The Underrated Flu

 

I tested positive. 

The world around me stilled when the results of the PCR test came from the Ministry of Health, Singapore. I was to isolate myself immediately in a room with a bath. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic  my husband and I would track the daily rise in numbers on infected cases globally. I remember the first time the government declared Disease Outbreak Response System ( DOSCON) rating Orange, there was a scramble at the grocery stores to hoard. The husbands disregard for the pandemic infuriated me every time referred to as the work of the Illuminati. 

From Feb 2019 till now over two years have gone in a haze, the haze of slathering our hands with sanitizers, skin going dry due to increased number of showers in a day. In fact the husband's friends visiting used to be petrified of me because I would make them sanitize their hands and wash their hands first even before I would say hello. 

And now I got Covid. How?

I haven't gone out of the house in the last fifteen to twenty days. Everyone that I spoke with thereafter such as close friends and coworkers had the same question, do you know how your got infected? 

At home ART Test everyday to monitor health of family

Angry, I was very angry.

All my hygiene protocols for me and my family, bulk buying groceries to save up the trip to the store for months and then somebody "home delivered" the virus to me!!!

I had been observing the world from the corner of my study battle the virus, people flouting safe distancing measures, breaking the law and I thought I was safe, I followed all the rules and still I got it. I had taken the screenshot of my test results and sent it to the husband smoking in the balcony. He had immediately come inside horror on his face. 

My symptoms? I had cough, it  did not let me sleep at night. I was eligible for home based recovery unless I had difficulty breathing or had heart palpitation or plunging oxygen saturation. I stood up, emptied the bedside drawer contents in a bag and removed blankets and pillows to be used by the rest of the family and isolated myself inside the bedroom. A while later the isolation order was served to me via a SMS.

The next twelve days I coughed, I coughed and I coughed. The days went by with breakfast served outside my door, medicine, shower, breathing exercise, lunch, movie, videocall with family, room cleaning, dinner and then staying awake all night with cough.

My displaced family, kicked out from the bedroom

I couldn't sleep, I had chills but no fever, my oxygen saturation stayed stable and I coughed up mucus of different colors and shapes. I coughed so much that I could see my abdomen shedding weight due to excessive coughing. Then one day I was told, twelve days are over and I was free to get out, I was no longer infectious. They said this was the delta variant and my symptoms were mild.

The apple of my eye  had been doing his homework with me though video chat using kids messenger. The first few days he had to be stopped multiple times to involuntarily knock on my door and then he understood that mommy had it. He spent one whole week dressing up in various costumes to for the spirit week at school. I shared his excitement through photographs sent to me via whatsapp. He had dressed up as Zoro followed by Hannibal Lecter and then Captain America. 

"The worst is over", the husband stood outside the door and watched me step out after my isolation.

Was I completely cured? I still coughed, so much so that I downloaded an app on my phone to track how may times I was coughing in a day. I needed to see quantitative data on my improvement, some said I was crazy, but the disease I guess is not just a flu.

It so much more dangerous than just a flu, a close friend recovered from the virus had given me a few tips, and one of them was to keep the mind positive, I have read that the this virus had a neurobiological impact. For some loss of smell and taste and for some insomnia and brain fog. 

Yesterday I followed up with my doctor my recovery journey is not over, but I firmly believe I will get there, one day at a time.