CoVid Diaries

Today marks the fifth day since I was tested positive for CoVid-19 and also the end of my doses of DOXT-SL, Ivermectin, and Azithral. I am mildly relieved by that because I really hate swallowing pills. Now I must continue taking Zincovit and Limcee until the rest of the month. 

At this point, every time I see another picture of bare faces beaming in the sun or any of that traditional "Instagram" crap, it pisses me off. Why? Because they don't wear their masks and don't even bother to be embarrassed in front of people who do wear masks. 

Anyways, this is my first direct experience with CoVid and I'm still partially-scared-partially-confused. Courtesy of Covaxin, my experience so far was 95% similar to common cold but that's probably what leads to its mass underestimation by people. "Oh, it's just like what you'd get if rhino-virus and influenza made a baby." These jokes would probably be funny if they were made 50 years later when robots took over politics and the human population was immune to all possible variants of the coronavirus.

After being tested positive, I was immediately put in home isolation, more precisely, room isolation and I believe it will end after two days but I can't leave the house for another week. Atleast for someone like me, that's not a worry because I stayed at home, 90% of the time in the same room, even before CoVid happened. So it really makes little difference but atleast after the 7th day, I can move around the house.

On the first day itself, which was January 10th, I swallowed a chewable tablet, Limcee. As I mentioned earlier, I hate swallowing pills and now I had to take a whole pile of them. I guess I panicked? We'll never know :) But yes, these tablets called Limcee are supposed to be chewed and sucked like candy before being swallowed. Mine are orange flavoured which is why I always save them till I've swallowed the other pills (which are either tasteless and powdery or just plain bitter).

I never had to take so much medication at once before this. I guess there's a first time for everything. So anyways, when I swallowed the big Limcee tablet whole, I felt like it got stuck halfway through my throat. It was not the best feeling ever. So lesson learnt. 

On the second day, I accidentally broke the only glass thermometer we had. My fever sustained only for 3 days including the day I got tested and two days before. My temperature kept fluctuating within the range of 99-101° but it soon dropped to normal. So on 11th, I put the thermometer under my arms to check for fever and put on 'Pride and Prejudice' on Netflix at the same time. 

I became so annoyingly engrossed in the sexual tension between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth that it never occurred to me to take the thermometer out and check. Hours went by and by then I was completely oblivious to have put a thermometer under my arm (and the warm layers of my clothes didn't allow me to sense it either). After over 2-3 hours, when I was done with dinner and preparing to take my meds, I decided to take a detour to fix the curtains. 

The moment I raised my arms to pull the drapes together, suddenly I felt something slip through my sweater followed by a sound of glass smashing on the floor. There it was - the glass thermometer without the mercury tip and tiny microdroplets of mercury scattered across the floor, along with shards of glass of course. 

My memory was so compromised that even after seeing this, I spent around 10 minutes trying to analyse how on earth the thermometer dropped from underneath my sweater. But as fate planned out, I didn't lose hope and finally after two eternities, I remembered the ridiculous mistake I committed. 

On the fourth day, I forgot to take the last pill (Limcee) after dinner but took all the others as instructed. I woke up today and realised that I ended up sleeping on the tablet. So I took it after breakfast without thinking too much about it. Who knows what I'll do next? :)

I feel much better now but I suppose it would be wiser to be cautious rather than optimistic in situations like these. The worst symptom I had happened on the first day my health started to deteriorate explicitly, which was around 2-3 days before I was tested. I had to take a shit 5 times within a span of two hours that too early in the morning. That was not the best feeling either.

Apart from that, it was mostly sharp headaches, mild bodyache, cough, common cold, fever and fatigue. As much as I wanted to write all this live, I couldn't because I needed to rest and my nose would randomly decide to clog the airways for fun which made breathing a struggle. Nasal sprays helped me through that. Most importantly, I made sure I was properly isolated at home, getting my clothes washed separately, eating healthy nutritious food, monitoring my O2 levels, taking my meds as instructed and getting adequate amount of rest. 

I am yet to be confirmed negative and recover fully but at least now I feel good enough to write all this down. Who knows if it might help some of you? Although the best advice would always to be wear your masks, main social distancing, working from home and prioritizing sanitation. Basically, when put in one statement : Prevention is better than cure. So, that's what it has been like for me this week.

I hope you and your family stay safe and take care of yourselves. Signing off for now.