A Mumbai based 37 year old techie who was tested positive for the novel Coronavirus in March along with his wife and his toddler daughter has now fully recovered with his family.
Recovering from the virus after 18 days, the techie recalls how this was the most difficult time of his life as not just his wife but also his daughter had contracted the deadly virus which has already claimed the lives of more than 47,000 people globally.
The man who has now recovered says that in mid-February he went to the US and upon his return to Indian on the 6th of March he was checked at the screening facility at the airport but showed no symptoms.
The techie says, “After a few days on March 8 I had fever symptoms but I thought it is because I had traveled so much. So I just took a paracetamol. However the fever was still there so next day on Holi I went to my local physician. I only had fever and was given medicine for fever. On the second day of Holi there was no fever at all and I was fine. I decided to take rest”.
He added, “However, the next day when I went of office where the environment is cool, within two hours I started showing symptoms of high fever, dry throat and was also unable to breath. All of this happened in an hour. All the symptoms started at once. I immediately came home and consulted my physician”. He said that all the symptoms he developed pointed towards Coronavirus.
After suspecting that he might have contracted the Coronavirus, the doctor immediately turned to the corporation office who then took him to the Kasturba Hospital via ambulance.
The techie added, “At Kasturba Hospital my travel history was checked and they admitted me for testing. After 24 hours, the results were out I was tested positive for coronavirus. Soon after the corporation officials brought my wife, both daughters (3 and 7 years old) to Kasturba Hospital for testing”.
“This was a very difficult time. After a day the results were out and shockingly my wife and just my younger daughter tested positive for coronavirus. This was the most difficult time in my life. I could see my wife and my child catching this deadly virus because of me. I was in a lot of stress,”.
He said that at one point his whole family was admitted to the hospital, however, he found something to make him go through as he said, “Good thing was that I was still able to see my family and this gave me emotional support. It was still very difficult”.
On 19th March, however, his condition deteriorated and had to be put on ventilator support. The doctors at the Kasturba Hospital and Jaslok decided to shift him to Jaslok Hospital and on March 20th he was shifted.
He was on the ventilator support for the next 6 days at Jaslok Hospital, he says, “After 18 days on March 31 I was discharged. My wife was discharged a day before. My daughter was out in ten days”.
The total cost of his treatment at the Jaslok Hospital came out to be Rs. 12 lakh, while the hospital administration gave him a concession of Rs. 2.5 lakh the rest of the amount was paid by his employer and the insurance.
He tells that people who are living in fear of this virus should not be worried as fear will only do more harm than good. He adds that both private and the government hospitals are taking good care of their patients and there is no need for panicking.
He says that both, his wife and he, were under tremendous stress about this situation and they took time to recover, while their daughter who did not know of the crisis recovered way faster. Dr Om Srivastava of the Jaslok Hospital said, “When he came to Jaslok hospital he was on a ventilator, he was not able to breathe.
We treated him and now he is back home. Initially, the situation looked grim but he responded well. I want to tell people not to panic. Consult your doctor and get treated. We can fight coronavirus and get cured. Do not waste time moving around and immediately consult doctors when you get the symptoms”.
