[quickfox11]

One of my dear senior colleague's brother (age 50+) is admitted in a hospital in Delhi for covid treatment. Doctors said he requires plasma therapy. The family has been looking for a donor for a week now.

They contacted various NGOs, whatsapp groups and other means to facilitate it. Somehow they managed 2 donors (but different blood groups) so they went to the ILBS Vasant Kunj - the plasma bank to get the required plasma in exchange (btw, to get 1 bag of matching blood group plasms, they take two bags of any blood group in exchange).

However, both were denied to donate during screening process, because they had taken some medicines in the recent past. I am not really sure which medicines were they.

I understand plasma therapy is one of the last resort for covid treatment but I really had the impression that things are quite under control now since hospitals have a better grip on things! I also remember reading about Delhi coming up with another plasma bank to help the covid patients but not sure how useful are they in reality.

My colleague also received some calls from a few people ready to donate the plasma, but quoted their charges between 20K-80K. He did not contact them since is not sure if they are genuine and can be trusted (in terms of telling their medical history in screening).

Now, it's just wait and watch kind of situation for them. If anyone from here can provide any kind of help, it would be of great.

Also, how easy/difficult it is for a patient to recover if he does not receive the donation? Can this situation be avoided by early detection of the disease because his brother was unwell for more than a week before getting himself tested.

[am1m]

Somewhere in April I remember a friend telling me that his RWA was seriously considering spraying the tyres of vehicles entering their colony with bleach 'to kill the virus'.

Now it appears that the chief minister of a state has expressed concern about the 'virus spreading through truck tyres'.

Wow.

I really feel for medical professionals and scientists in society today. It's amazing that they still keep trying to educate people in the face of such...I don't really know what to call this...

[NPV]

A tough situation for a family acquaintance - this person was quite overconfident that nothing will happen to their family and it was life as usual for the most part since the lockdown in march. Cut to 2 weeks ago, their extended family across 2 cities decided to spend a weekend at a resort outside the city. Two days later, one of the relatives was asked to get tested since they were in contact with someone at the workplace who tested positive, turned out to be positive as well. 5 days later the entire family in the other city including the elders and children have tested positive.

Now, our acquaintance and their family here are worried and will need to get tested as well.

Don't want to scare everyone, but the threat of the virus spreading (and very quickly) and the chain being not easy to break is always lurking around us, please take utmost precautions and stay safe.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by NPV

Don't want to scare everyone, but the threat of the virus spreading (and very quickly) and the chain being not easy to break is always lurking around us, please take utmost precautions and stay safe.

The world is opening up. The virus is doing its stuff accordingly.

Even I'm going out into the world, which I was not doing before. Don't know where it will all end or if I'll be around to see that. Interesting times, they say. Please, please, bring back the boring times!

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by NPV

Don't want to scare everyone, but the threat of the virus spreading (and very quickly) and the chain being not easy to break is always lurking around us, please take utmost precautions and stay safe.

One cannot but be careful these days. No one knows the source, the route or the manner in which the virus decides to pay us a visit.

My profession requires me to travel interdistrict for around ten days, twice a year. We always carpool and share driving duties. Have been doing this for over a decade.

However, Covid-19 has drastically altered our ways.

All of us travel individually now, in our own cars. We spend almost double our daily allowance towards fuel costs alone. What would earlier be achieved with four or five cars requires 20 now. We are consciously, but helplessly adding to congestion and pollution on roads.

With four colleagues already testing positive and a few in the known circles either dead or suffering seriously, one is forced to think and act in extremes.

On the other hand, I see a whole lot of morons refusing to use masks and sanitizer or maintain adequate physical distancing. No wonder Karnataka is turning out to be the hotspot of new cases in India.

[Gansan]

A relative of mine who lives in our apartment complex was off color and had fever last Monday (5th), so visited a private hospital to get tested the next day. The result came out positive. When he consulted the doctor at the same hospital with the result, the doctor checked him up and asked him would he like to get admitted there. It would cost Rs 5k per day for general ward and he would have to stay for ten days.

My relative asked him should he get admitted. The doctor replied "for your condition, not necessary. It is enough if you quarantine yourself in a room at home for three weeks. But we are not authorized to recommend home quarantine, nor treat you as an OP. For that you will have to get permission from the government health center of your area".

