The story of our recovery from COVID-19. THE 2^ND WAVE

Unprepared, unnoticed and uncalled for, one evening my hubby (Debasis), returned home complaining over a very busy day at office. " I'm feeling tired, want to just have dinner and sleep", he said. After his dinner, he gulped down a Saridon tablet out of habit thinking it's just a headache. After which he sat down with our 5 year old loving daughter and helped with her homework. My daughter is very fond of her papa. They watched Avengers on Disney Hotstar that night and again papa felt lethargic. Thinking it's just tiredness he retired to bed. Our daughter also went to rest in her own little happy place, her den. After finishing my chores, I went to sleep too.

Next morning when I woke up, hubby dearest was sitting with a thermometer and noting down his temperature- 102degree F. He was panicking. He just popped up a paracetamol we had at home and said, '' I think I need to see the doctor, go get myself tested for Covid''. Not wanting to risk our health and to take this lightly; he drove his car hurriedly to the nearest testing centre. To our disbelief he tested positive in his Rapid Antigen Test. Out of panic he became impatient and didn't bother to test for RTPCR. He came home and immediately isolated himself. Meanwhile, he got in touch with the doctor in-charge, Chief Medical Officer of MCL HQ, Dr. Mrs. Gupta. She patiently guided him and was prompt in sending us the medicines right at our doorstep with the help of Ambulance and the dispensary support staff. Right from his GM Civil at office Mr. Sambit Patnaik sir to his seniors and colleagues everybody stepped up to help him.  I had anticipated his report and had done my bit by making all kinds of arrangements for him. Our little daughter was anxious as to what was going on all of a sudden. Family and friends were informed about the news. To our greatest relief we have two doctors in our family. Hubby's sis and my sis. Both of them asked us to keep our calm and this can be handled with proper medication along with some home remedies. 

My father Dr. Hrushikesh Naik, who is a Professor at NIT, Rourkela Mining dept. coordinated with his students here in MCL, Burla and asked them to help us and stay in touch. Papa is also a good friend of IAS Shri Madhu Sudan Padhi who is now principal secretary to Odisha Governor. Padhi Uncle immediately monitored our situation and asked us to get an RTPCR done and send him. He also coordinated with the District Magistrate and Collector of Sambalpur who graciously sent his team lead by Dr. Hara Pradhan and Dr. Kiran Rao, to Burla at our doorstep with any kind of assistance if we needed. They shared their personal contact details and added us in a WhatsApp group for monitoring home isolation cases in Burla. Many information and FAQs were available in that portal which cleared all our major doubts about Covid. It was a relief to know that Odisha Govt was active in their surveillance in monitoring the covid cases.

That seemed as the longest day of our lives. Several phone calls from friends and relatives, all asking for any kind of help if we needed. Be it food or medicines or anything whatsoever. I didn't feel lonely nor did I panic. I braved this on myself thinking I can manage this. I would help him with this, we will fight this and this too shall pass. I was all ok and fine that day,cooked lunch and dinner and was monitoring hubby's condition time to time. His fever was 102 that day on and off in every 5 hours interval. Daughter understood papa was unwell so didn't really bother me and was cooperative all the time. Although I was taking all precautions still; I had isolated myself from her so that she doesn't get hit by the virus. We made a conscious decision to send our pet dog Marshal to dog boarding for his proper care. We slept that night with all apprehensions in our minds, praying to God for giving us the strength to face this bravely. Every moment was unpredictable. 

Next morning, was a bright day. Weather outside was pleasant. I was sanitizing the whole house and making arrangements for his food and comfort that's when, I started feeling a shiver in my body. It followed by a splitting headache along with body-pain. I concluded I am not spared too. Since my daughter was well isolated from us, I thought she was alright and; right then all my attention was diverted towards her. In the evening my left eye lid started swelling up. I had read that Conjunctivitis was one of the mild symptoms of Covid. Now in this situation I couldn't help but break down. My sister Dr. Aishwariya Priyadarshini, kept my spirits high and helped in co-oping up.

The other day my father-in-law and sister in law Dr. Adyasa Basa (who is a house surgeon currently at SCB Medical college, Cuttack) came all the way from Bhubaneswar to Burla to take our daughter so that at least she is safe. But for their safety we decided to get our daughter tested as she might be a possible carrier. We called up a few numbers and learnt about a home Swab test who would collect our samples from our doorstep. They (*Thyrocare) were prompt in reaching us and taking our samples. To my disbelief my daughter also tested POSITIVE. All of a sudden, I felt like my world turned upside down. Same day I tested positive too. I did not know what to do. I could feel my body suddenly giving up. It started making me feel tired. Daughter was alright and she was in her room playing and eating on her own. That was a relief. She was my strength. I believed I would manage with her cooping with my condition. As long as she was right in front of my eyes I would manage, so we did not send her to Bhubaneswar. Watching my father-in-law and sister leaving from the doorstep made me feel helpless. I put up a brave face to assure them this was going to be alright. They left with heavy hearts and little one waved them goodbye promising to meet soon. My parents, sister and mother-in-law who couldn't come to see us kept us in their prayers and constantly kept in touch, I derived strength and courage from their love and care.

