Working for the Corona Patients: An Orthopaedician’s Perspective

It’s 7 am in the morning. I woke up from my debilitating sleep. Today is my first day of duty in CoVID ward. Uncertainty already fulfilled my satiety, still I managed to have some bread. Then I left home for the hospital. My wife accompanied me. She was already posted in a corona ward, hence she was staying in isolation for the last 2 days for the sake of everyone’s safety. She preferred to sit in the back seat of the car while I took the wheel. We both drove towards the battlefield to fight against the invisible enemy. I managed to look into her eyes though the rear-view mirror. She managed to smile, still her eyes were replete with melancholy, dubiety and perturbed. At the same time hope and positivity glittered from her eyes. I started the engine and we geared up for our destination. Long and empty streets gravitate me towards the gravitas of the situation. One can feel the fear in the air. It gave me an eerie feeling. One can feel the perilous nature of this minuscule species, which has made the most dominant species of this universe bow down to its knee. Every nation is struggling from this virus. For the first time the whole mankind is united in common interest. For the first time we are not separated by caste, creed and religion. This time war is not from tyranny, despotism, terrorism but from annihilation. This time war is for our existence, for our survival. This time war is being fought by doctors, nurses and the whole medical fraternity accompanied by police personnel and sanitation workers.

Time passed and we reached our hospital. We didn’t speak much on our way. My wife got off at her entry gate to the hospital and I bid adieu to her. I parked the car and moved towards my ward.

I met my previous exhausted colleague who was doing his night shift. His dishevelled look made me aware of the graveness of the situation. I took the required instructions from him and he left for his home.

Before entering into my ward, I have to don myself with personal protective equipment (PPE). The nursing staff on duty helped me to attire my armour. Everything from face shield to foot cover was checked to confirm the integrity of my ensemble. I hardly recognise myself in this hazmat suit. Now it’s time to enter the ward.

It feels like dipping down to the bottom of the sea, hoping your diving suit will protect you from this invisible virus because even a single fomite of the virus will infect you into isolation and prevent you from doing further duties.

Both apprehension and zeal makes me hyperventilate, which ultimately leads to blindness due to fogging of my face shield. It takes a couple of minutes to condense and make things visible again. I took a round and enquired about the health of my patients. Being an orthopaedic surgeon, I am supposed to take care of the stable positive lot of patient. I check their vitals and document them for proper follow-up. Time passed and everything started making me feel uncomfortable. The N95 mask started hurting my face, thirst made me dizzy. Now the war has become more personal. Now you have to fight your own despair, your own hopelessness. I started missing my emergency surgery shifts which I used to loathe, because as compared to this it was a far easy job.

Finally, my shift comes to an end, my next fellow just entered the ward. It brings a sense of hope and decompresses me from my negative thoughts. But again, doffing your PPE is another daunting task, which should be performed in a very painstakingly meticulous manner.

After that I move towards the parking area, and wait for my wife. When she arrived, we both drove towards our abode. We discussed a few things, but hardly continued our conversation due to prostration. We reached our home and without touching anything we walked towards our room which is separate from the rest of the house—we cannot risk infecting our family. I see myself in the mirror and I notice a scar mark over my nose because of the asphyxiating mask. This was just the beginning. Only the first shift was over, the war is still going on. But one thing is sure that sometime, some-day, we will win this war and we will survive this apocalypse together.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard statement

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by the any of the authors.

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For this type of study informed consent is not required.