10 Things I Learned from Dealing with COVID - No medical advice.

A little over a month ago, our family got infected and recovered from COVID.

Here are 10 things I learned —

Early detection is crucial.

My wife Asvini developed some fever at 2 am, and we had someone come over to get RT-PCR done by 10 am instead of blaming the weather or something else. We isolated her immediately, and when we got the results the next day evening — we were happy we acted fast.

Early detection REALLY is crucial.

After we figured it was COVID, the rest of the family got tested, and it turned out that the kids were positive as well. They started staying with their mom (different floor). Had we chose to not get tested, we would not have detected that kids too were infected so early.

We chose not to PANIC on day 1 and put process before panic.

Calmness is very important to deal with COVID. While my parents panicked, I and Asvini stayed calm. Meditation helped in our case. The first few days have some symptoms, but most risks if any start only between days 5–10. Asvini took vitals for kids and herself every 4–6 hours and updated into a shared note.

Continuous monitoring is crucial.

Lung health is the most crucial of all. Although my wife did not have any other health issues since she was having sinusitis for a long time, she dropped her saturation levels and we had to get her admitted to be on the safer side. Thankfully apart from monitoring and some mild steroids, she did not need any Oxygen support. We could figure things out before it got worse only because she continuously monitored herself even when she did not display any symptoms at all.

Follow the protocol from the doctor.

Both my parents never showed symptoms, but we promptly got all of us (parents, me, and my sister) tested in a week. Turns out parents were positive this time. Repeated the same drill. Continuous monitoring, no panicking, etc. But since they had co-morbidities, we got them admitted to be safe, and doctors administered some medications.

Prophylactics could help.

For the majority of the primary contacts in the same house, doctors today prescribe something called prophylactics, basically, medicines they think can reduce the chances of infection. Refer to the latest guidance on this from the doctor — it is a good question to ask them instead of waiting until testing positive.

It could get tiring.

At this point, 5 of 7 members were tested positive. Both my sister and I deemed ourselves positive and isolated — we got a negative test result, but we were sure that we were infected. We both developed fever and body pains, so again, the same drill. Even if one person gets COVID, forget 7, it could just get so tiring — but this is not the time to give up. It’s the time to step up.

Family and Friends to the rescue.

One of my best friends who had COVID antibodies was willing to help us out with driving parents to the hospital, it was a huge risk he took. My cousin’s hospital was where my parents and wife got admitted to, while rest of us isolated in their guest room. It is a privilege that few have — I am so grateful to them.

Steroids can shoot up blood sugar levels and anxiety.

Although they apparently reduce the rate of growth for the virus they have their side effects. Felt again that meditation helped deal with stress and increased my patience levels in dealing with others expressing anxiety.

The forehead Infrared thermometers are useless.

None are accurate + the cheap ones in the market make things worse. Please use regular digital /mercury ones and take temperatures orally or under the arm. There are some better versions of SpO2 measurement devices as well, that track respiratory rate along with saturation levels and pulse.

BTW, antibody tests a few weeks later did reveal that I and my sister were infected too, as expected. So there’s that if you suspect if you may have been infected in the past.