Unspoken Battles
Not a story, just my thoughts on diseases. I was trying to sleep because my eyes hurt from using the phone too much, but let’s not get into that. As I lay there, I just couldn’t stop thinking about visiting my cousin sister, who’s really sick at the moment.
She’s the oldest sister in the family. She tied me a rakhi before my real sister was even born. Mom told me this on the phone before I came home for my semester break. She also mentioned that my cousin sister’s health wasn’t great, and that she wanted to see me. Mom suggested a video call, but I said I’d come home and meet her in person. It was one of the reasons I decided to come back for the break. It got me thinking about how diseases can change someone’s whole life.
She used to be just like any other girl, but after paralysis, her health started going downhill. She’s now got multiple health problems. I didn’t want to go see her because it’s hard for me to see her like that. She’s got lumps all over her body, can’t hear well, and has trouble walking. When I got there, she perked up and asked about my studies. She noticed my glasses and asked when I got them and if I could see okay. I told her it was recent. Her lips suddenly curved into a frown, and she said “Alok, I can’t see, hear, or walk properly anymore. It’s really tough living like this.”
She’s been dealing with this for over 7 or 8 years now, I think, and it’s just gotten worse over time. Mom says there’s no cure for what she has. I can’t even imagine how she must feel. She just wants to live normally like everyone else. She asked if I could look into treatments at AIIMS and other plausible hospitals, and I couldn’t say no. I feel so useless because I know there’s not much I can do. Her daughter lives with her husband at his place, and she’s staying with her mom now. She told me she’s not happy with how things are, that it’s really hard not being able to do simple things like eat, walk, or even sit comfortably.
We talked for about an hour. The whole time, I had trouble looking her in the eye because I felt bad complaining about my now inconsequential-seeming problems, when she’s going through so much and still doing all she can to stay strong. I could tell she wanted to cry but didn’t want to upset us. Before we left, she gave me some life advice about studying hard and staying away from bad influences. It really stuck with me.
This whole thing goes to show how diseases mess up people’s lives and affect everyone around them. Even when my dad got that insect bite that gave him a bad fever for weeks, it was really scary because nothing seemed to help at first. When stuff like that happens, you forget everything else and just want to find a way to make it better. We tried all sorts of doctors and even some non-medical folks; but naturally in the end it was the medicine that did the trick.
It just makes me sad that some people never really get a chance to live their lives fully because of diseases they’re born with or just bad luck, which leads to them not being able to do basic things like hear or see properly. And then they have to deal with these problems their whole lives. It’s even worse when some religious people say it’s because of things they did in a past life or something. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.
The more I think about it, the more I realize how unfair and cruel diseases can be. They don’t just affect the person who’s sick, but everyone who cares about them too. It makes you appreciate your health when you see how quickly things can change. I guess that’s why medical research is so important - to try and find ways to help people who are suffering from these conditions. It’s not just about curing diseases, but also about finding ways to improve the quality of life for people who have to live with them. It’s frustrating to think about how many people are out there struggling with illnesses we still can’t cure or even fully understand.