Have you ever been sick and bed-ridden? One may not wish to be sick or bed-ridden. Still it is an experience. Unfortunately for me, I had such an experience last year. When I began sneezing one fine morning, I never thought I would be going in for a protracted illness. That evening, I had temperature and pain in the joints. My mother prepared the usual medicament and gave it to me and made me go to bed early. The next morning I could not get up from bed. I was running high temperature and severe pain in the joints. People in the house suspected whether I might be getting small-pox or any fever like that. I was kept on diet. The same condition continues for three more days. So our family doctor advised my being admitted in the General Hospital. After the formalities, I was given a bed in the general ward and I was kept under observation.
The experience was novel to me but it was very irksome when a number of doctors, one after another came and examined me. Remember it was a general hospital, so there were many doctors, some trainees included. So I felt very much annoyed when I had to stick my tongue out for these doctors. In between there were the nurses who strutted about in their starched uniform. A chart was maintained about my health. My blood was examined and then my stools. Many were the surmises that were made. Some said it was a strange fever that started in Pahang. Some said it was paratyphoid. So they were pricking me with different types of injections. By this time, the novelty of being in the hospital wore away. I got fed up with the smell of Dettol, the cheerless look of the ward and the monotonous scene of different types of patients lying there. Somehow, the injections began to work. My temperature came down to normal. So I was advised to go home and take rest. What a relief from the boredom of the hospital after a fortnight there.
Vocabulary
bed-ridden confined to bed
cheerless unhappy
