Our Journey To, Through & Return From Corona Infection - Part 3

 

Some of the medication completed their journey into us and a few others are left now. In the meanwhile, we have been progressing well on the recovery phase as we await further advice from the Doctor.

Our diet so far has been, only hot and cooked food, with a strict no-no to salads or fruits to mitigate any contamination with outside bacteria/virus. No fruit juices or any other stuff from the fridge. Lots of hydration (we resorted to warm water) as we almost gulped down around 2.5-3.5 liters a day. ORS was added to the water only if needed. Steam inhalation was almost a part of our diet - what with at least twice, if not thrice, a day.

One bright spot during our journey into and through Corona Infection, so far, has been decent levels of SpO₂, as it never dropped below 96 throughout the course of our medication, right from the day of our encounter with Covid. On the contrary, perhaps due to all the attention and nutrition we were getting, as ‘patients’, were helping in gradually improving our SpO₂ levels to 97-98%. We pray and hope to maintain these levels going forward.

Keep your mind calm and stress-free!

Huh! Easier said than done. 

With so many casualties around us, due to Covid, this was almost a Herculean task for us to accomplish. They say, if you want to eat an elephant, you can still do it! Eat it, bit by bit! This was exactly what we envisaged doing. The elephant, metaphorically, being the ‘Stress and Disturbed Mind’, had to be tamed somehow and what we did in the initial stages of our isolation, paved the way for the rest of the period.

In short;

-        We never switched on the TV sets, with all these umpteen channels repeatedly blaring negativity 24/7, showcasing graphical un-pleasant happenings around with no moral responsibility, sensitivity, or humanity to the ongoing saga of life and death. Media has become a mockery now as anyone armed with a smartphone, can become a reporter. I have lost my complete respect for this profession.

-        I have been deleting all those negative news and graphics on my social media account and have been sifting for news/information worth passing on to others.

-        Calls with my kith, kin and friends revolve around our resolve to beat the Virus at its own game.

-        Keeping ourselves engaged in chanting and learning new shlokas from an abundant library of Vedas, etc.

-        Physical exercises, albeit at home – Oh! We have a great runway of 20 steps one way, for a brisk walk and with this princely distance, we are able to clock a couple of km every day. 

-    Breathing Exercises to bring back the 'Lungs Power'. A variety of Pranayama to strengthen and revitalize the lungs.

One would wonder as to how I walked a distance of over 6 km in this constricted space, on a daily basis. Having done it successfully for a week now, I am in a position to dispel the views held by others on the need for a bigger space to exercise/walk.  

Well, in the end, it is Mind over Matter!

As we enter the last phase of our home isolation, I am feeling very lucky on able to write all these down and escaping unscathed from the clutches of the dreaded virus. That said, I still have a distance to traverse for complete recovery both physically and mentally.

Mentally – because, during this period of my illness from around 2^nd week of last month to date, there have been more than a couple of deaths amongst family and friends circle. Quite a few have contracted the virus and are battling to overcome this. My sincere and humble prayers for their speedy recovery. My only advice to them is ‘be strong mentally, this too will be gone soon and as far as possible – think positively on how you too can outlive this virus (if we can do it, so can you) and pray’.

We (my brother and I) survived the pandemic by God's Grace but I grieve for the ones who lost their battles and pray for those who are battling the dreadful virus. To those who are battling, ‘Be strong and in a positive bent of mind’.

I will fail in my duty, if I don’t express my gratitude to the Doctor and his support staff, who dragged us out of this Covid deluge, in particular. Similarly, to my family for their unstinted support to me and my brother during the testing times and to my friends who had me and my brother in their prayers; I bow down to you all, in deep gratitude!

In the wider world, I bow my head with great respects and with deep gratitude in my heart to; a huge battalion of Covid warriors; Doctors, Nurses, Path Lab & Radiology Personnel, Attendants, Other Hospital and Essential Staff, Bank and other Employees who, by nature of their jobs are required to render service to the public – come rain or shine, Police, enforcement and ancillary agencies, Defence Personnel, Transporters of foodstuff, perishables, critical medicines and equipment, umpteen number of volunteer agencies and volunteers, Hotels and other agencies providing food for those unlucky ones who can’t cook at home.

Any other section of people, to whom I have not expressed my gratitude is by oversight and not intentional. I profusely apologise for the slip-up.

