This year started on a surprising note, as I became a mother in February, but soon motherhood ended up being a situation in which I lived in constant fear of COVID.
On August 16, my father was randomly tested in his office, where he learned that few of his colleagues were positive, but he was negative on the rapid test that day. Still, to be more secure, we did your RT PCR and I wasn’t too surprised when your report came back positive. From the moment he returned home, he was quarantined in his room and then we all just had to wait.
As his symptoms were mild cough with fever, the doctor advised us to admit him, as he is hypertensive and also at a critical age. Soon after that, we started calling because the whole family was scared and at around 10 pm on August 17, an ambulance came and took my father.
That same night, around midnight, I went to the bathroom and suddenly I felt very weak. It became a chore for me to get back from the bathroom to my bed while I was crawling and I realized that I also needed to get tested the next morning. I had a fever, but I was praying it would be anything but COVID for my son who was just 5 months old and was just breastfeeding. But on August 19, I received my report. I tested positive and my first reaction was a lot of crying, but once that was done, I started a series of tests at our home.
My son who was 5 months old with my grandmother, aunt, 2 sisters and my husband, we all tested positive the following week and then started a real fight.
As my whole family tested positive, three of our members were admitted to the hospital and all of us were trying to run the home together with our COVID, it was a huge task for us.
On the first day of COVID, I had a very high fever, with attacks of vomiting and therefore I had to be extremely cautious in feeding my son. The next day, I still had a fever, but today I had a severe headache that I didn’t use with any painkillers and I was constantly feeling very weak. On the third day, I started to feel a little better with the fever going down, but my son still had mild symptoms like a cough and then the same night I started to have shortness of breath, but the doctors told us that as long as his saturation was 95 and above, you need not to worry so soon. I realized that this was anxiety, since COVID was so unpredictable. I lived in fear every day and without the taste and the smell made me even more anxious, but on the 6th day everything seemed to improve a little, my son had no symptoms and we were all recovering on our own.
But I didn’t know that post COVID is also a condition, so after 14 days I felt good, but up to one month, I had a severe weakness and found it tiring to do basic tasks like taking care of my child. But it took our family almost a month and a half to recover and become negative, and my grandmother and buu spent about 25 days in the hospital because they had pneumonia due to COVID.
So, after about a month and a half, we were all united under one roof, but thanks to technology, we were all digitally connected, especially with my chachu and chachi in Mumbai, who supported us constantly.
That said, all members of my family reacted differently to COVID and it is by far one of the most unpredictable diseases I have ever encountered.
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The opinions expressed in this article should not be considered as a substitute for a doctor’s advice. Consult your attending physician for more details.