One morning as I got up and walked into the bathroom I felt my head spinning. I did not feel well at all. The water from the tap felt like ice. I knew then that I was coming down with a fever or something.
I returned to my bed and lay down. My body felt very hot and uncomfortable. My nose was blocked and every bone in my body seemed to be aching.
Soon my mother came to look for me after realizing that I still had not got up. It was a school day and I would be late if I still did not get up. One-touch of her hand on my face told her that I was in no condition to go to school. I was running a high fever. Quickly she brought some medicine for me to take and a wet towel to put over my forehead.
The medicine and wet towel brought some relief but it was obvious that I had to see a doctor.
At nine o’clock my mother drove me to the doctors. I felt so terrible that I had to lie down on the back seat of the car.
In the doctor’s clinic, we waited for about five minutes before I got to see the doctor. Fortunately, we were one of the first ones there. Otherwise, we would have to wait a long time.
A nurse ushered me onto a couch and pulled the screens.
I lay down on the couch and waited as the doctor attended to other patients on other couches. After a couple of minutes, he came to examine me.
Doctor Lee is our family doctor. He is in his forties. He smiled as he recognized me. “So what’s wrong with you today?” he asked.
I muttered some words in reply and then he proceeded to examine me. He put a thermometer under my tongue and then listened to my body with his stethoscope.
“102 degrees,” he said to me after reading the thermometer. “You’ve got a fever. It looks like you are down with ‘flu, give you a jab. Better take a few days off from school. ill write you a medical chit.”
A nurse came and told me to lie on my side. I felt her wipe the side of my hip with a wet cotton pad. I did not even see the hypodermic needle. All I felt was a slight sharp pain on my hip and the next thing I knew the doctor told that I could go home. He had given me the injection with me hardly being aware of it. He must have had a lot of experience in this sort of thing for he was a real expert.
I thanked him and left his room. Outside my mother inquired anxiously what was wrong with me. She relaxed after I told her it was just a case of ‘flu.
We waited for a while for the nurse to get my medicine and medical chit. My mother paid for the medicine and we left for home.