A Swiss woman settles in India –12
By SIMONE TONI WEIBEL
Some of you readers might have noticed that my column was missing last week. I was in bed again, thinking, that I suffer from another UTI (urinary tract infection). That was actually a fact but after two days I started to get some fever. As I felt my kidneys hurting, I assumed that the infection had climbed up and created fever. But, no, there was another reason for that.
My partner started to get nervous about my situation, as he would like to fill me up with antibiotics from the very first moment, whenever I show up with any symptoms of UTI. But, as I have dealt with that since I was a kid, I try everything else just to avoid antibiotics as much as possible. But I agreed to a blood test and get checked.
In the meanwhile, my fever got up to 103.8 and I think I was a child when I experienced that the last time. But the worst had just started; the world’s meanest headache you can ever imagine. It was day four, when I was leaving for the city hearthospital with my landlords, because the medicine I had didn’t help anymore, when my partner came with the results; typhoid and UTI. My first beautiful Indian disease.
The headache became so bad that I couldn’t help myself anymore. Big tears running down my cheeks and some whimpering and moaning unavoidable. And believe me, I can take quite some pain. The doctor said that he suffered from the same disease a few days back and he just wanted to bang his head into the wall. He was very kind and shifted me one floor upwards into my room. Up there, the nurse tried to catch one of my very shy, hiding veins, succeeded after the third trial and then I got all the good medicine right into my blood. I was finally feeling safe.
Typhoid was something completely unknown to me. I thought it is some extinct disease. Even all my friends in Switzerland reacted that way. At the end, I was lucky enough to be in good hands all the time. My headache didn’t get better after my first dose of medicine and, all of a sudden, a nurse assistant started to give me a head massage. I couldn’t believe it. In Switzerland that would never happen. For no reason, it just wouldn’t. But she massaged that head with so much love and kindness, it was a big relief. Meanwhile, giggling nurses came to see me in the room, trying to say something in English. My poor Hindi responses surprised them and made them giggle even more.
All the staff were so sweet and caring. I am very thankful for that. Also, for my landlord’s daughter, who brought me her lovely delicious food whenever I wanted some, and my partner who slept next to me on the bench every night and made me feel safe. Being sick is half as bad, when you have these loving people around you, helping to heal. And, again, I have to say, sickness can be a good thing too; I am still recovering, but I also feel renewed and somehow cleansed. The mind is calmer and I have new ideas. So, let’s see, where it goes.
(Simone Toni Weibel (47) is an independent artist, teacher and writer from Switzerland who has settled down in Dehradun.)
