Covid- my life altering experience:
My COVID symptoms started showing from 12th April 2021 with dry cough and mild temperature...but I was too optimistic to believe I had covid… symptoms persisted and I tested positive on 15th April... beginning of Bengali New Year with a jolt 😂😂😂
Thankfully I dint delay this time and saw my doctor over teleconsultation on 16th itself… I was suffering from cold cough and mild fever…I was having mild chest pain too… my condition deteriorated very fast as my chest pain increased tremendously… I dint know it was symptom of pneumonia then… my first learning of Covid… Central chest pain was symptom of pneumonia and I should have known and acted on it faster…
Since I stay with my father, a senior citizen and a diabetic patient, I isolated myself immediately and completely… I shifted to another home…
I got my father’s covid test done on 16th April itself so that I cud decide on my next course of action… co-dwelling with a senior citizen or staying alone or getting hospitalised together… we dint hav any other support system and more so during covid… unfortunately his reports came very late.. I waited… we received his report only on 20th April but like a silver lining, it came negative.. thankfully!
Meanwhile my condition had deteriorated further and terribly.. on 20th my oxygen saturation started depleting faster and by the 2nd half of the day i was operating only at 89% … it is at this time I realised that I cudnt stay at home any longer…I started my search for possible hospitalisation asap with all sources I had... I was staying completely alone at this time and my father had almost no clue about my deteriorating health.. I made sure I was completely isolated from him… I even stayed in a separate house and it was impossible for him or anyone to know unless I shared… only my cousin sister knew briefly… I m thankful I had her…
May b I was supposed to live a few more years to tell my story… a call came from Medica Hospital at 3.30 am on 21st April… thankfully a bed at medica hospital got arranged with help from a friend…and they asked me to come over immediately … I consider myself lucky and blessed… I m not sure what wud hav happened that night if the miracle hadn’t happen...
I tried calling my best friend to come along to the hospital… unfortunately her mobile had run out of battery… I tried multiple times in desperation… the phone’s switched off message was somehow not getting registered in my Covid affected brain.. I wasn’t in a condition to go alone this time… I was having tremendous chest pain and could only crawl to washroom for peeing…I was unable to walk.. and had severe pain after every pee in chest… so much that tears wud flow relentlessly and I wud hav to lie down for half an hour to 45 mins before I cud sit up again.. I knew I was loosing it.. and then I decided to give one last try…
As suggested by the hospital, I sent all documents through whtsapp to hospital from home itself.. I wasn’t allowed to carry anything except my debit card for payment.. not even my phone.. All I had at my isolation home was my shorts and a Tshirt and a chappal as wearables to go out… I gathered courage.. got myself ready in shorts and the only Tshirt I had and carried my bag of medicines… almost crawled down from the 2nd floor of the building…thankfully I reached out to my friend’s mother now that it was 4.30 am and convinced her to call my friend to come to hospital…
I made one last call to my father before leaving for hospital to see him briefly from the window… I wasn’t sure if I ll have the opportunity again… but unfortunately his phone went unheard..
I cud reach hospital only around 5.30 am on 21st April… it took me 2 hours to gather myself up to get ready and reach to hospital which was only 5 mins away from my home since I was completely disabled with chest pain and was unable to breathe any further… I reached around 5-5.30 am to emergency dept and to my surprise met a doctor friend there, my second miracle for the day… i was immediately put on oxygen in emergency dept… my doctor friend assisted a fast CT and soon the CT Scan revealed 50% blockage in lungs... my doctor friend at Medica looked grim but I dint understand… he said my condition was bad..I had to b immediately shifted to HDU…
22nd April, my Condition deteriorated faster and further… I was on oxygen 24x7 and on full assistance at HDU ward.. it was a dormitory… hospitals dint have the luxury of private rooms with HDU vigilance then…
Things aggravated further as I started my periods on 22nd morning and life felt draining out of my body completely in tht condition....
In the hospital bed I was profusely crying with chest pain... I cud not breathe even with 24x7 oxygen… i cud not urinate as even tht caused life threatening pain in chest... I felt I ll collapse with heart attack if I try to urinate… I was scared in severe pain.. a pain I had never experienced before… I wasn’t able to go to ward washroom either.. even with help from nurses… I was given stool commode beside my bed.. and to remind you all, I was in a common gender neutral HDU dorm… All I had was a curtain..
