A detailed account of R. Balasubramanian’s, Associate Vice President, (ICU Business) Trivitron Healthcare, journey through COVID-19
I opened the envelope, with utter anxiety and deep nervousness, to read a laboratory report that was sent to me by my family physician.
It read- “Corona negative”
And I felt that feeling of relief, which translated into tears of joys and sheer happiness.
This was my corona diagnosis report that I received in the last week of August, three weeks after I contracted the coronavirus disease. This communication served as a verified document claiming that I have emerged out victorious from a month long battle against coronavirus.
The outcome, however, didn’t feel so obvious to me. I knew that I was now free of the virus and can now resume to daily work and life activities but there were certain doubts as well. What restrictions do I still need to follow? Am I still at risk of another infection? Can I walk freely without a mask? And so on.
I am put up in Mumbai, which is currently the hotspot of COVID-19 infections in India. As you might be aware, in India, till now, around 37 lakhs cases of infections have been reported and more than 65,000 have lost their lives, with Maharashtra alone, accounting for around 8 lakh infections and 24,000+ deaths.
But, the good news is, throughout the country, more than double the infection cases have recovered and the fatality rate here, is quite low. While many, including me, try to resume to normal lives picking up from where I left.
As it happened
About a month ago, I had to travel to Pune for the demonstration and installation of a critical health technology equipment. Everything was just fine, till the time I reached the location, I realized that it was a COVID specialty hospital where hundreds of COVID patients were being treated.
I took all precautions like masking, use of sanitizers and no touching of face and all to keep the virus at bay.
Due to certain technical issues in the equipment, I had to travel to the same location again. It was this time, I presume, I caught the virus.
I presented symptoms of COVID-19 while I returned back. Upon my family physician’s advice, I got myself, along with my entire family, checked for Coronavirus. While my son was negative, I and my wife contracted the disease.
We decided to quarantine ourselves at home, rather than in the hospital. Each one in the family occupied separate rooms and got specific crockery and dishes designated for ourselves. We completely isolated ourselves from the outside world.
I was in touch with the public health authorities, and my family physician as well who, at regular intervals inquired of my health, gave necessary medications that helped me cope with the conditions associated with the infection. And we followed as we were told.
I knew that this fight was going to last long and to keep ourselves busy, we read books and watched our favorite TV shows. Our neighbors & acquaintances were supportive to us due to which we never faced any issue in getting fresh vegetables and other food stuff.
The thing which greatly worked for us is the positive attitude that we as a family showed together. We were all full of hope and had shun all negativity due to which, even this pandemic felt like a common flu.
Slowly as days passed, things got better and symptoms started to abate. I slowly started to reply to my mails and catch up with things happening at my office. While my family physician told me we could step out after three days with no fever, my family decided to play it safe and we decided to extend our isolation period for one complete week, while we remained free of symptoms.
Embracing the new Normal
Today, as we all feel healthy, for the first time in a month, I am getting ready to go to my office. But I have put on a mask and a pair of hand gloves while in my pocket, I have a pocket pack of hand sanitizer for it is equally important to save ourselves and others as well.
I fully acknowledge the fact that I had mild symptoms and with positivity and determination, we managed to come out of this situation. But, I must also admit that this virus had impacted our thought process and had forced us to rethink the minutiae of our daily lives, how through positivity, tiny decisions and behavioral changes that we make, can help us solve major issues that plague not just us, but our friends & family as well.
This is the power of positivity, I suppose. It indeed is a great thing. Few days back, I was clinically positive for COVID while today, I am positive for life.