pants which had to be disposed of in the morning. His reports were normal but the fever and the cough were getting on his nerves. He slept all day without the bother of eating. My husband managed to bring restaurant food for us. Sometimes my mother-in-law who had not been into cooking for the past nineteen years prepared potato curry and rotis for dinner. On the second day of our confinement, a man was fetched at a great cost to take our blood sample. He charged double the usual amount  for all the four of us. My husband proclaimed, "Nobody is willing to enter our premises hearing of four corona patients in one house. Lastly, I got him on the recommendation of a friend who was hit in the first wave. He obliged without much ado. "