Deepti's family, including her parents stayed safe for more than a year until it all changed. Despite vaccination, despite being careful, her dad, a senior doctor and her mom got COVID and then other members of the family. She shares their challenging experience and the lessons they learnt from that experience in the second wave.
We just completed a year of Covid in our country and deep in my heart I thanked God for keeping us and our family safe. We were one of the few families who were still not mingling with friends and were taking full precautions to stay safe. Knowing my parents were at a vulnerable age of 75, I would time and again emphasise the importance of social distancing to them, so they do not fall in the Covid trap.
हिंदी में पढ़ें: कोविड की वजह से मेरे परिवार की अग्नि-परीक्षा
My father is a senior consultant cardiologist at Apollo Hospitals, Delhi but he did not go for his hospital OPDs for the whole year. It was only after mom and he took both the shots of the covid vaccine that he felt appropriate to consult in his OPD again. He started doing his OPD from the 1st of March. On the 24-25th of March my mother started developing fever. It started as a mild fever with uneasiness. Knowing that they had been vaccinated my father ruled out Covid and they both thought this is just a yearly effect of change in seasons. It grew to a 102-103 fever with immense body ache by the 28th. By this time by father also began to show similar symptoms. They got themselves tested on the 28th. All this while both had oxygen saturation at 97-98 and were still hopeful of it being a seasonal flu. 29th morning they got their positive test results and immediately inquired of bed availability in Apollo. A patient was going to get discharged the same day so my parents quickly packed their bags, ate just a bowl of cereal in milk as that is all they could manage to ingest at that point and rushed to the hospital. The wait for the room to vacate and for them to get admitted was a long one. The six hours wait took its toll, but on the hindsight it was one of the best decisions still, considering the dearth of hospital beds. The next two days saw their temperatures dropping to normal and their oxygen saturation staying close to 95. While they were still very weak, we were hopeful of discharge by 31st March or 1st April.
Rush to ICU
On the fateful night of Wednesday, the 31st of March, my mother got up to use the washroom at 3am but collapsed due to low oxygen halfway. She was rushed to the ICU and spent the next 10 days there battling the detrimental effects of coronavirus in her system. Within a matter of hours, she lost her strength to even talk a complete sentence. My parents were admitted in one of the best healthcare facilities of the country and yet they felt the pinch of overworked staff and overpacked hospitals. Even for a sip of water my mother had to breathlessly but constantly call out for the nurse or housekeeping for minutes or hours at length. The next few days were extremely tough for the whole family as we prayed for her recovery and she lay helpless in despair. My father on the other hand was recovering in the general COVID ward without any serious ailments. Recovery for my mother was very slow. All the medications she required were readily available and administered to her on time. And still, we all went through unsurmountable stress. I can't begin to imagine the plight of families struggling to get oxygen or even the prescribed medicines for their beloved family members in such moments of distress.
After 12-13 days in the ICU when my mother came back in the general Covid ward, her body had lost its strength not to mention half of its mass. While she was relatively stable on around 9-10 liters of oxygen, she was now a dependant patient who needed 24/7 care for her meals or washroom visits. After her 4-5 days in the ward, we were glad that that she was out of the ‘red-alert’ critical phase and hopeful that the worst is behind us.
Setting up the care environment at home
On the 18th of April, my parents learn from a neighbour that the main door to their house was open and the house seemed to have been badly ransacked by burglars. In a fit of anxiety, my mother fervently insisted to be taken home (saying she would rather die at home). They took an early discharge and reached home on the 19th. In a home that was a complete mess, with his wife on oxygen support in the ambulance and no means of food, water or air (literally!!), my dad began the next chapter in his covid struggle with the faith that God will set things right. My dad kept her in the ambulance at the gate and the ambulance waiting for 5 hours till he managed to arrange for an oxygen concentrator from a friend. He also arranged for a bedside patient toilet seat, managed to empty the guest room (their bedroom was left in too much of a mess by the burglars to clean up) and finally got her home. The oxygen concentrator and the toilet seat were their lifeline for now.
