Vanquishing the virus
2020 summertime. I am having a dinner with all of my family members: my kind mum discussing how tv programs were not as good as they used to be, my elderly brother sitting and eating while contemplating moving into a new career, and his wife with my niece playing with each other. Our family dinner seemed to me too good to deserve to enjoy but at night, but something worrying happened. My sister-in-law got sick. We, as a family don`t like the idea of calling a doctor and asking for help. Instead, we try to heal the patient ourselves. As usual, my mother bought some pills, syrups to give to my sister-in-law. However, this did not work out, and she did not recover. My brother bought another medication, saying that that one would be useful. But I had a different, horrible thought: probably she caught the covid-19. I still remember being afraid to tell this thought to my brother. I instead said, “the medication you bought does not help covid-19-infected patients.” With enlarged eyes and deep breath, my brother stared at me with anger and said, “What are you talking about, you little devil. Watch your mouth.” I know he said this because everybody was afraid to catch the mysteries virus. But, anyways, the first step in solving any problem is understanding that there is one. Unless we admitted that my sister-in-law had the virus, we would not be able to cure her. Fortunately enough, she got ill for only 4 days, and recovered for no reason. But the most horrible things came afterwards. My mother said she was feeling poorly. Again, we did not go to see a doctor. We gave her some pills to lower her body temperature, nothing more. Over time, she got even worse. I still remember how she looked: fatigued body, sleeping all day long, body temperature as high as 39 Celsius. On top of that, she was 54, and old people find it very difficult to cope with the virus. Despite all these struggles, she was not admitting she was getting worse. Instead, she would say, “I`m ok. I think I am getting better.” She would barely eat anything. Meanwhile, I and my brother got ill too. We all had the same symptoms: extreme tiredness, pain, having difficulties breathing. The first time in my life, I thought about dying from an illness. And that was a sheer possibility, because every day my illness was becoming worse. But, for no reason, I recovered. I was fully taken aback by this, and I think in no time in my life was I so thankful for living, for breathing like a normal person and for being healthy. Nevertheless, things were not good for my brother and mother. I was literally feeling their pain and was ready to do whatever I could to help them. It was only when my brother finally decided that we got the coronavirus that things began to change. My brother could not find a taxi to go to a hospital since no taxi driver wanted to carry covid-19-infected passengers. But finally at a very high price, he made a deal with a taxi driver and went to hospital with my mother. At the hospital, my mother went through a check-up after having to wait for hours in the queue in ill-health conditions. They went back home with the analyses, and the results were appalling-92% of my mother`s lungs were severely damaged by the virus. But thankfully, my brother`s condition was not that bad. My brother and mother went to a central regional hospital to be cured. But the hospital staff said they did not have vacant beds. Anyways, after negotiating at prohibitingly high prices, they got in. I began to pray every day asking for their recovery. Thinking of any of their death, a truly horrible thought, surrounded me all the time. I had already lost my dad, and experiencing anything like this was devastating. When they were at hospital, my responsibilities increased. I had to take care of my sister-in-law and my niece, bring a meal and medication to the hospital. I could find meal, but finding drugs was a real problem. There were times when I had to visit about 20 chemists but still could find what I needed. Plus, not to lag behind my groupmates, I had to continue my studies. I was also responsible for the upkeep of the house. I would clean the home in and out to get rid of the virus fully. Money was a big problem for us too. All these drugs` prices, the cost of staying at hospital were a very big financial burden for us. But with the help of our relatives we overcame all these problems. Finally, after some time good days came. My family members recovered and were sent home. That was a real success for us. I saw my mother and brother happy and healthy again. I was unimaginably grateful for this. All of this experience of family difficulty is the worst one that we managed to deal with well. I am grateful that I am writing about this experience with happy ending. What I learned from this situation is that never give up, go on, take action, do something to improve the situation, hope for the best and magic will happen.