Survivor Calgary

Sometimes a small fever is all that it takes for you to understand how vulnerable you are in a strange city. Add to that severe body pain, sore throat, fatigue, head ache, chills - you have a killer combination. I was struck with one of those combinations.. and I survived.. read on for my survival story..

A doctor is key to survival. I hooked on to my laptop, did a search for walkin clinics - surprisingly only one walkin clinic in downtown core. And it says "urgency care, patients will be attended in the order of severity of sickness". God bless you, mine is damn severe, I havent been able to eat anything in 2 days.

Back home, I had been spoiled by the Indian medical system. Hospitals are aplenty, specialist doctors are aplenty, for about 100 Rs (thats about 2.5 dollars), I could see a specialist, infact if you were a doctor who did not have an MD or MS, I would refuse treatment as a principle. Ah!! those good old days..

Here, if you don't have a family physician, you are doomed!! You can't see a specialist without a physician's recommendation. I remember calling a dermatologist office once requesting an appointment (apparently this was the only doctor my traveler's insurance had a tie up with). The female voice on the other side goes "Are you concerned about wrinkles? Do you feel aging?"..

"Err.. No, i have a rash on my neck and its sort of itching!!", as if I was going to stop her from saying what she wanted to say..

.."Let our revolutionary anti aging technology help you........... Summon Samson's strength with our hair restoration and transplantation techniques.."

"Samson.. who?"

Finally, after listening to the entire range of products and services, the system was kind enough to let me speak to a real person and she goes "Dr. Anne Silverstone is taking appointments for November. Did you want to book your time?"
"Hmm.. thats kind of late.. Its August you know and its really itching now".
"I am sorry, but thats the earliest date we have got".
Now there are two parts of my brain that kicks in with a response - I call it the gentleman part and the naughty part. The gentleman part said "Ok, Bad for me, thanks". And the naughty part says in my mind "Oh! sure. which is her favorite restaurant? btw, is she still single? Not that I care, but still good to know".

Anyways cut to present day, I reach the clinic, the receptionist says, "please wait in the queue.. a triage nurse will see you".. Yup, thats right, a triage nurse.. sort of like the defect triaging stuff we do, identify P1, P2, P3, P4 based on specific criteria (the ones we dont want to fix, make it a P4)

So I walk to the queue (except that nobody else is in the queue). The triage nurse looks at me top to bottom, and I could easily imagine her thinking "well, you dont seem to be limping, not bleeding, have got all your body parts intact, you are a P4".. I am not supposed to make a move unless she calls me..

Thats it Swaroop, you are done.. if you need to survive, use all the tricks in your armour, someone must feel pity on you.. Remembering all the good actors that I have ever known from Marlon Brando to Viggo Mortensen, from Raj Kapur to Amitabh Bachan, from Prem Nasir to Mammootty.. I reached out to the nearest chair with the most painful look anybody could ever show, crossed my arms with a fake shivering, and my head down as if I had a 50 pound weight on my head... "Come on somebody please call me".. a few minutes passed, a clerical lady passed by, I looked at her, she looked at me, our eyes met, and in that one moment I passed all my feelings of despair..

It worked.. she went to the triage nurse, got another nurse to look into my case.. Once I had my opening it was all easy.. I was always a master in dialogue delivery, this was a test of my body language acting and I passed the test in flying colors..

To cut the rest of the story short, I had two rounds of nurse interview (sort of like the technical interview). As soon as the interview started they would ask me "How are you feeling today?".. "Helloo.. why do you think I am here"..

And it was time for the doctor's interview (sort of like the final HR interview), and me the anxious candidate.. The nurse hands over a sheet which says the doctor's name..

When I was a kid, my father took me to this movie about a South Indian king who was known for his heroic efforts to fight the British off. His name was "Veerapandya Kattabomman". The movie was pretty good with a lot of thrilling action scenes and dialogue sequences.. I came back home with a lot of respect and fear for the character.. From that day on, any large and difficult name would invoke fear and respect in me..

I look down at the doctor's name. It says "Dr.Kharryam Khatoumi".. oh.. oh I am in big trouble.. The doctor will be atleast 6' 2", 240 lbs and he is going to make me spit out every damn thing I have done in the past two years...

A few moments passed, I hear foot steps near the door.. Courage Swaroop.. courage.. you can face this.. be a man.. The doctor walks in and.... hold on.. this is not what I expected.. she is a lady.. and she is cute..

Not to mention, the remaining few minutes were the highlights of the entire disease episode.. My head ache was checked, my sore throat was checked, my fever was checked.. I came out with an antibiotics prescription and a smile on my face...... I survived..