Fear of COVID
In the meantime, I got my RT-PCR done for travelling (I stay in Mumbai), packed my bags and booked my tickets for the 21st early morning and reached to help. In the meantime, they tried food that one of my aunts sent and from 2 tiffin services but none that they could manage to really eat. They needed really simple but freshly cooked meals. We realised how strong the fear of Covid was amongst people this time. From the neighbours to the gardener, from house help to the car washer, not a soul turned up to help saying “sorry, this house has COVID”. I could see that my dad was already very exhausted from his own scuffle with COVID, and tending to my mother day and night was taking its toll on his health. For the next few days, I took charge of cooking, cleaning, sweeping, dusting, doing the dishes, laundry, gardening and practically everything else so my parents could focus on their recovery. And cleaning was not just regular day cleaning but sorting the mess left by the burglars, putting things back in place, multiple loads of laundry to wash the clothes lying on the floor and cleaning a blanket of dust that had formed on everything around the house. My dad took the role of a doctor, nurse, attendant and companion for my mother from feeding her to administering her medications, from helping her for her toilet breaks to monitoring her oxygen, blood sugar, heart rate, he did it all. Being a doctor, he was capable of it all. I can’t imagine a nonmedical family caring for a covid-recovering patient at home without medical support.
The COVID saga with my husband and children
In the next 10 days my mother’s oxygen requirement went from 4-5 L per day to 1 L once or twice a day. 1st May was her first day without oxygen. By now she was also taking a few steps with our support. Things were again beginning to look better. That evening I learnt from my husband in Mumbai that he had tested positive. He immediately consulted his schoolmate, a Covid specialist in Meerut and started on basic medications. Also now he had isolated himself in a room while my kids (an 8 year old and a 12 year old) were out with a relatively new 24-hour help. So far they were managing without me as he was keeping the kids engaged, running the house from a room and ordering all meals from home chefs in our building complex. While he continued to assure me otherwise, I could not help but worry about how they would manage now with his isolation. I still hadn’t manage to employ any help at my parents place and so could not have left them in the state that they were in. By God’s grace a lady came to discuss work on the 2nd and started with basic cleaning and dishes on the 3rd. I also managed to set a one time cook on the 2nd. By the 4th of May, my mother’s health improved further and she was walking short distances without support. I now transferred her to her bedroom where she would be more comfortable. By now my daughter in Mumbai also started complaining of a feeling of illness. This got me worried further. I got in touch with the kids’s paediatrician and got them started on basic supplements. Now it was time for me to get another RT-PCR and book tickets to fly back. Thankfully my RT-PCR reports were negative and I flew back to Mumbai on the 6th. By then my kids and help were also tested and kids tested positive.
When I got home, I isolated my husband and the kids in one section of the house while I put up in my guest room (Thank God for the guest rooms, right?!). Thankfully my daughter’s health didn’t deteriorate any further and both kids were absolutely fine in just a matter of days. My husband was also stable with mild symptoms that gradually subsided.
Lessons from the COVID experience
Vaccines can and do protect you but only to an extent. If you see COVID symptoms, do take them seriously. Oxygen saturation in a COVID patient does not necessarily drop till the 6th or 7th day. So do not take your illness lightly, stay calm but do get medical attention. Senior citizens are preferably (if possible) best hospitalised and monitored. Know whom to contact in case you test COVID positive - have your doctor in mind and let them know they are in your ‘To Call’ list. Have some emergency numbers handy - friends, family, neighbours - anyone who can be of any assistance, if required - an aunt sent her driver everyday to my parents house to get basic groceries for us and even that was a huge help. If you are planning discharge from the hospital, first arrange for the basics like a nurse, bedside toilet seat, saline drip stand and apparatus and oxygen concentrator. I have heard of too many cases who have had to be re-hospitalised due to worsening of the patient condition and lack of medical support. Educate your help about how and at what stage the disease is transmissible. The phobia of the disease has spread so much that even after a negative report half of them are scared to work in the household for weeks. While my husband had been working from home while I was gone, he had gone to office just one day and stepped out for basic groceries within the complex. No matter how safe you keep your family, that one outing, or that one party or that one gathering is enough. Children are usually asymptotic or mildly symptomatic but there may be a general feeling of illness or lack of appetite. Make sure they are getting plenty of fluids and are regularly doing breathing exercises. Lastly, wear your masks, maintain social distancing and stay safe!
