Anjy's Blog

My parents and relatives were worried a lot about how the society will react. I came in quietly and closed the door. I was the happiest to reach home. The first thing I did was to check on my beautiful plants. Nature had indeed nourished them, but some were on the verge of death. I watered them well. I looked at them and wondered, together we will heal and recover.  In the next few days, I focused on sanitizing my home, replacing the bedsheets, washing the utensils thoroughly,  sanitizing everything I carried to the hospital. Aftercare is very important.  I made sure to take breaks in between the humongous tasks. The disease does take a toll on your body and makes you tired and weak frequently.  On the 9th day, my parents were back home. It will definitely take some time for all of us to come back to our normal. The BBMP SPOC promptly called us and enquired about our well being. I truly appreciate the govt and the BBMP for handling this so well.  Some pointers before I conclude this jo

I received mixed reactions when I informed my situation to the extended friend circle. Some were not convinced and pushed me to go for a retest. Some criticized the doctors and hospital for covid deaths of their close friends. Some were thankful to me for sharing my experiences. Either way, I felt there is a huge lack of awareness and that's what motivated me to write this series. Hoping that it reaches further and helps some confused soul like me on my day 1. There are definitely some pros and cons on home quarantine vs hospital. It's up to us to weigh it out and balance it and take a judicial decision considering our well being. Also, tomorrow is the day I can officially tear out the poster stuck outside my house. There is light after all at the end of the tunnel. P.S: Please don't carry your work to the hospital. Leave it at home. It's an opportunity to rejuvenate yourself. Take it gladly and go ahead. After Care: 1. Make sure you sanitize your residence well. 2. Was

As I eagerly counted for the 7th day to arrive, I saw some of the patients getting released. There was another family with an old man, his wife and their daughter. Old people generally start making conversations randomly, he had become friendly by now. He would ask me every day if I ate well. They released them on their 9th day of stay, their happiness was worth watching. He was so happy that he invited everyone to come to his house before he left. Among the list, was an old woman, also called out for discharge. The patients around her helped her dial to her son to inform of the discharge. She had struggled a lot, being alone for so many days. She was a dialysis patient who needed support to even walk. She was a critical patient,  so as per the govt rules they retested her for corona. Her tests came negative. That day after a long time I saw her in a saree. She struggled to wear it. She packed her stuff and waited. She waited for the day, and the day passed on tonight. I sa

6 AM, the nurses announced, "Milk & Rice water (Ganji) is available, you can collect it". My world had turned upside down. I wasn't used to this schedule. 7 AM, the breakfast was served, Bisi-bele bath. All the meals came in these packed portable boxes. There was an option to opt for Raggi Ganji or normal food. The diabetic patients received a different kind of food too. On some beds, the patients were too tired to even eat, the food was left unattended on a table beside their bed. They gave us medicines based on our present condition. The nurses and the workers were always on PPE suits, so it was really hard to recognize them. I could hardly differentiate them as to who came in what shift. The bathrooms and toilets were shared and it had running hot water 24/7. There was a risk with shared bathrooms, and we didn't have an option about it. The nurses were always available at the nurse station. They operated their mobiles through a clear plastic mobile pouch. They

Gently absorbing what we had just heard, I picked my phone to inform my team-lead about the reports. He gave me words of assurance. When someone repeatedly says not to worry, the fact is that they are panicking more than you. I called my sister to inform her that her whole family is tested COVID positive. I could sense that she was scared and crying a bit. My sister is really strong, she never cries.  My dad made a couple of calls to inform the near ones. His voice was croaking by now with all that coughing. He was tired. BBMP had informed us that they will give us a second call by the next day. We had lost all the hope by now. My mom wasn't ready to believe it at all, and arguments broke frequently if BBMP faked the tests, with counter-arguments on what benefit will they get on faking the tests. My mom is a huge fan of TV9 (local news channel), so she was gathering the inputs from there. As suggested by the lady doctor, we took our medicines promptly now with more seriousness and

 11 August 2020 Tired of my dad's uninterrupted coughing for over a week,  I finally managed to convince both my Mom & Dad to go to the hospital. My dad asked me to check on viral fever clinics, I nonchalantly said, 'there is no such thing as a viral fever clinic, but there are hospitals and we should be heading towards that'! [Young blood, too adamant to even listen to a piece of advice] Then I googled, and he was right, just that it wasn't being called a 'Viral fever clinic', but BBMP fever clinic and apparently they take up COVID test for free. I was embarrassed for opposing to my dad, but then I quickly found the nearest center, and we headed towards that. Leaving the house after being locked down forever was refreshing, and I could see some color in my dad and mom too. We reached the Hosahalli Ufwc Uphc [Upper Primary health care ]. There wasn't much of a crowd. But there were some people waiting to get tested. We waited in the queue, and we were as