So he came off and visited the health center where he was checked and given permission for home stay, and a prescription to get medicines for ten days. He had to get them from the government TB Hospital and Sanatorium nearby, which has a separate facility for Covid patients. He went there and was again checked by a doctor there. An ECG and chest Xray were taken and his O2 levels checked. The facility has a CT Scan also, but the doctor told him it was not necessary for him. Then the doctor said he is good for home quarantine and advised him to buy a pulse oxymeter and check O2 levels several times a day, and seek help if the levels seemed to drop below 95 and went down further. Otherwise he should take his medicines, eat and sleep well, and can go back to work after three weeks. No need for any further tests afterward. His wife and two daughters should also stay home for three weeks and not go anywhere.

None of them have been going out anywhere for the past six months except this man. He goes once a week to his office, otherwise works from home. And makes the occasional rare visit to some nearby shop, if what he needs is too small to order online.

He is feeling good now, no fever after the first three days. His O2 levels also remain good. He is locked up in a room with attached bathroom. I told him to send me his prescription by Whatsapp. The following are the medicines:

1) Omeprazole tablet before food in the morning for five days.
2) Azithromycin capsule after food in the morning for five days.
3) Paracetamol tablet in case of any fever, otherwise not.
4) Zinc, Multivitamin and Calcium tablets one each at night after food, for ten days.

That's all. Nothing else.

[poloman]

My mother, brother, sister in law and 3 year old kid all tested positive for Covid in Thrissur, Kerala. Just wanted to pen down the experience to create awareness about the disease particularly in elderly.
My mother hardly goes out. She is 64. My brother occasionally goes out for work. SIL also rarely goes out. Some utility work was being done at the home and I think source of infection was through them.
So all of them started presenting symptoms almost at the same time. Kid did not have any symptoms other than mild cold.
1) Fever, very mild for all of them
2) Body pain and tiredness.. Extreme for mother and brother.
3) Diarrhea for mother only
4) Dry cough for all of them.
5) Severe pressure on chest for mother and brother
6) No sense of smell and taste for all of them

They consulted the local govt hospital. They were advised to rest at home and not even tested. 2 days later Mother's saturation dropped to below 90s and one night she had severe sweating which is a classic symptom of pneumonia. So insisted on testing and got tested on 10th day on onset of symptoms.

Mother was first shifted to covid care center and from there to Govt Medical college.
Oxygen was given and treatment given as per latest Covid protocol. She fully recovered, tested negative and got discharged after one week.
All others recovered at home.

The care from Kerala govt was the best. Food was also provided 4 times a day. Ambulances for transit was also provided. We got zero bill. In a private hospital this would have costed min 2L.

Treat the virus seriously, this is a matter of life and death. But right treatment and care can provide good recovery rate even for aged.

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by poloman

Mother was first shifted to covid care center and from there to Govt Medical college.
Oxygen was given and treatment given as per latest Covid protocol. She fully recovered, tested negative and got discharged after one week.
All others recovered at home.

So good to know all family members recovered and now healthy. Best wishes.

Would you mind sharing the treatment protocol at the hospital ?

[WindRide]

Looks like BBMP has made covid tests mandatory for all in Bangalore apartments...

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/78525933.cms

[poloman]

In Kerala we had three levels of care at least in my mother's case. First line covid care center for less serious but vulnerable people like aged, pregnant ladies ets. My mother was there for 2 days.
Her oxygen level was not stable. Immediately they shifted her to Govt medical college.

There also they have multiple levels of care depending on the condition. She was administered oxygen once or twice. Multiple medicines and injections were given daily. I could not access the case sheet, so not sure what were those. Some of the medicines may be common to the ones Gansan mentioned. But not sure whether the injections contained any anti virals.

After stabilising, she was shifted to a recover center in a college auditorium. With in two days she tested negative. That was 10 th day after first test.

But believe me, this is a dreaded disease, the entire medical college was filled with Covid patients. Many died when she was there. So if you have above symptoms get care immediately.

Pressure in chest, Extreme tiredness, Low saturation and lastly excessive sweating. Fever is not at all a major symptom. Low oxygen levels may give false sense of relief and well being during early stages. But as per my mother her experience was horrible once the virus progressed.

So stay safe everyone..

[proton]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The world is opening up. The virus is doing its stuff accordingly.