This is not the time for just praying (though it does help in maintaining our semblance as human beings). Prayers have to be in tandem with the science of how to break the chain and alleviate the havoc of the pandemic. Scientific advisors have been advising the Governments (Central and States) but it has fallen on deaf ears so far. Can the people with powers take cognisance of this advises and do their job earnestly and honestly, at least now, so that the country can be saved?

Epilogue:

The authorities have been caught off guard and no matter whoever it is who tries to justify the stance taken by them, they can’t shift the blame for their apathetic attitude. Firstly, they could have put in more hospitals/beds in the long year of learning. We had a great head-up on the possible second wave (and now a third wave is predicted in the next half of the year) and we lost the arbitrage to various insensitive, un-prioritised, callous and absolutely unwanted exercises by all the State Governments including the Great Central Government. Bureaucracy and unnecessary Politics has stifled the enterprising Entrepreneurs who could have held the hands of authorities in waging a successful war against the virus.

Gross mismanagement and corruption (well, nothing new here) have brought the logistics of bed/supplies availability to its knees. Mudslinging and cheap politicking is the order of the day (Surprise!)! Policies regarding the Lockdown and directives to the enforcing authorities are formulated by bureaucrats (who may never be in their current position but for their selection due to some draconian reservation policies that the country is still following) with no proper vision and latitude of how these impact various sectors of the society. Stupid errors in drafting the directives give rise to addendums and corrigendum to confuse the hell out of the public and enforcers, alike.

It was pretty disgusting to see and hear about the nefarious activities by those who were entrusted to run the logistics and allocation of beds, etc., to those Covid patients who sought help. Corruption has raised its ugly head in an inhuman way as these patients had no option but to pay through their noses for just getting onto a hospital bed.

Healthcare has never been a priority of any government so far. It is high time that the Governments (Centre and States) prioritize this basic need for the public by taking necessary steps in augmenting the capacities across the country. The program can include training to set up mobile medical facilities in un-used government buildings, sports arenas, etc. in times of emergencies.

More importantly, cut the bureaucracy to the minimum if not ‘Nil’ so that actions can be taken at the right time and in the right place without much ado.

DMA (Disaster Management Act) must be invoked to take action against erring hospitals/bureaucrats and other officials causing impediments during such a pandemic emergency.  

Vaccinate, as this is the only way to defeat the virus! Indian Government must go all out for getting its population vaccinated, at whatever cost and in a minimum possible time.

Well, a lot of the above was for the authorities and the Governments (Centre and State). However, as citizens, are we doing what we are supposed to do in such pandemics. No. We have shown our callous nature (either out of ego, arrogance, or ignorance) by not adhering to the directives issued (compulsorily to wear a mask properly, to maintain physical distance, not to move out of our houses during the lockdown time, etc.) by the authorities. Our uncivilized mentality during the lockdown needs no special mention. We come out of our places in droves, out of curiosity to see what’s happening on the roads. Civic sense is undisputedly absent and we care two hoots about the others. Discipline is a non-existent vocabulary and so is personal hygiene.

What’s the use of our bureaucrats and politicians making umpteen foreign trips to other countries, when not a single lesson has been learnt by them or implemented across their jurisdictions, about the way civic sense operates in these foreign countries?

Somehow, thanks to the pandemic, a few of the above ills are getting corrected in a miniscule percentage of the population but as for the rest, Mera Bharat Mahaan!

Well, in the midst of all the melee, we have forgotten the Mother of this virus, China. Ironically, we have to remember this on Mother’s Day!

What has been done to rope in China with the responsibility of spreading this virus, so far? How can the country that orchestrated and was the epicenter of the global pandemic, go scotfree? Are there no provisions in the international laws to call for World-wide sanctions against this rogue country? Are there secret parleys going on behind the smokescreen between the powerful nations and the rogue nation, for concessions and counter-sanctions? Is the UN such a spine-less organization, not to penalize its permanent member with sanctions? 

Lots of questions but I wonder whether we can get all answers to the above.

Our Journey To, Through & Return From Corona Infection - Part 2

 

Having started on identical medication was the easiest part. The difficult part was to understand the beast inside us and how to tame it by various means. Fortunately, one of our cousins (son of my step-aunt who succumbed to the dreaded virus) who had gone through this path of Covid, came to the rescue and suggested that we contact a certain Doctor who was treating him and his whole family. 

This doctor has been serving the Covid affected patients since the onset of the pandemic and is, therefore, terribly busy. Despite his hectic schedule of more than 18 hours a day, the doctor called me promptly late in the night on 24^th to set the course of the next regime of medication. 

