Survivor diary: Still dealing with after-effects of Covid
On April 25, I started having body ache, chills and fever, and gauged something’s wrong. I isolated myself from my wife and my seven-year-old daughter. But the next day, both of them also started showing symptoms. So, we kept ourselves in different rooms. I think we got the virus from our neighbours – a family of five, who had tested positive a few days ago.
The next big task was to get the test done. I tried contacting labs but they were not able to send anyone in for home testing. It took five days to get the test done. But even after getting the test done, I got the report only on the following Monday because the lab was closed on the weekend, which was very irritating.
In the meantime, one of my friends passed on the contact of an ENT specialist, whom she was consulting for her parents. The doctor did a virtual consultation for me, and asked me to make a chart of my SPO2 levels and send her updates every evening. During the day, if I ever felt worried, I would give her a call. Once my fever went to 102 degrees, and when I called her, she calmed me down and asked me to take Dolo twice a day. She never took any fee and I got to know that whatever people pay her, she donates it for the treatment of the patients.
Finally, my report came positive, but my wife’s report came negative even though she had all the symptoms of Covid – fever, and loss of taste and smell. Our daughter was more or less fine because she just had a fever for two or three days and showed no symptoms after that.
But she felt left out, and would check on both of us. Sometimes, we would speak over the phone, and at times, I would open my door a bit and she would talk from outside, with our masks on. But she was not allowed to enter our rooms.
The initial days were very difficult as my wife was not able to cook because of the fever. But my friend and my daughter’s friend’s parents helped us. At first, my friend sent food and she would also check for medical supplies, and fruits.
Later, my daughter’s friend’s parents, who do sewa in the gurdwara, sent us food. These people did commendable work by selflessly putting themselves at risk. I will always be grateful to them. Other essentials, I mostly ordered online, but my friends were always there to help if I needed anything.
Even though I had no loss of taste and smell, my diet intake had gone down. I relied on basic food and fresh fruits and nothing in particular. But I drank haldi milk and gargled with haldi water, which really helped my throat.
Since it was a tough and depressing period, I started meditating and took up an online healing course. My sleep cycle had gone upside down, so I used to sleep through the day and attend that course at night. But it really helped me.
After 18 days, I finally tested negative. I was overjoyed to see my small family, and couldn’t stop hugging them. I have recovered now, not fully because I feeling breathless when I workout and I get tired very quickly. I feel I have lost a lot of energy, and I guess these are the after-effects of Covid.
Deepak Jalhan is Creative Stylist and Educator at LOOKS PRIVÉ Pvt Ltd.
As told to Nikita Sharma