Even I'm going out into the world, which I was not doing before. Don't know where it will all end or if I'll be around to see that. Interesting times, they say. Please, please, bring back the boring times!

Quote
"May you live in interesting times" is an English expression that purports to be a translation of a traditional Chinese curse. While seemingly a blessing, the expression is normally used ironically; life is better in "uninteresting times" of peace and tranquility than in "interesting" ones, which are usually times of trouble.

Despite being so common in English as to be known as the "Chinese curse", the saying is apocryphal, and no actual Chinese source has ever been produced. The most likely connection to Chinese culture may be deduced from analysis of the late-19th-century speeches of Joseph Chamberlain, probably erroneously transmitted and revised through his son Austen Chamberlain.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_yo...een%20produced.



I have clients calling me everyday to get service or consultancy/appraisal. I decline. They promise the world, offer a chauffeured car for my staff, I still decline. One came back from the UK, where my contemporaries have also still not opened for business!

[Guna]

Originally Posted by Gansan

1) Omeprazole tablet before food in the morning for five days.
2) Azithromycin capsule after food in the morning for five days.
3) Paracetamol tablet in case of any fever, otherwise not.
4) Zinc, Multivitamin and Calcium tablets one each at night after food, for ten days.

That's all. Nothing else.

So, essentially
1) Tablet to prevent gastric acid ('gas' as we generally call it )
2)Antibiotic (this must be to address any secondary infection)
3) Generic Tablet used for fever
4) Vitamins
I was told that the Covid patients are given strong dosage of anti-viral medicine. That doesn't seem to be the common practice.

[proton]

Originally Posted by Guna

I was told that the Covid patients are given strong dosage of anti-viral medicine. That doesn't seem to be the common practice.

The anti-viral action is preventing the replication of the virus through reverse transcriptase. Unfortunately this virus adapts very quickly to all these actions, mainly the build up of zinc in cell walls. Remdesivir lost its efficacy in 4 weeks.

All the big bills charged in hospitals aren't mainly the fault of the care givers. The families themselves pressurise for action. The "cocktail" follows.

Care is mainly symptomatic relief. Progress of Covid-19 is not really preventable. Families should be warned of about 15% chances of recovery when it reaches the stage of necessitating ICU admission. Mask, intubation, finally ECMO. All this information is available from LINKS. PM if interested.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Guna

I was told that the Covid patients are given strong dosage of anti-viral medicine. That doesn't seem to be the common practice.

Perhaps they are given for very severe cases.

A mother-son duo from our apartment complex tested positive during June at the same hospital. It is actually a medical college hospital. They were given medicines for two weeks and told to home quarantine themselves for three weeks. But the very next day people from the district collector's office called them and informed they must go to a hospital, any hospital, of their choice. Either government or private. That as per collector's orders home quarantine for the first week was not permitted, so if they insisted on staying home government Ambulance will come and take them to the GH.

So they went back to the hospital and took a twin sharing room. After a week they were discharged and completed the remaining quarantine at home. I checked later on with them about what medicines were given. It was pretty much the same as what my relative got, except they were additionally given a blood thinner for five days. They later went back and tested again after about 40 days even though the doctor said it was not necessary, and donated plasma also.

The government seems to have relaxed the rule now, obviously. At that time Municipal officials came and sanitized the common areas with some spray, dumped bleaching powder and barricaded our complex with tin sheets, leaving only the main gate. Now there is nothing. A fellow came the next day to spray the staircase, grab rails, gates and the man's scooter. He also gave a bottle of it to the watchman and told him to spray frequently touched areas from time to time, and went off.

[PPS]

Since 4 of us colony friends hadn't met in 6 months, we decided to meet & head out to the nearby beach on a Sunday morning last month in my car. Since 1 friend wanted to visit Vaishnodevi , he wanted to get anti-gen test done as its a requirement there so we dropped him off at the lab as there was 1hr waiting where testing gets done. On Tuesday he informed us that he had tested positive & got himself admitted in a hospital as he did not want to infect his 5 other family members in the house.

The rest 3 of us were in a state of panic & edgy the following days. None of us showed any symptoms luckily. The friend who got infected had mild fever next 2 days, thereafter he was ok. For a 6 day stay at the hospital, bill came to about Rs 2.15 lakhs. After getting discharged, 2days later he had severe cough + traces of pneumonia so he has got himself admitted again!