COVID Caregiver’s Journal

I‘d like to begin with an important disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and in no way am I trying to impart any medical knowledge. I urge you to consult a physician before taking any steps for the management of COVID- 19. 

I am sharing my personal experience along with some tools that helped me when this wretched monster of an ailment entered my house and infected the two people who mean the most to me! 

I live in New Delhi, India, with my parents who are in their early 60s and my grandmother who is 92. Needless to say, given that three out of the four members of our house are deemed “high risk” for COVID - 19, we have been extremely cautious and have practiced most, if not all, recommended protocols since India went into its first lockdown in March 2020. After quarantining in our homes and limiting any sort of travel or interaction with others, my parents tested positive for COVID-19 a few weeks ago. What overwhelmed me the most was the copious amount of information that one needs to absorb in order to manage this ailment and of course the bucket loads of daunting and fake news/ information floating around (but the latter is a wholeee other topic to write about, so I’ll refrain for now). I’ll be honest, I got pretty worked up in the first 24 hours and was fearful that if I miss even a tiny bit of information, the impact could be detrimental for my parents. So, after the first few rides on the crazy pendulum of emotions, I found myself making an Excel sheet (mainly because Excel/ Google sheet is BAE lol) and structuring out every piece of information I had received from relevant and reliable medical professionals. This resulted in a simple and easy-to-read guide that I used throughout the duration of their ailment. A one-stop checklist of sorts, that to be honest calmed my nerves more than the parents! This really helped me focus on the important stuff without getting frazzled.

So here goes: 

TEST, TEST, TESTTTT!

I cannot emphasise this enough!! Literally the only reason we caught the ailment at an early stage was because we got my Dad tested when he had super mild symptoms of the flu, which is something he is prone to every year, with the change in season paired with the insane amounts of pollution spreading throughout our city. And mannn am I glad we did that!! Had we not, the symptoms would have worsened/escalated without any treatment and as a result would have spread to more people including my Grandmom and that battle would have been way worse. Once he tested positive, we immediately got everyone in the house tested, including the staff. Fortunately, most of us were negative except my mom. 

INFORM EVERRRYYYYONE

I’m not so sure why people have been hiding the fact that they have or have had COVID- 19. Let’s not make it a stigma people, this ailment favours no class, caste or race (kudos to COVID for its inclusive nature *eye roll*). In my opinion; it is our duty to inform everyone around us along with the relevant authorities to help contain the spread of this ailment as much as possible. This is exactly what we did.

We made a list of people who had come in contact with my parents over the last week and reached out to them instantly. This ensured that either they get tested or at least quarantine themselves so as to not spread it further. Additionally, we informed our resident association along with most of the residents of the community we live in. This helped them follow whatever protocol they deemed fit to maintain distance and/or contain the spread. Lastly, via the diagnostic laboratory, the government authorities were informed so that they could take all the necessary steps to track the ailment. 

COVID ESSENTIALS

O2 levels, temperature, CT values (??!!?), high protein, high fibre, increased liquid intake, medicines, vitamins, sanitisation, mental sanity, etc etc etc. These were just a few things that we were supposed to be tracking and monitoring to increase our chances of successfully combating this ailment . Here’s where my beloved Excel came into play, it helped me navigate my way through being a caregiver and be aware of what markers/signs to look out for and I would like to share this sheet /checklist with you to help ease your experience.

MEDICAL ADVICE OVER EMOTIONS 

For me, this ailment had huge emotional repercussions. As this virus continues to spread like crazy, one can’t even be close to the people who are ailing to provide physical assistance or comfort. That definitely takes an emotional toll on both; the patients and the caregivers. What makes it worse is that due to the erratic nature of the virus, one is pretty unsure if the treatment is having a positive impact or not. My advice is to try and curb your emotions and take decisions based on what the physicians and data suggest. For example - we were clearly told by our physician that if the oxygen levels reach 94 or below, we must take the patient to the hospital immediately. Seems pretty straight forward! But in reality, when that happened to one of them, at that moment the patient seemed completely fine and in fact expressed their fear about being alone in the hospital. It was hard to ignore our emotions and listen to the physician’s advice but I am so glad we did it because the drop of oxygen levels was pretty much exponential after that: something that could not have been managed at home. (DISCLAIMER: These triggers are set by doctors based on pre-existing ailments, age, etc. so again - please check with your physicians for triggers and don’t rely on this information alone).

COOPERATE

…with the doctors and the government authorities, wherever you maybe. I understand that the former is an easy one but the latter is what’s usually harder. We all love hating on our respective authorities, which may be fair, but sometimeeesss they do know what they are doing. I was pleasantly surprised to know that, with home management of COVID patients, the government authorities were actually providing relief. We just had to cooperate with them for about 30 minutes on Day 1 by answering some questions and sharing relevant documents. After that, they kept a check on us everyday (Shoutout to my new WhatsApp bestie - Sarita!), ensured no one left the house, offered to sanitise the house post corona and also set up a special garbage disposal truck that would collect our medical waste everyday so they could further avoid the spread. (Surprised but super impressed!! Kudos to the New Delhi Municipal Corporation)

CAREGIVER TEAM

I admit we are lucky that we have a lot of family members and friends who displayed genuine concern and were around to help, which was honestly the main reason for our successful journey. So if you can, please try and get people to help (from a distance) - this is kind of a “too many cooks make the broth amazing” sorta situation, in my opinion. Tiny disclaimer here though: Don’t confuse help with the over enthusiastic people who just impart a lot of unsolicited advice. It’s extremely important to surround yourself with level headed and positive people. 

SELF CARE

Last but definitely not least, you need to take care of yourself. If you’re all wired up then you will not be able to manage anyone efficiently. For me an intense 1 hour workout everyday and lotssss of chocolate in every form available is the best self care regime. (Shoutout to @chefvn_ for the most amazing brownies). But, I guess, this one I’ll leave to you to figure :)

In addition to that please also take all necessary precautions to ensure that you and the people around the patients don’t contract the ailment. For us this included ensuring we have N95 masks on at all times, consuming homemade herbal tea made with ingredients to boost our immunity (also great to combat the pollution, so bonus), checking our O2 levels and temperature twice a day and taking our daily Vitamin C & Zinc tablets (as prescribed by the physician).

I sincerely hope whoever is reading this NEVER has the need to use it but god forbid that you do, I repeat, please use this only as a repository of relevant information and ALWAYS consult your physician before taking any steps for the management of COVID- 19.

PS: I am super grateful to the COVID management team at Fortis Escorts. They not only treated the patients with the best of their ability but their constant and proactive communication with me, made all the family members feel extremely comfortable and positive throughout the process.