My le affaire with Mr Covid - Part I

Tamil Nadu  covid positive numbers 166K

number of people recovered   114K

yes I am part of the first number.   I am yet to get myself tested again to show that now I am gone

over the curve of being positive to fully cured.and truly belong to the second number set too.  

But today is the second day without fever and headache and I am pretty confident that

I will soon come into that data set too. 

We are a household comprising of members who are very old to very young with the ages

ranging from 87 to 6 years and all these few months we have been keeping ourselves

indoors not going out at all and getting everything door delivered.  

All the things coming into the house have a waiting area and time whatever it may be and

then only admitted into the house.   

It was on the seventh of July the day will definitely be a very memorable day

for me as it was the first Rotary club meeting that I am presiding over as

12th President of Rotary Club of Chennai Thiruvanmiyur. 

We had an excellent speaker in Sri Dushyanth Sridhar who

combined Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly successful people” with characters in Ramayana

We started at 700 pm  and we could end it up early by 9 and it was a huge success.

I was floating on Cloud Nine having done the first meeting in a grand manner with about 46 people

attending the zoom meeting.  And When I switched off the laptop I realized that I had a  splitting

headache. I thought I was over excited and very hungry and then went ahead to have my dinner.

Could get only combiflam which I took and went to sleep thinking that  the next day will be glorious

morning and had lot of plants to be executed

The headache took a great fancy for me and didnt leave either the next day or till about a couple of

days back..  Through the afternoon I started feeling slightly feverish. Ramani said that let's talk to the

doctor.  I was a little bit reluctant because I felt it was just a common cold and cough and it would go

away but something made me listen to him this time. So the next phone call was to our friend, mentor,

guide and the Go to Person Dr Ganesh. When Ramani was speaking to him about my symptoms,

I suddenly remembered that the medical shop Owner Mr Suresh was found covid positive and he had

come home last week to deliver some medicines. When I shared this information with Dr Ganesh, he

immediately said  Ok let me arrange for covid test tomorrow.   From Wednesday evening I started

quarantining myself in my bedroom I asked Ramani to sleep separately though he was reluctant he

agreed to it.  Thursday around 10 am there was a  knock on  the door and in walked this person with

the blue PPE asking me “ Are you ready for the swab test?   I should say it was ticklish having the

swab getting tucked into your nose and another swap being put into your throat and then she left.

Evening saw my Doctor Daughter leaving paracetamol and Erythromycin for me to take as the

headache was unbearable.  It was now left for us to wait……

Friday morning continued waking up with a splitting headache and mild fever.   Got a call from Medall

at around 9.8.30 am asking me to come for a chest scan.  In the meantime Dr Ganesh delivered the

news to Ramani that my test has come positive and I need to get the chest scan to find out about the

lungs condition and go to the fever clinic and find out whether I can get the Home quarantine certificate.   This will be followed by tests being conducted for all in the house including our maids and live in mami.  

My daughter drove back from her hospital to pick me up to take me to the fever clinic Capstone

Multispeciality clinic in Nungambakkam.  Dr Madhumita was very professional with minimal words

she gave clear instructions and was explaining  the various options available for me like 

1. going to government centre as an in-patient
2.  going to facilities created in few hotels for this specific purpose
3. home Quarantine.

She was very categorical that if  I choose home Quarantine, I need to be very strict that I am not going

to allow anybody into the room nor am I going to go out of the room for the next 15 days.  So here I am

staying put in this large room with a  window  which opens out to the Marundeeswar temple land filled

with green trees where I can hear birds chirping all the time and hear the splatter of rain on the Windows sills.

The treatment per se : 

She just said take Paracetamol for 3 days three times and beyond that whenever necessary.   She

prescribed the following supplements for 15 days

•  Zinc
• Vitamin C 
• Calcium
  
  

She wanted me to eat well, sleep well, stay separate and  stay safe taking the pulse oximeter reading

and temp reading atleast 3 times a day and come back if the fever crosses 100 or the oximeter reading

falls less than 95.

Coming back to our household all the eight people who were tested on Friday were found to be negative

I am happy that instead of Why me It was Just Me  because I was more worried for my 87 year old

mother who is having  heart problems and is insulin-dependent diabetic.  

The outpouring of love and concern and Prayers that I received from my friends, relatives and other

group members, my neighbors when we put out the news that I am in home quarantine due to covid is

something unbelievable.   Even now people reach out to me over phone, whatapp sms and my family

members daily enquiring about my wellness.   This love is the strength and the prayers are the real

medicines. (Not to mention the never ending advice, medicines, kashayms, home preparations from

everyone.  I can now write a thesis on all the practices now!!!)

So How did I who is a couch potato and the entire household has been practicing strict lockdown
conditions end up being Covid Positive.  The Only thing that strikes is  May be by opening the door
without a mask On to a person who was having covid symptoms but didn't get testedv till later.   I was
atleast 3 feet away and I didnt even get the medicines from him directly but just opened the door to
enable him to drop the medicines  in the waiting area and leave.   I didn't come in close contact, did
not speak with him nor did he speak with me directly but the Power of the Covid virus is extremely HIGH.
People are still not realizing its power and think that they have all the immunity in the world to

protect themselves.  When I see the crowds happily going around as if everything is ok and there is

nothing to worry about I am literally scared now.   

I am writing this detailed blogpost to make everyone of you aware that COVID is everywhere and it is

upto us to Take care.  Our Government has been doing much more than in any circumstances and it

has been a long stretch for them.  It has been 5 months time and now only the spread is going to increase

more and more.  I feel that cloth masks while giving us a comfort feel should be exchanged for surgical

masks and we need to be taking care of its disposal properly.   The current scenario - It was not  happening

2 localities away or two streets away or two block away it is happening from within the house.  So TAKE

CARE TO WEAR MASKS WHEN OPENING DOOR, WHILE GOING OUT, Wash hands as often, clean

things properly before using them and stay safe.

Regarding the treatment(is there one) that I took, wait for part II.