My fight with COVID 19:
Exactly 1 year after the onset of COVID pandemic in India, I was working from home, with all due precautions. We are 6 members at home out of which Father and Sister are working on some essential govt. projects and hence travel daily to BKC in Mumbai while we stay in Kharghar Navi Mumbai. both of them being in essential services received their first dose of vaccine in late February 2021 and second dose was due in the 1st week of April. but things took a wrong turn. following are the sequence of events:
3rd April evening father develops high fever constantly above 102 degrees we administer him paracetamol, fever recedes but only to return with higher intensity at night, we again administer him another paracetamol. Within 12 hours father was feeling very week, I felt this might be COVID and hence took him for a test on the 4th April. now 4th was a Sunday and we couldn't find RTPCR test available, there was a RAT test available at govt. testing center. Father undertook it the test result was given in 30minutes which came out negative. While waiting in the line to get the testing done dad fainted and lost consciousness briefly for about 5 minutes, luckily the doctors made ORS available and he regained consciousness in another 5 minutes time, so although the RAT reports were indicating negative things did not look normal to me. bought my dad back home and consulted with family physician who prescribed some medicines, 4th and 5th April father witnessed mild fever and very few dry cough, by 5th April, Myself, my wife, and one of my sisters also started showing mild fever. I was having gut feeling that this i is Covid so went on to safe mode at home, following safety protocols at home like wearing mask all the time and social distancing at home.
On the 6th of April Myself and father got tested (RTPCR), we received the reports on 7th April that both of us were covid positive. We also got our CT scans done and the reports came out mild congestion. our family doctor suggested to keep monitoring SPO2 levels every hour. As we were showing only moderate symptoms we were suggested a home quarantine with some heavy medications. We were also asked to undertake blood tests basically CBC, CRP, Creatinine & liver profile.
By the 7th April all family members were showing mild symptoms, primarily fever, but the situation was so bad that RTPCR slots were having a 4 day waiting in Navi Mumbai, we eventually got a slot for 11th April which was booked on 7th April. The doctor as a precautionary measure proceeded with Covid treatment for everyone.
8th of April, father, myself, younger brother and sister were showing some fever(101-102), father did not have any loss of taste of smell throughout the time he was ill. I lost my smell and taste senses on 9th April.
As I and My father(who is diabetic) had a little high viral load we were advised to conduct blood tests every alternate days to keep a track of all parameters, so as to not wait until things go worse.
9th 10th and 11th April all 6 of us were experiencing fever and dry cough, out SPO2 levels hovering around 96-98% only once briefly did Fathers SPO2 level go down to 94 but immediately came back to 96 in 5 minutes time. On the 11th April all other family members also got tested and as expected all came Covid Positive. On the evening of 11th April father started developing constant high fever, the fever continued throughout night. By this time we were consulting with a Pulmonologist who was treating Covid patients.
12th April me and my father got our blood tests done(we were doing it every alternate day) and awaiting results, fathers health was deteriorating in the sense he was loosing a lot of energy. the test reports came by the evening of 12th and sent alarm bells ringing as Fathers Blood platelets has decreased to dangerous level and there were clots formation in blood.
Here starts the hunt for a bed, dialed up atleast 25 hospitals in Navi Mumbai, one had bed availability. Our treating doctor also was trying his best for availing bed. Finally after 2 hours of phone calls one hospital conformed bed availability, took my dad got him into my Alto and drove down to the hospital only to find out that the bed got occupied by another serious patient. My dad emotionally gave up on that point, just in that moment I got 2 phone calls, one from my colleague who was also helping me get a bed, he arranged a bed in Airoli, I took a sigh of relief, as we were proceeding to Airoli our treating doctor called up and informed he has arranged for a bed just near my home. We finally asked the Airoli hospital to provide the bed to needy as we got a bed in Kharghar itself. Reached Kharghar got dad admitted on the midnight of 13th April, it was an emotional moment, as I had lost my Father in Law in Nov 2020 due to the same issue Blood clots due to Covid infection and the turn of events, struggle to arrange bed and getting my father admitted was a feeling of de-ja-vu. Later I came to know my father had got unconscious for 3 hours the moment he was taken on to the bed and he was bought back to consciousness only after administering heavy drugs, I guess we had made it just in time to the hospital. Luckily dad did not require Remdesivir, I just can not imagine how would have I arranged for that. Infact one hospital told me they will be able to get my dad admitted only if I arrange for Remdesivir beforehand for his treatment or else they are not responsible for consequences! my treating doctor had already told me that my father will not require Remdesivir, so i avoided that hospital.
13th April morning I developed very severe blisters and my tongue swell to such an extent that it occupied my entire throat.
while I was no more having fever or cough my face was terribly swollen. eventually in the next 3 days i.e. till 16th April all 5 members of family including me were showing good recovery. Dad was also recovering well and on 18th April afternoon he too got a discharge.
Today 21st of April exactly 16 days since most of my family members started showing symptoms I can say that all of us are in a much better position, only issue we face now is weakness. all our Covid medications have been stopped and we are consuming only multivitamin medicines.
I have documented in detail my day to day symptoms so will mention it:-
Day 1(5th April) Body feeling warm, temperature on digital thermometer 100.
Day 2 absolutely nothing
Day 3 Brief warm feeling, no cough
Day 4 Fever 101-102, tiredness
Day 5 Fever, Tiredness
Day 6 Fever, Tiredness, Loss of Taste and Smell
Day 7 Tiredness, Loss of taste and Smell, Face Swelling, Drop in Blood Platelets, Redness in Eyes.
Day 8 Tiredness, Loss of taste and Smell, Face Swelling, Drop in Blood Platelets, Redness in Eyes, Entire mouth and tongue covered in blisters, could hardly speak.
Day 9 Tiredness, Loss of taste and Smell, Face Swelling, Blood Platelets coming back to normal level, Redness in Eyes, Entire mouth and tongue covered in blisters, Tongue swollen & barely moveable, Drying of lips.
Day 10 Tiredness, Loss of taste and Smell, Face Swelling, Redness in Eyes, Entire mouth and tongue covered in blisters, Tongue swollen & barely moveable Drying of lips.
Day 11 Tiredness, Loss of taste and Smell, Entire mouth and tongue covered in blisters, tongue swelling subdued, Frequent urination for entire day almost every 30 minutes(drank lot of water to keep hydrated), Drying of lips.
Day 12 Tiredness, regained taste and smell, blisters almost 90% gone, dryness persistent.
Day 13 Apart from Tiredness all feels normal, able to sit for longer time.
Day 14 Some tiredness
Day 15 Feeling completely normal and energetic.
Day 16 Feeling normal and energetic.
Day 17 Absolutely normal writing experience on TBHP
Note:- Apart from the initial RAT test all tests were done at home, as we did not want to infect any one else. While the official home quarantine is 15 days we as a measure of precaution are keeping ourself quarantined for another 7 days. When dads hospitalization was being done and when he was discharged we used our cars for the travel as ambulances were not available and we did not want to unnecessarily infect anyone by using Uber/Ola.
Municipal authorities, nodal health officer and government doctors were very cooperative, in fact 3 of my family members recovered on government prescribed and provided medicines.
In Covid especially for high viral load and comorbid patients, monitoring your health parameters every 2 days is the key, and it is not only about oxygen, there are way more things that can go bad.
Do not delay Tests and Treatment
Covid is bad and apart from the physical aspect it impacts you psychologically.
With Gods blessing, efforts from medical fraternity, and staying strong & supportive as a family, we have come out of this bad experience.
Keep safe, Stay indoors, Be careful today,
so you can 'Live To Drive' another day!