Before that, he advised us to have the blood test done for certain parameters and we contacted his attached path lab’s technician who came home and collected the blood samples. The same evening, the results of the blood tests came through and medication was tweaked to combat the beast of the virus, inside us.

What appeared initially, as excessive medication, what with a host of tabs and blood thinner jabs for the first five days, set the path for our recovery from this dreadful virus.

We just followed the Doctor’s advice and for the first time around, we went out in the open, on 27^th April, to get our Chest X-Rays taken. We zeroed in on a nearby facility which served Covid patients in getting their Pathology, Radiology, CT Scans and other procedures done under pristine conditions.

This done, we requested the Radiologist at the facility to give us the X-Rays in soft copy so that we can send them over to the Doctor. She obliged and we flagged the photograph of our chest X-Rays to the Doctor over WhatsApp, pronto!

Thanks a lot for your help in such times of need, Ms. Radiologist!

Doctor advised us that there is an infection leading to Pneumonia, in my case and in my brother’s case, it is clear with no infection. Reports that came from the facility, a tad later, confirmed what the Doctor had already advised us.  

He also told me “Not to worry as it is mild stages and the medication advised, if taken in proper doses, would clear of all the infections”. 

Proper doses, it is, then!

We were advised to administer injections of blood thinners (for 5 days) along with a host of tablets to be taken. Jabs! I (we) had never done that in our lives. It was pretty scary but the lab technician encouraged us and showed us the process to inject each other, albeit a simple one but to date we had only seen doctors and nurses do it and some who were injecting insulin themselves. But for us, it was new learning. We had no option but to inject ourselves and this too was done and dusted. 

I am sure I must have gotten over the worst by now, as we entered day 6 post-change in the medication regimen.

The doctor also suggested the second round of blood tests and the ever pleasant lab technician came down to scoop the samples for the second blood test. We got the results on the same day and the Doctor prescribed us a change in our medication regimen, again, to complement the needs based on the second blood test results. No jabs this time, it is only pills popping, thankfully, a combination of blood thinners, vitamin supplements, steroids, et al.

Just common sense here. We felt terribly hungry from day 4/5 onwards and were told that the systems are slowly kicking back to normal as the liver and other vital organs have started functioning.

All the while we were advised to keep ourselves hydrated, take steam inhalation, keep our mind calm, perform some breathing exercises and some physical activity (walk in the house itself) which, we have been religiously executing.

While my brother had been active and doing the physical exercises right from day 1 of isolation, I was a tad lazy. The illness provided me with a perfect smokescreen to excuse myself from the rigours of physical exercises.

I was a bit worried too, about the physical exercises as my habit of walking 6 km/day has been hibernating since the onset of the pandemic. However, with no other option in sight, I started off walking at home and in the first two days, I was able to reach only 30-50% of my daily targets. With determination to break the shackles of mediocrity, I decided to put in more effort in notching at least 60-70% of my earlier target. It was a great relief for me when I started touching 85-90% of my target and finally, I did overhaul my target today. All the while, I was thinking that I should be good enough if I can even touch 60% of my target. 

Some positives of positive thinking here!

A good couple of medication ended this morning but the concoction of Steroids, Vitamin Supplements and Blood Thinner still continue to be the regime.

Despite her hectic schedule, My sister-in-law (being HoD of a section at her IT Institution), has been relentlessly cooking hot food, not just for the both of us but to the other family members holed up in her place, as well. My sincere gratitude to her for providing us with delicious and hot food, twice a day.

My other younger brothers who have, as always, risen to the occasion in doing the running around to hunt the medicines and also in delivering us food thrice a day, in addition to odd requirements on an impromptu basis. My sincere gratitude to them too. 

To be continued……..

Our Journey To, Through & Return From Corona Infection! - Part 1

 

Prelude:

Covid-19 infections have played havoc in the lives of the citizens, with its vengeance unleashed in the ‘Second Wave’. A normal life that had been thrown out of gear since March 23^rd last year, continued to batter the public in general and poor/middle-class in particular. Many small businesses have gone under, never to recover from the onslaught of this pandemic.

Entrepreneurs of a different kind are skimming the already downtrodden public in various ways like hoarding of critical medicinal supplies, hospital beds, cremation of the Covid-19 victims, Ambulance journeys to and from hospitals, overcharging on the staples, etc., just to name a few.

