On March 15, 2021, I woke up with a mild fever. Since one of my colleagues had tested positive for coronavirus recently, I immediately got myself tested.
I tested negative in both the antigen and RTPCR test. However, my health condition deteriorated very fast. I developed symptoms like shortness of breath, severe coughing, chest pain and fever. In fact, I fainted quite often during those days. My doctor advised to undergo blood test to see if I was suffering from malaria, typhoid or jaundice. The tests did not reveal anything except some infection; the doctor concluded that I was suffering from a stomach infection.
Over the next few days, I fainted at least thrice a day and faced difficulty in breathing. The doctor again advised to undergo chest CT Scan. The report suggested that my lungs were just 35% operational and I was suffering from severe pneumonia due to coronavirus.
I immediately rushed to hospital where my colleague Anita Sutrave had secured a bed for me. Since my condition was very critical, I was put in ventilator for 5 days. Later, I shifted to semi-ICU and then ward. I was on oxygen for 17 days. After 19 days, I recovered completely and came back home.
In this article, I would like to share five key learnings that kept me motivated. I hope sharing these lessons would help covid patients to deal with difficult times.
Discuss finance at home: I experienced afterlife when I was under ventilator. And one thing that kept me worried was the thought that what would happen to my spouse if anything were to happen to me. She did not know anything about my investments, insurance and liabilities. We never discuss finance at home. When I was shifted to semi-ICU after five days, I sent an email to my spouse sharing details of insurance and investments. Had I not been shifted to semi-ICU, I could have never sent that mail.
Have an MFD: One thing that kept me motivated during the ventilator days was having a mutual fund distributor. Thankfully, my wife knew my distributor; this gave me great confidence that If anything were to happen to me, he was there to help. Having a financial advisor or a distributor gives you comfort especially when the going is tough.
Keep the faith: God gives you strength and hope to deal with difficult situations. Keeping faith in God makes you feel that everything will be fine. I am thankful to my family members and friends who prayed for me.
Hope for the best: You can’t stop thinking. And most of time, you have negative thoughts like what would happen to my family if anything happens to me. However, try not to focus on these things. Focus on positivity by thinking about things you would do once you recover. It could be anything like hugging your spouse or children, eating your favourite dish with family and so on. These thoughts keep you motivated.
Don’t sweat about work: While you miss your work, it is better not to focus on it. Don’t carry the burden of work and focus on things like holidays, meeting friends and family.
Nishant Patnaik is Associate Editor at Cafemutual. The views expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cafemutual.
