Every breath was difficult
"No one can imagine how difficult just trying to breathe can be ... This experience can't be explained … It felt like I returned from the jaws of death."
This is how a senior staff nurse at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, who recovered from Covid-19, described her ordeal while talking to The Daily Star yesterday.
"Had anyone known the extent of this pain, they would not leave home and would definitely make sure their family is safe from the coronavirus."
Before being diagnosed with Covid-19, the nurse, 32, was taking care of patients, knowing that she might be infected as well.
On March 21, she first showed symptoms of the disease. She was finding it hard to speak on her return home from work that day. "I couldn't sleep that night, I was not being able to breathe properly."
On being informed, the IEDCR took samples from her and she later tested positive for Covid-19.
"I'm not an elderly person and had no respiratory issues. Yet I suffered a lot. Now imagine how hard it is for the elderly people with respiratory and other problems," she said.
She kept herself isolated from her husband and two children -- one six-year-old and the other only two -- at their Hazaribagh home for the next two days.
As her condition deteriorated, she was taken to Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital.
After a week-long treatment there, the nurse tested negative and was released on March 31.
"Every single day felt like a year. My daughters used to call me over the phone and ask me to return home. The separation was painful. At times I cried, wondering when I'd be able to hold and adore them," she said.
The nurse is still physically weak and now staying home.
She said, "I will soon rejoin the hospital and serve people, especially patients with breathing problems, as I can now understand their pain."
It could not be known how she was infected. But her colleagues believed that she contracted the virus from one of the patients at the DMCH.
"The safety situation [at the hospital] was not satisfactory when she got infected. Many doctors, nurses and ward boys were not even provided with masks at that time. The situation, however, has improved now," said a staffer of the DMCH.
Talking to this correspondent, the nurse expressed her gratitude to her family members, colleagues, including DMCH Director Brig Gen AKM Nasir Uddin, and ambulance driver Pradip who supported her during the crisis.
She also thanked the doctors who treated her.
The nurse is among the 30 patients who have recovered from Covid-19. Of the 70 confirmed cases in the country, eight have died so far.
She urged all to maintain social and physical distancing and follow the other directives given by the government and health institutions to stay safe from coronavirus.
Comments