I haven’t had to face many life-threatening situations in my life thus far, only my parents said that as a baby I nearly died in Sri Lanka, when I had diphtheria, but obviously my time was not up even then.
Recently, however, I came face to face with the deadly Covid-19 virus and while battling the virus, I chose to self-quarantine together with my special adult child Preeya Nanthini, who in the end turned out to be my caregiver.
By all accounts, most of us cowered at home during this Covid-19 pandemic, choosing the safest way to survive by keeping away from other members of the public and ordering food and provisions in. This was the 'Keep safe and stay safe’ technique that was published in all media.
Well, in my case something went wrong with that system when on May 28th 2021, while assisting my cousin, Aunty Anna to Zoom in on our cousin’s funeral service – who had passed away in Seremban – I started coughing badly and had the chills. Aunty Anna, being my closest and most caring cousin, realised something was wrong and urged me to take the swab test for Covid-19, which unfortunately turned out to be positive.
So here I was, alone with Nanthini and petrified of what to do next. My office was informed, and I was advised to self-quarantine at home and so began the drama which lasted up to 14 days and which made me realise that my life was on the line and it was either me or the virus who would win this battle.
For the first few days, I lost my sense of smell and taste – everything tasted like sand. My temperature went higher and higher and I successfully controlled it with paracetamol alone and I had juices, which I drank continuously.
My brother Dharshan, living in London, rang me and frantically assured me that I could get through this easily as it was just a virus. He ordered me a ‘pulse oximeter’ and an inhaler, while my wonderful friend Aw Kong Hwee purchased menthol strips for me to inhale in case I experienced breathing difficulties.
So I felt that I was on a rollercoaster ride as everyday brought new challenges and I could not eat anything for five days and my daughter, being my caregiver, got used to my urgent and frantic calls for water and juices. I just could not get up from my bed and could barely have any baths without help from my daughter.
I kept telling myself, “You can do it, you can do it,” and sometimes I would just think of my special child and who would take responsibility for her should anything happen to me. She might end up in a home as her youngest sister was still studying and her eldest brother was working in Singapore.
With every passing day I felt weaker and weaker due to lack of food and when my Aunty Anna sent me food, it was Nanthini that I urged to eat, and I told her she had to keep up her strength for me.
This went on for six days and by the seventh day I really felt that my time was up, but my best friend Usha from Ipoh called me everyday encouraging me to drink as much as possible and not go to the next and final stage, where I would experience difficulty breathing. This would result in me being hospitalised and Nanthini being left with no one to care for her.
This was when I started fighting back, forcing myself to consume any kind of food to build up my strength and have some energy to help Nanthini with the household chores and the preparation of some food.
And boy did I pray hard, making all kinds of promises in my delirium to God to spare me having to go to hospital and be in the ICU and on top of all this, Usha was experiencing trauma as her best friend from Brunei along with her husband were hospitalised for Covid-19. I really began to fear the worst for myself, but I fought back everyday, tooth and nail, not allowing myself to become so weakened.
I was lucky in one sense that I had no diabetes or high blood pressure to contend with as those are conditions which could cause the condition of Covid-19 to get worse. Also, I fought back all the way, never allowing my mind to be taken over by negative thoughts.
By the 10th day, the fever had broken, and I could eat a bit more than usual and by the 11th day I used my brother’s ‘pulse oximeter’ to record my breathing which stood at around 97, the measurement of oxygen in my blood. This apparently meant that my oxygen level was good, and I was progressing to the last stage of my illness.
During my time of greatest challenge, tossing and turning in bed during my fever, I began recalling all the information I had read on the virus and how virulent and destructive it could be to the lungs.
How did this virus unleash itself in this world of ours? It definitely did not ask to be born, it was a mutated virus, originating from Wuhan in China. It is obviously very infectious and along the way variants have formed around the world, causing many to die mostly due to difficulty in breathing.
The lesson here is a painful one and we cannot just blame a virus for causing death and destruction to mankind, as society let this monstrosity spread and now we have to pray hard the vaccines work or mankind would be doomed.
The world has to work towards improving its karmic report card which today appears in red due to continuous abuse of Mother Nature.
As for me, I reached the 14th day by going to the temple and thanking God for my life and also praying for the whole world to be saved from this virus and also for mankind to realise not to experiment with nature. The price is too high for all of us. – The Vibes, June 19, 2021
