Covid Diaries 2021 - my rebirth

I spent 17 days at Raheja hospital including 12 days in the ICU and I was admitted 10 days after getting COVID positive. That’s a total of 27 days of Covid experience.

With God’s grace along with prayers & blessings of well-wishers, combined with the amazing work done by the medical & caregiving team of S L Raheja Hospital, I was able to fight back & survive this health crisis & am recuperating at home now in what doctors tell me is my rebirth & my 2nd innings in life.

My family & I went through a whole range of emotions. Both my wife & son were Covid positive & were in home quarantine. While in the ICU, I cried a few times but also laughed many more times and did daily self-talks. Video calling to family & friends was a boon. Chanting, meditation, music, watching comedy on YouTube & the tremendous positivity created by the hospital team and my own family & friends was an elixir.

This is my story & I wanted to share my experience.

I want to begin with my mistakes, which you need to avoid.

The 3 mistakes I made which led to the worsening of the infection & hospitalization

Before COVID

(1)  Not taking the vaccine despite having a co-morbidity (hypertension)

After testing Covid positive

(2)  Continuing in home-quarantine despite continuous 100-102 fever for 10 days & that too after taking 3 Dolo 650 tablets everyday (should have got hospitalized after 5 days of high fever)

(3)  Not going for a CT Scan earlier – by the time I went on Day 10, my score was 18 on 25 (should have done my CT Scan by day 5)

• The most critical days are Day 10 to Day 14 after testing positive when the oxygen (SPO2) levels can drop suddenly & the lungs can deteriorate at a fast pace – hence the CT Scan & hospitalization option should be considered earlier
• ELSE what can happen – In my case when I got admitted to the hospital, my fever was 103.6, my SPO2 level was 88 & my lungs were nearly 80 % damaged.

BUT taking inspiration from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most famous line from the Cult Classic Terminator “I will be back”, I came back, isn’t it ??

At the same time, there are a lot of positives that came out of this incident. I have so many good memories, even some funny ones of what I went through.

Example – I became famous for what the nurses called my “tiktok” video ?? 

I will share more details of my experience, including the following soon...

(1) My Covid ICU Experience - what actually happens inside a Covid ICU, what I, as a patient went through physically & mentally and techniques I used to fight the challenge & help myself get more positive and get better, faster

(2) The Hospital Team going beyond the call of duty - what amazing & difficult work is being done by the doctors, nurses & the caregiving staff as well as administrative staff to get the patients better with their “Never Give up” attitude.   

(3) The 6 therapies I am using after hospitalization to get back to my normal self

I am eternally grateful to many people for helping me & my family during these difficult times including timely help in getting a hospital bed, providing continuous positive messaging & motivation to my wife & me, praying for us & even chanting & doing pujas for my health and the entire #slrahejahospital team for working tirelessly to save so many lives, including mine.