The Fifth Milestone - Caught by COVID

In 2020, COVID changed the entire world. Like most of the doctor community, I continued to work. At the time, our hospital was designated the nodal private hospital for COVID cases and I was exposed to a lot of infected cases. Though I took all the necessary precautions at work, COVID would not be denied and finally caught up with me in June, 2020. In those early days nobody had a clue as to how to treat COVID and I soon fell very sick and needed to be hospitalised in the ICU with high fever and severe breathing difficulty. I was a breath away from a ventilator and a heartbeat away from death. It was in the ICU bed while I was lying down and gasping for breath that a question crossed my mind: “Why me?”

The “why me” question was instantly answered by a robust inner voice – “When you were selected to a premier medical training institute; when you got a wonderful family; when you built up a roaring medical practice; when you got excellent health and fitness, you never asked ‘why me?’. So don’t you dare ask this question now? Don’t be a whiner- be a winner, get up and fight!”

That changed things and my attitude immediately changed. What felt like a heavy load suddenly left my chest and I visualised a bull-like creature get off me and gallop out of the ICU. From that moment on I could breathe better and started improving. 

As I was recovering, I realised I had so much more to share with the world. Apart from my medical knowledge, I had over 30 years of fitness expertise as well (I firmly believe it was my pre-COVID physical fitness that helped me survive COVID). Post COVID, I was perfectly positioned and qualified to help people with their medical problems and their physical fitness issues simultaneously. I resolved to help people evolve into their own best possible version.

It was a near-death experience that gave birth to Dr Homo Shapien.