The actual problems started coming up the next day, when I couldn't stand, I had temperature and body-pain. With no house-help and no one else at home I had to get up and look after others. I was clueless, that's when; I learnt about the food service at our guesthouse and luckily my Friend's (Ms. Vaishali Sharma) husband was in-charge of the same Mr. Vinayak Jamwal sir (Public Relations officer). On contacting him he immediately assisted us with Mr Vishal and his team. I had thought come what may if I ate my medicines and drank Kadha and did steaming I would be fine and I will be alright in a day or two. That didn't happen. I needed to take rest. The food service was timely done by the management with proper care of nutrition and careful cooking with less oil and spices for us. Be it sunny, windy or a rainy day, they never failed to assist us during those hard times. They were a blessing in disguise. In my eyes, they are verily the Covid warriors. Even with proper intake of food and medication I kept feeling low and the temperature was still there which added to my miseries. Again, little daughter was managing everything on her own. We kept checking for our oxygen saturation time to time. I was constantly worrying for my little one. She was doing fine and was stable. Hubby was stable too but there was weakness and body pain. Temperature readings were ranging from 102 to 101 and so on for him. 

Woke up the next morning, with a soar throat, and I was unable to speak. My sense of taste and smell had gone and to my utter dismay, I started having chest congestions. It brought back memories of my childhood when I had asthma and I experienced breathlessness. Spoke to my doctor and she suggested to sleep in proning position and try and do breathing exercises. My oxygen saturation readings were alright but my Bpm had shot up. Phlegm had accumulated in my chest and I did everything to take them out of my system. Meanwhile, hubby felt better that day. He looked after me when I couldn't get up. I understood, no matter what happens its always him who would be there for me. Family is first and foremost. It is only them who are there for you always. Daughter woke up with a fever, 100. Immediately spoke to doctor for her medicines. She sent all the medicines on time, our friends helped us whenever we needed any kind of medicines or assistance be it any hour of the day. Hubby was still having temperature and dry cough which resulted in disturbed sleeping patterns. Usually fever should subside within 5 to 6 days, but even after 10th day when he still had temperature, he got an HRCT done after which some changes in his medicines was suggested by Dr. Mrs. Gupta and slight improvements in his health was seen considerably.

Colleagues and seniors, called up and checked with us every single day. If I had to name a few it would be S.M. Alli sir ( Chief Manager MM), Sambit Patnaik sir(G.M. Civil),  Manas K. Sahu sir (Chief Manager Civil),  K.V. Sharma sir (Retrd. Chief Manager Civil), Arun Sharma sir (Retrd. G.M.  Civil), K.C. Khuntia sir ( Retrd. GM Mining), Harekrishna Sahu sir (Manager Excavation ), Ashutosh Mishra sir ( Manager Mining), Premanand Pradhan sir ( Manager Mining), Rajesh K. Barik (Deputy Manager Excavation), Sudhir K. Jena ( Deputy Manager Civil), Shantha Kumar ( Asst Manager Civil) and many more. Not only them, my friends and madams also were in constant touch with me from MCL.  We are really thankful to them till this day.

Some home remedies along with medication prescribed by our doctor worked for us, we were drinking Kadha 3-4 times a day, steam inhalation 4 times a day, gargling luke warm water with a pinch of salt any time throughout the day helped us remove phlegm and cleared our lungs, easing in breathing. Proning position sleeping and sleeping side ways helped in breathing. Feeling lucky that we were stable and didn't need hospitalization. Our oxygen saturation levels were well maintained and we were on the path of recovery. We ate nutritious food including all vegetables and supplemented our fluid intake with drinking plenty of water and ORS. We watched positive things on television, kept ourselves occupied talking to family and friends who were our strong support system. In 15 days, we were able to feel much better. Thanks to the Almighty for looking after us and coming to us with help in different forms; be it the Ambulance man, Dispensary support staff, Grocery provider Mr. Rabi , Baazar on click owner Mr. Sanjiv Kumar for arranging many things for our convenience, vegetables delivery by Rabi ji, parcel delivery men, Mr. Keshab Mishra owner of Perfect pet shop for taking care of our pet dog Marshal in our absence , and each and every one who were kind enough to help. I salute these covid warriors whom we very often take for granted.

Life always comes with the good and the rough... some days are MAGIC and others are tough. So, dear readers mask up, sanitize your hands and eat well, stay strong and safe. Get yourself vaccinated, and do your duties. Pandemics will come and go. I feel so proud of my 5 year old daughter for understanding us and cooperating beautifully and for being our strength always. Sitting at home I salute all frontline workers who have worked endlessly in helping mankind in these tough times. I am in awe with how our coal miners have been working day in and day out in providing power and energy to all our homes without taking a break. I admire MCL, for coming forward in funding and building COVID hospitals, with oxygen support and many modern facilities for helping people overcome this with the help of doctors and nurses. Each and every work is a service to mankind. Nothing goes unnoticed by us. I, on behalf of all of us, salute you, applaud you and appreciate you. Thank you for being there🙏.

Disclaimer: The views shared here are purely based on personal experiences and not to be followed without checking with your own doctor first.

About me: I am Madhusmita Naik. An avid reader, plant lover, a saree enthusiast, a double post graduate and mom to a beautiful daughter and doggie. Here in this context I have expressed my views on the journey of our recovery from covid second wave. I'm wife of Debasis Basa, Deputy manager civil, MCL HQ. Happy reading. Jai Jagannath 🙏.