Little did I know , I would be next!

Life prior to the pandemic for me, was pretty chilled, like for many others. And like them I learnt many lessons from the many experiences told and retold by those affected, which I vowed will make my life better. Armed with the words of caution from my doctor husband and the volumes

of information that the media and the internet provided, not to mention the number of seminars and campaigns attended, I was sure that I was following what my husband coined, SMS, which stands for soap/sanitizer, mask and social distancing. In the month of January 2021, when many were still hesitating to take the vaccine, we boldly got ourselves vaccinated. We did not  have  any post vaccine discomforts. But things turned topsy turvy when a few days later, my husband started complaining of burning sensation all over the body, along with slight fever. Around the same time, I also started feeling quite weak and lethargic. 

  We booked the RTPCR test and we were sure that it would be positive. But surprisingly, by night the reports came out negative. We both were by then having  symptoms of covid, like persistent fever and tiredness. We bought the oxymeter and kept constantly monitoring our oxygen levels which thankfully did not go lower than 90. On the third or fourth day after the test turned negative, I woke up with zero energy, but since I had my household chores to attend to, somehow dragged myself to the kitchen where after a few moments I fainted. But before I completely blacked out I called out to my son, who had just woken up. I can never forget the panic stricken faces of my husband and children when I regained consciousness, trying to revive me.

  From that day began a steady decline in my health. I was totally on bed with severe breathlessness, so severe that even uttering a word was difficult. I wasn't myself, I couldn't focus on what others were saying, I couldn't think coherently and had difficulty in focussing my vision. I just couldn't explain to others what I was undergoing. It was as if a heavy weight had been kept on my head which was just pushing me down. If I somehow managed to sit up, to eat, I would feel like I was slowly slipping down from the chair. I felt as if my head had expanded and my eyes would pop out. There wasn't an inch in my body that wasn't hurting. My children later said that I used to blabber a lot, which made no sense. 
   My breathlessness was taken care of by a strong dose of steroid. My son and daughter made sure I had plenty of fluids plus regular dose of Vit C, but the other symptoms persisted. I was often disoriented and didn't know what I was saying. I couldn't sleep at night for almost a month and had hallucinations so real that the next day it would leave me in a confused state. For weeks this continued. In the meanwhile, my breathlessness had been controlled and I had started breathing somewhat normally. I would open the fridge to take something out and stand staring inside as I wouldn't remember why I had opened it. Chores which took normally 5 minutes, would take hours to complete. I tried to make myself mentally strong by taking up my pencil and painting brushes, but it left me all the more frustrated as I couldn't draw even a straight line properly. My head felt numb and vision continued to be blurred. I was still not able to focus. That's when I knew something had to be done to keep myself sane. My cries in frustration made my husband call up hospitals to see where I can be admitted. No hospitals were ready to take me in as they were all fully occupied and I did not have any life threatening issues. Finally he called a friend, a neurologist who said that, what I had was a classic case of post covid symptoms. He prescribed aspirin and a plant extract called Ginkobiloba to boost my cognitive abilities. It took me almost one and a half months to become near normal. It was a terrible feeling after almost one and a half months, in February when I had to drive my daughter to school, I got into the car and didn't remember how to start it.
  Why I am writing this now is because I want others to know that covid-19 can give you many associated health issues, other than fever, loss of smell or breathlessness. It can be a debilitating disease which can affect you for months. Even now, my monthly periods make me feel weak and tired. My hair is falling alarmingly and my joints still ache.
   Often, I contemplate on how we would have contracted the disease inspite of taking utmost precaution, and then I wonder if we had it as we had both tested negative in our RTPCR test. Perhaps we had it and were saved as we had taken our first dose of vaccine.
   It was just my mental strength and the prayers of my parents that kept me on. My children were a huge help for me in fighting the ordeal. My husband took off from the clinic and took care of the house. My brother Prashant and his sweet wife Dr Roshan, supplied us with food, taking care to give us the best of it. I can never forget Sri Pradeep, who came as a messiah to get me the life saver steroid.

  It was a tough time, but my Krishna and the daily prayers kept me on. If I had panicked and let myself down I wouldn't have been writing this today. So whoever is reading this, if you ever get such symptoms, do not fret, or lose hope. Please talk to the doctors and take the necessary medicines. Keep your faith and stay strong. Get vaccinated if you haven't already.