On Wednesday, 10 June my friends, whom I had spent some time with on the preceding weekend, called saying they had tested positive for Covid-19 and since my wife and I were their last contacts, we should get tested.
By the time we received this call, we had started showing flu-like symptoms. Our children had started to ask, albeit jokingly if we didn’t have the Coronavirus, and we laughed it off because we were not concerned.
We got tested in a private laboratory on Thursday, 11 June and received our results the same day around 9pm. It confirmed we were positive. This was news we had hoped would never arrive. Tears welled up in my wife’s eyes. Unfortunately, we needed to get over the shock very soon and deal with reality.
The following day, we told the kids we were positive. We also told our family and friends. The stress of having to convince some of our family members that we were not having serious symptoms were unbearable. Much of their concerns were informed by the fact that they could not see and touch us because they are mostly in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern and Western Cape. But we had to soldier on.
We took the kids for testing on Friday, 12 June and I informed the City that I will have to self-isolate. Fortunately, the few City employees that had come to some contact with me and my children all tested negative. We also informed our family doctor, and he prescribed an antibiotic and other medication. We also bought multivitamins, vitamin C and immune boosters.
Challenges of self-isolation and separation
The main challenge to our self-isolation was having to take care of the kids and maintain the household at the same time. This involved ordering fast food in the early days as well as cooking and cleaning when we had gained enough strength. During this period, as our bodies were fighting. Some symptoms will disappear while others appeared. Doctor Refik Bismilla advised that my wife and I needed to completely separate because he believed the recurring symptoms were caused by the fact that we may be re-infecting each other. This meant that the children must leave to stay with a family friend for a week.
Our rest was disturbed by our mid-year exams. Fortunately, they were conducted online. We continued with our self-isolation without children, and this was not easy because the house felt different. We kept in contact with the children on a daily basis mainly through WhatsApp video calls. We also used this period to deep clean the house.
These interventions allowed our bodies to recover fully and the troubling symptoms never resurfaced. It took us 21 days to return to normalcy. That was when we brought the children home and returned to our living arrangements. I continued with study leave towards my last examination, which was on 8 July and formally resumed work on 13 July.
Lessons from my Covid-19 journey
You don’t know what you don’t know. Don’t wait out the 14 days when you see that your symptoms are getting worse, particularly once you have breathing problems in the first few days of being infected. Seek medical advice from professionals, get tested and even have yourself hospitalised. Knowing that you are positive does not worsen your infection and its symptoms. Instead treat your symptoms, boost your immune system and give your body a fighting chance. Remember, only your immune system can fight the viral load and nothing else.
This journey should be shared with family and friends for support. But, don’t allow them to play nurse and/or doctor because they sometimes prescribe untested medication that may or may not help in strengthening your immune system. Don’t hide your Covid-19 status. Make your own contribution to the fight against the pandemic, even if it is through social media and support your colleagues who may be infected with Covid-19. Always remember you did not choose to have the virus and you are never alone.
Mesuli Mlandu is an Executive Head in the Office of the City Manager.
