To those who do not believe covid-19 is real. You need to have a rethink for the sake of your loved ones. I felt I should share my experience maybe someone, somewhere would learn and not treat the pandemic with kid gloves.
It all happened on the 26th of March, 2020 after my return trip from the South East. Before I embarked on that trip, there had been news about the imminent lockdown all over the town as cases increased but I wasn't deterred because of how important the meeting in the East was. I searched for a flight to asaba with no luck so I decided that I was going to travel via one of the public transport buses plying that route from Lagos. I booked two of the back seats so I could put my travel bag on one of the seats to avoid my laptop having issues.
While I was seated at the back, there was this couple seated in front of me. While the husband wore a face mask, the wife didn't. They looked like those just arriving from a long haul. Their bags occupied the remaining 2 seats at the back right beside mine. The tags seen on those bags showed they were coming from China. Then I didn't really believe covid-19 was around. I almost mocked the guy who wore a face mask because it looked strange to me. They alighted in Onitsha.
In short after my meeting, I went straight to my hotel ordered my meal and slept off. The following day, I left for the meeting venue to carry out another presentation, after which we called it a day. In short, I Ieft for lagos on the 3rd day early morning via the transport company I came with. My client had arranged for a drop off the previous night so the driver took me to Asaba to board the return bus back home.
As soon as I boarded the bus, I was feeling uneasy. By the time we got to Benin I was hit by this terrible headache. My eyes were dripping water. I had to plead with the driver to reduce the AC which other passengers weren't comfortable with. On getting to lagos the taxi driver who took me back home could notice I wasn't feeling well. At this point I could hardly breathe deeply. My left lung first seized. I was breathing through my mouth. I turned off the AC completely as I wasn't feeling comfortable anymore with the AC on.
The following day, I managed to go to the clinic in the neighbourhood where my temperature was checked. It was abnormally high, my BP too rose abnormally. My BP used to be 115/75 and it has been like this for years which was quite ok for my age. This time it rose abnormally. The doctor gave me injection with some drugs. He asked me to come for second injection the following day, that I could be having a flu. I lost my sense of smell. My heart was vibrating, I couldn't return to the hospital the following day because I had no strength to drive. I told my wife not to bother driving me because I might collapse while in the vehicle the way I was feeling.
We had a little knowledge of covid-19 remedies so my wife went to get ginger, grounded it and put inside water. I kept drinking with Vitamin C , as a precaution.
On the 3rd day, I became so weak. On sighting the NCDC numbers on channels tv, I quickly picked one of them and called...my voice was apparently faint. I called several times, no response.
I now received a funny and disappointing response. Before then, I had not travelled overseas. My last trip was in June 2019 to Florida. But then, I was on same bus with a couple who returned from China with their luggage stacked beside me.
My wife really tried, she would boil hot water, cover me with the water inside a bowl with tick clothes and ask me to stay inside for minutes. I was feeling weak inside of me and this time, my right lung was weak. My only sickness is malaria I hardly fall sick but this one was something else. From the 4th day, I was getting better and better, we went for vitamin C by thousand and Zinc. As i was recovering, my eldest child picked it. She kept telling me she had lost her sense of smell, as if something rotten was coming down her nostrils, that the smell was unpalatable.
Within 3 days she had recovered, then my son picked it. He would say dad, I'm weak, I'm not OK this time I guessed it was covid-19, given all the reported symptoms by NCDC but I wasn't so sure. Then my last born picked it, same symptoms then the lockdown was in full force.
Finally my wife had it, I had to drive her to one of the isolation centres. They felt reluctant in testing her. The crowd was much. After I recounted my ordeal, she was reluctantly attended to. She tested positive for the virus. She would be vibrating at night. 2 weeks later she was pronounced fit and tested negative. I heard a near death experience. I was begging God to please give me the 2nd chance to live. I looked at my kids and said "God please, not now".
Covid-19 is real my people. Please stay safe.
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