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Submitted by PatientsEngage on 28 June 2020

When the lockdown was announced,  Pradnya and her family of 8 people made elaborate plans to limit movement, adopt safety measures to protect the two elderly people in the family. But despite their best efforts, one by one they started developing symptoms. Read about their ordeal and how they coped and survived Covd-19 in Mumbai.      

Covid-19 has really taken over our lives, hasn’t it? It doesn’t need to though. These are really difficult times on us, and the very best we can do is help one another out. Many of us have been donating to some wonderful causes supporting feeding those in need,making rotis to make migrants journeys back home easier on their stomach, maybe donating required equipment to health care workers or feeding the street dogs that are otherwise going hungry. It’s really warm to see so many doing what it takes to support one another to get through this. And together we will be able to do so much more!

My mother tested positive for COVID-19 in early May. We live in a two-bedroom apartment with only bathroom and loo, but we managed home quarantine with a total of eight people at home! We remained in quarantine for a total of 21 days after my mom’s test results came in, and with a lot of help from good doctors and great friends and family, we were able to manage care at home despite the fact that four others (including me) showed symptoms of COVID-19.

Listen to Pradnya talk about her Covid-19 experiences in the video below

We went out only for essentials through the lockdown. We have two senior citizens at home and we asked both to not go out of the house, and they didn't. Despite our best efforts, one by one starting 26th April we started showing symptoms that seemed like COVID. It began with my brother. My mother is 64 andunfortunately, she was next. A day after that, I had an itchy throat and fever. This led us to getting ourselves checked by a doctor. He did not think it was very serious, but I knew it was alarming because my brother began losing his sense of smell and taste, and eventually so did I.

Mom’s fever would only come down with paracetomol, to return again in a few hours. This was extremely alarming. We got the most obvious tests done for her to convince ourselves it isn’t COVID, but on her fever continuing for a good 5-6 days, we decided to get her tested. Everything after than has been a bit of a roller coaster ride. Nothing I haven’t dealt with earlier, apart from some underlying stigma and a LOT of confusion. This or that, testing or not, home or hospital, dogs with us or away? In the first 48 hours after the test report was back, I must have made at least 200 calls. To Municipal authorities, doctors, hospitals, friends, family and boarders for dogs. Through this (not over yet) A MULTITUDE of people have been extremely supportive virtually, some have gone above and beyond to make sure we get groceries and medicines, and a few may not understand what is going on and try to treat us like untouchables. Whatever I have learned in the past few weeks, and I think is worthy to be shared, I am putting out there. Moreover, it is for everyone to know that it is okay to get COVID and a lot of us will hopefully recover from it. I will help in every which way that I can to reduce the fear of the unknown, if even by a little.

Disclaimer – this is not in any professional capacity, ALWAYS consult a doctor, on getting even the slightest of symptoms and let them help you through this. I have also written in connection with what I have experienced here in Mumbai, India in the month of May.

After making many, many calls to the Disaster Control room (dial 1916 for this in Mumbai), speaking to the doctors on the helpline, the Medical Health Officer and his team (for our Municipality ward) and doctors who had been at the frontline of Covid-19 we came to make a decision to keep my mother in home quarantine and begin treatment accordingly. Although, for the first 72 hours we were told by the doctors to admit her to a hospital (Covid care centers were not an option for her because anyone above the age of 55 requires additional care). This did not work out for us because of a lack of beds in the private hospitals. There was a time when we finally secured a hospital bed, but the ambulance (provided by the BMC) didn’t make it to our place in time due to which someone else was assigned the bed. This was one of the most frustrating days through our quarantine, but in hindsight, it seems like the right thing that eventually worked out for her. There was clearly someone else that was in need of that kind of care. Just as back up (a very sweet neighbour of ours pushed us to do this) we kept a private ambulance on standby of sorts just in case things worsened for her. We also spoke to doctors at a couple of hospitals and figured out which ones were closest to us, so we could rush her there in the event of an emergency.

