Fighting COVID-19 was mental challenge: Recovered patient

New Delhi: For a recovered patient, fighting the virus was more of a mental task rather than physical. Amit is a 25-year-old working professional who was diagnosed with the virus on June 23.

"It came as a surprise to me as I hardly went out of the house," he said, adding that all his family members had tested negative for the virus. Amit is working in a private firm and was working from home and rarely went out. "I went maybe three or four times to buy vegetables, and immediately sanitised when I came home. Hence, it was a surprise when the test came positive," he added.

Amit initially got a fever after which he had a sore throat. "There was nothing major initially and when I took medicines, it was better. But the second week, things started getting serious," he said, adding that he had already isolated himself by June 15 but by June 21 when the symptoms became severe – sore throat, fever and a running nose.

"I called the Delhi government number provided by a friend and called who asked me to come for a test at a nearby dispensary. They took a rapid test while I came home and waited for the result," he added.

The result came back positive. "I was already in isolation so it didn't change things. My mother was the caretaker," he said. It was the next day that he started having breathing problems. "It was mild at first, but then I feel uncomfortable. I called a friend and told him about it as I didn't want to upset my parents. He told me to get admitted as soon as possible as breathing was a major issue," said Amit adding that he contacted a nearby private hospital.

The private hospital located at Dwarka made him wait for a few hours before they attended to him. "My parents paid the bill meanwhile, while I was shifted to an isolation ward," he added. As his symptoms were mild he was put on medication immediately. "I was given injections, which I learned was given to me as I also had pneumonia," he said.

The breathing issue eased on the second day with medication. "I was getting HCQS and the pneumonia injections and stayed at the hospital for seven days. But it was mentally exhausting and I was scared. The doctors told me to be calm and that's how I got through this," he added.