End of December 2019, I quit my job. It was a training at a pretty renowned hospital and I had completed my compulsory 1 year training. By then, I had already decided I wanted to specialize in Internal Medicine and that involves a huge amount of studying to to even get into the training. So I decided to quit work for a few months, prepare and study for the upcoming exam in my country and also sit for a License exam abroad, which now has been cancelled indefinitely, till the corona situation settles.
The military is out on the streets everyday, ensuring people respect the basic rules of quarantine and social distancing! This is absolutely necessary as a lot of people around here weren't taking this whole situation as seriously as they should have!
Thankfully, so far no one I know has been infected. But the number of cases here have started to pile up and I can only send my condolences to the families that have lost members in this fight. My prayers goes out to those infected and fighting against death and their families.
How has the lock-down affected me?
I was pretty much staying at home and studying anyways so getting locked down hasn't physically changed much for me. I was visiting the hospitals 2-3 times a week to go and see patients. While I was studying I still wanted to stay in touch with patients as I feel proud at the fact that maybe I'm able to help a sick person. It was without pay because I wasn't officially working there anymore, no one was gonna pay me! But I have stopped that for now. My parents are old, with quite a lot of co-morbidities and as a doctor I am fully aware of the risk I'd be putting them under if I continued.
But I'm not exactly out of the battle against Covid-19. More on this in a bit!
I had a bit saved up for these few months and I don't really spend too much money anyways. And we've been under lock-down for about a week now. I haven't felt the financial blow yet, but the way prices of daily necessities and groceries are on the rise, it's only a matter of time. And my father as well isn't obviously able to conduct business, so we're living on savings solely. No other active source! Well, HIVE-ing is bringing in small amounts from time to time, and I'm keeping small amounts liquid for emergencies. I also plan on cashing out of my steem I have on exchanges. These are small amounts, but in an emergency, every penny helps!
Do I see anything positive?
On a personal level...
Personally, my dad stays more at home and I find this absolutely great that we're getting to finally spend some time together. I was abroad for 6 years and after I got back I started working at a hospital and duty schedule was hectic. Most days I used to be home just to sleep the night, only to leave the next morning before any one is up! Don't even get me started on the ridiculous night shift roster! So while under lock-down, we're seeing more of each other. I'm getting to share all the meals of the day with my mom and dad, at the same table! Had missed this so much!
Speaking more widely...
Mother nature is healing itself. Call it detox, detoxifying, whatever! the amount of garbage and rubbish and smoke pollution we've been dumping into the nature as if we owned mother nature itself was absolutely despicable. I felt human race had reached it's lowest, most disgusting behavior and this needed to stop. But people aren't really as smart as they think they are. Well, they maybe academically brilliant, but lacked something called commonsense!
Mother nature is shoving commonsense up our rear! There's a consequence to everything and I know this is starting to sound a bit spiritual (more on this later), but this is exactly how I'm analyzing this situation. Yes, yes, as a doctor I should be more scientific and whatever! Nature needs to purge out the garbage once in a while, for the survival of our own habitat, for the survival of this ecosystem we live in.
Having said all of that, I wholeheartedly wish all of this is over soon and we can get back to normalcy once again.
What Have I been up to?
I haven't entirely stopped my preparation to the license exams, but they've slowed down considerably. Instead, I have enrolled into a course on Management of Coronavirus and will be volunteering my services to the society by providing free medical advice to suspected corona affected patients. Basically the patients who are coming down with symptoms will report themselves to a volunteer organisation, Muktopaath, and they'll let the doctors know and we'll contact the patients and also follow up on their progress and inform the respective authorities.
This is my battlefield, my Ground-Zero if you may!
This is how I've been spending most of my time during this quarantine period, trying to make the full use of my time and being productive. Well, that's ground zero of most doctors and medical students to be fair!
There's this saying, "A doctor retires the day he considers himself a student no more."
This is really true. Throughout our careers we need to constantly update ourselves to the new discoveries in the field of medicine, CONSTANTLY! Take this Covid-19 as example. It's an entirely new disease and EVERY doctor, no matter what level you are in, be it an intern, be it just a freshly licensed doctor like me, be it a resident in training or be it a professor or a consultant, EVERY doctor now has to learn about the management, pathophysiology, investigations, indications etc etc etc of this, from scratch, aka, STILL A STUDENT.
I came across the above saying quite a while back, and I understood the message it was trying to send, but I never fully apprehended the message. CoVid-19 has given me a practical demonstration of what it is to be a student till you retire means!
I know it's a bit of a mess, but no point trying to fix it!
Creating content, Reading blogs!
I have also been spending quite some time on HIVE reading posts from many different authors and also trying to regularly post my own content. There was a time when I used to post only once a week, but now i'm trying to change that and increase frequency of posting, which is difficult as I often find myself in a thought-block and I don't wanna post something just for the sake of posting. I mostly try to post something that I am proud of!
Improving myself spiritually!
I have also been spending a bit more time than I usually do on a daily basis on my religion. I'm taking more time in my prayers and reading more of the Quran and educating myself. I think that has brought out a bit more spirituality in me which I am finding very peaceful. Amidst all the chaos, I feel a sense of calmness, a belief everything will be alright, in time.
I sincerely hope I can carry this spirituality along with me even after this situation normalizes. I don't want this knowledge to just be confined to the book. I wish I can apply the teachings of the religion in my everyday life, in the way I treat people, in the way I deal with certain situations. I do believe I will emerge a better person out of this chaos. We should all take this time to reflect on ourselves, on the way we deal with people and learn to treat every human being with humility and respect.
I hope wherever you guys are, everyone is staying safe!
Peace!