Government can only do as much and much more needs to be done by us, as responsible citizens. While I blame the Government (with all its intelligent bureaucrats) that couldn’t foresee the possible second wave in the country, I blame ourselves; as common citizens of the country, for letting our guard down in the wake of climbing numbers and throwing caution to the wind. We became so complacent after the vaccine came out as if panacea has arrived and there will be no more Covid-19 in the country.

Let alone the second/third tier towns where there was no governance to enforce compulsory use of masks and physical (social) distancing, even in major towns/metros, the guard was let down resulting in what we are witnessing now.

This is pure lackadaisical attitude from all of us individually and collectively and paying price for the same, in a very sorry way, is just about justified for our aforesaid actions.

Journey:

I have been on field visits (part of my job and occupational hazard, to say the least) since 1^st of March and have been taking care of my physical hygiene, wearing masks and maintaining physical distances. On the job as well, we had been insisting on following all protocols needed and prescribed by the regulatory authorities.

It was the second weekend of April, 10^th the Saturday, to be precise and what a day it was! I was just returning from the 13^th day ceremony of my late uncle when I got the news that my step-aunt succumbed to the dreaded Covid-19, having battled for a couple of days and lost. It was possibly the day on which I first had a slight fever, towards the end of the day and didn’t bother much to go to the doctor. Just popped in a paracetamol tablet and just rested.

The next day, fever didn’t come down and my brother insisted me on consulting a doctor. I normally get fever due to dust (as I am allergic to it) and hence thought this was the same thing. The doctor gave me antihistamine and suggested not to take paracetamol as the drugs he prescribed will bring down the fever. All the while, fever was still mild and didn’t cross 101° F. Cough, I thought, related to my allergic reactions persisted. I had taken enough care to isolate myself to the best possible extent as I had my aged mother and a brother with co-morbidities.

Only when the fever never came down below 99.8° F despite the pills I kept popping, I thought it was time for action and got myself tested for Covid-19. Gave the samples for RT-PCR tests at the nearest PHC (Public Health Centre) on 15^th afternoon and was told that the results would take about 3 days due to severe pileup of backlogs.

In the meanwhile my brother; who stayed separately, also had contracted fever and throat irritation with severe cough, too had submitted his samples for the test at the same PHC on 16^th. He too had isolated himself from the rest of his family.

While we waited patiently for the test results to come, these were the most difficult days for both of us.

On the appointed day, I went to the PHC only to return emptyhanded as the result, they said, would take a day more. In a way, it was fine as I thought of collecting both our results the next day. However, till late that day, no results came through the normal channels and I was a bit worried. I insisted upon the officials at the PHC who were quite helpful in getting the results. Ironically, my brother's result was the first to come and he was tested POSITIVE for Covid. Officials out there were very kind in counseling me to advise my brother to stay calm and easy as Covid can be treated easily and then handed me a bundle of medicines to be given to my brother. I was pretty impressed by this gesture.

My result never came so long as I was there persisting the officials there, of the urgency. There were a few others as well, who had given their samples on the same day as I of which, there was a young girl who desperately wanted her result as she was embarking on the employment journey and the employer insisted on a Covid NEGATIVE certificate. The officials over there were kind-hearted to allow the girl for a RAT (Rapid Antigen Test), results of which could be known within tens of minutes. I huddled along with that young girl to get this test done and the officials obliged. This too was done and the RAT rattled out its result of my specimen as NEGATIVE.

Glad to note this, I came home and along with my other brother, started off to my brother’s house to hand over the medicines. By the time I returned home from his place, my results came over SMS and they had found the specimen given on 15^th for RT-PCR tests POSITIVE for Covid.

Then started the discussion amongst family members as to how the two of us can be contained and home quarantined. We finally concluded that my elderly mother and two of my brothers must shift to my other brother’s house and he should come over to our place. This would mean making a lot of adjustments in more ways than one.

He came to our place donning a la astronaut suit (PPE Kit) while he had his home sanitized. This done, my other family members left for his house. Food, we had agreed, would come from his place twice a day to start with and one of my other brothers would bring it at appointed times.

We started off on our identical medication, pronto! This would take us for 5 days in terms of dosages/medicines given.

In the meanwhile, during all this brouhaha, I lost my sense of smell and taste and this was all the conclusion needed by me to confirm that I am now undoubtedly, Covid POSITIVE.

 

To be continued….