I tried to restore energy… I wasn’t talking to anyone.. I was only talking to nurses if required and making calls to family from ward phone once a day… One of the attending nurses even mentioned that I might feel better if I talk to my fellow patients… but I dint.. I cudnt… I restored every bit of my energy and oxygen possible… I started calculating and urinating only twice a day to save oxygen, energy and myself from the chest pain… I cud not afford to urinate more than that… I cud not have survived if I did.. I consumed water accordingly…
By then I understood if only urination was causing this excruciating pain then passing stool will definitely make me collapse… thankfully I understood this and remembered what the hospital dietician said, tht if I can’t eat any food then to have 2 scoops of the balanced protein powder that they gave… i again calculated in my mind… I started avoiding dinner/solid food… for more than one reason… firstly my earlier studies on covid had made me aware that protein was essential to heal our lung muscles and body during covid, moreover I was aware that breaking down more food means more usage of oxygen by the body… I also understood that if at all I try to pass stool, I won’t survive the chest pain… I calculated once again… I tried to understand my body… so I started consuming mostly protein… eggs and fruits for breakfast, mostly fish, eggs and veggies for lunch and protein powder for dinner… I was only giving my body what was absolutely necessary.. nothing more..
I lived on protein powder so tht I survive but did not hav to pass stool as I knew my body won’t survive and sustain tht chest pain and might collapse...
Even changing of dress or sitting up on my bed made me cry in chest pain excessively on this day... I tried to do everything consciously to use least oxygen… I hoped my consciousness wud help me as I knew I was low on oxygen… i conserved oxygen of my body…
On 22nd April my family was asked to b prepared mentally… they intimated my father and emergency contact (my best friend) that I might not be able to make it... I was unaware of this lying on my hospital bed… not lying.. I cud not lie down.. I was sitting all through.. mostly… I was somehow aware that if I sleep, I might not wake up… so I dint.. I dint sleep…
Doctors were not sure I ll make it… so they had to tell my family to be prepared mentally... simultaneously doctors knew i might hav to undergo an emergency surgery given my condition to bypass air straight to my lungs as a last resort... they communicated to my family about Tracheostomy... a surgery to pass oxygen directly to lungs... which wud need my father’s consent… at the hospital I wasn’t aware of this probable surgery then…
I cud not b treated with remdesivir as my CRP was more than 150 indicating all organs in my body was practically swollen by then and I had excessively high SGPT and SGOT... I stayed awake… I somehow managed to stay awake.. sit, cry but not lie down… I don remember how I passed 23rd April… I remember looking at the setting Sun that day and wondering if it was my last sunset… I remembered my mother’s hospital bed before she passed away with a similar view… i remember praying for a few more years to see the world… I calculated and I passed another day..
But miracle happened I believe ... on 24th April morning for the first time I felt I might b able to make it...
Gradually I got better with the excessive steroids and was shifted to general ward on 26th... got released 28th night but doc has said next 15 days is crucial... 12 out of 25 valves of my lungs were blocked and I was still not healed...
I was released… because I was more stable than lot of more critical patients… but I was unstable still then.. doc mentioned that the next 15 days were critical… I had unstable oxygen saturation level, very high CRP, very high infection, wbc more than 18k.. but I was more stable than many many more…so I agreed to release my hospital bed… treatment and weekly tests and doctor consultations continued… I was covid +ve for more than 44 days…
And somehow after this near death experience... i took more time to heal both physically and mentally gradually… I dint speak to anyone for days after coming back from hospital… I felt different physically… I felt like I had 2 bodies… i mean one body and another May be a soul hovering over me… only a few inches above my body… it took long for me to b myself again…
Life changed… and the way I looked at life changed with it…It was my life altering experience…
I m thankful to my cousin sister, my best friend, a close friend who helped my hospitalisation, Medica Hospital most importantly and Dr.Ghosh for visiting me daily during my stay at hospital without worrying much about himself and definitely for reaching out to my father with good news when I was finally stable…
Dr.Ghosh had later revealed that he wasn’t sure I ll make it with 50% blockage and that another patient with similar conditions had passed away only 2 days back… he wud say “Hati kadae porechilo” lovingly 😂😂😂
24th April is my mother’s birthday.
It’s time to celebrate this new LIFE ❤️
Incident: April 2021
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