- Precautions to take and learning through this (mostly considering the patient is at home, with other people at risk):

  • Isolate the patient in a room with a bathroom attached
  • Wear a mask and gloves while tending to the patient
  • If the washroom is common with the patient (like ours was), additional precautions are don’t let the patient touch the sink, flush, door knob, latch etc as much as possible. Disinfect after that (solution made with bleaching powder as prescribed by CDC). Same applies for the bathroom post bath. Clothes are to be washed separately for the patient at least, before which you can soak in warm water for about a couple of hours with detergent and antiseptic solution.
  • Everyone at home continue wearing masks. Further isolate senior citizens and others at home with comorbidities. (We are 8 of us – two above the age of 60, one of whom tested positive, my husband has a comorbidity, and five of us under the age of 36. 4 of us excluding my mother developed symptoms like the flu with severe fatigue, but got through it just fine, but continue taking precautions)
  • We prescribed to homeopathy. If you choose to do so, do it through a qualified homeopath doctor. According to me, don’t just blindly pick up meds based on forwards. These doctors know what they are doing, trust them. (My mother had a fever for a whole 11 days, and her temperature returned to normal after just 2-3 doses of these meds).
  • Use your family concoction of kadha and have a warm version of it through the day. Turmeric, pepper and dry ginger being the essentials here. This is for everyone in the same house with the patient or exposed to the patient at some point. Continue drinking warm water instead of room temperature for the next few days as well. Warm water gargles help with relief for the throat. You can double check with your doctor on this.
  • Delivery of essential items – in our area, apps like Mojopizza, Swiggy and Zomato are doing deliveries even for COVID affected buildings. Check these out and there are many more. Else, make a deal with your local grocer, medical store, veggie and fruit guy, and pay them online, while deliveries can happen on Wefast courier services and the likes.
    As special mention to my dear friends who asked to help, made arrangements and to some who just forced a list on us and made these deliveries happen in no time. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
  • If you have the option of getting fresh veggies through the sealing, cook nutritious food – on consultation with your doctor of course. (FYI we got a basket-pulley system in place since we are on the first floor, and dropped it down to bring things home from our balcony. Old school is best right!)
  • TIP your delivery guys! (and every other service person as far as is possible)
  • Support one another at home – divide the work and give the others a break once in a while.
  • Through this time and other months of the lockdown, we have been paying our maid and cook their usual monthly income. I’d strongly recommend you do as well.

How we managed at home is:

  • Private testing to begin with.
  • The the BMC stepped in with the retest.
  • Bought a Pulse-Oxygen meter to test oxygen levels. We already have two thermometers and BP machines at home so we checked these levels every few hours for my mother and everyone else that showed symptoms
  • Supreme amount of precautions taken in terms of stepping in and out of my mother’s isolated room, washing hands and cleaning the washroom, basins insanely!
  • Our friends have been our blessing through this all! They were kind enough to help us with a LOT of supplies other than the delivery services that are doing wonderful work through the metro cities at least.
  • Some of us were still working (virtually) through this time so we separated ourselves into different rooms for all purposes including sleeping and working. This depended on who showed symptoms and the Asymptomatic were looked after particularly. My aunt who is 75 made it through without any symptoms!
  • We had to send our dogs to a safer space for their sake and ours. Although this is absolutely necessary, it did take a toll on my mental wellbeing. They have always been my largest support source and I found myself a little shaken without them. I watched video updates of them having fun in a place they had never visited before and I thought to myself, if they can be open to change or a challenge, I can definitely do it so I am in a better spot before they get back. I began counting down the days to when they would be back home and kept it together for their sakes.
  • We did whatever we could to cheer each other up. Of-course the air was tense but it got better. We joked around, listened to music, tried to take breaks (this was extremely difficult though) did (distanced) breathing exercises at the same time to make it seem like a class and talked about the dogs – how they sit, stand, eat, bark, wake us up and clown around to lighten the mood!
  • I took a second to process that yes, someone at home had tested positive, and in all likelihood I had Covid-19 too at some point, and thought to myself, we need to get through this and hopefully show that with the right medical help and taking the right precautions post testing, it is possible!
  • We were heavily questioned about how we got the virus home as such. We still do not know how any of us got it, but made peace with it and moved on. Tackling these questions may be stressful but I now understand that people are more curious than rude. They mean to secure themselves from the virus if anything which is fair. I’m sorry if any of you have to go through this, but please ask for help at this point – medical and for general support. There needs to be no stigma attached to being infected by Covid-19. It is a novel virus, and it will hopefully bring a novel kind of humanity, kindness and compassion to surface!