BENGALURU: Bindu D wonders if surviving cancer was a bigger challenge or Covid-19. Her family had tested positive on April 20. After beating the virus, they now tell everyone that timely and most importantly, right treatment was vital. Speaking to TNI E, she said that she thanks her stars and all those who helped her. “My father (80) started showing symptoms on April 17 and I developed a cough on April 19. My mother (76), father, son (23) and I decided to get tested.
We went to a lab in the afternoon but were told to come back in the evening due to the rush. My parents were getting tired so we decided to schedule a test at home. When the RT-PCR reports came on April 23 and 24, we found we were all positive. My father’s BU number first came at 12 am. We received calls from BBMP and many others, each of them asking the same questions again and again,” she said. On April 24, her father’s oxygen level started to drop.
“The doctor we consulted asked us to take paracetamol and take BBMP’s help. With great difficulty we found a bed. His CT scan showed he had pneumonia but due to his age and apprehensions, he refused to go to a hospital. We had no other option but to make arrangements to get an oxygen cylinder at home. To my surprise, people whom I did not know but my brother did, helped us,” the resident of Mathikere said. After tele-consultations with doctors and help from citizens, Bindu purchased a 40-litre and a 10-litre oxygen tank at Rs 40,000.
However, the family did not know how to use them. Thankfully, an ambulance driver and an attendant from a hospital came to their aid, helping them procure a regulator and fixing the cylinder. She recalls how many came forward to help while many did not.