While my sister is still in ICU with acute respiratory distress, her family is now thankfully COVID negative. My nephew Abhijit Ray has shared his firsthand experience of dealing with the challenges of being #COVID + and yet take care of things. Sharing his tips in a #Thread

Prevention: Covid can happen sitting at home - maybe through the groceries, vegetables, milk - anything that enters our home. In my case, we hardly ever ventured out of home but it still happened. So, ensure that anything that comes into your home is treated as suspect....

..and sanitized thoroughly before touching. Ensure daily gargling, steam vapor, and vitamin C (citrus fruit) to build immunity.
Emergency planning:
(1) I was taking regular pulse oximeter readings and that helped me detect my mother's situation way ahead of time. ...

While she is still struggling on the ventilator, at least we could get her the treatment on time. Ensure oximeter readings every 3-4 hours and if you get consistently less than 94, consult your doctor. Consistent reading of less than 90% is an alarm bell....

Lower oximeter reading doesn’t necessarily mean Covid19, but it requires medical attention. (2) Keep a couple of oxygen canisters handy at home - helps to buy time if oxygen level dips and hospitalization are required. They cost around Rs. 600.

(3) Keep phone numbers of all COVID hospitals in your phone contacts. Saarthi app provides the bed availability status, though might not be very accurate.
(4) In case anyone is hospitalized, in parallel try to ensure supply of “Remdesivir” and “Tocilizumab” injections. ..

Most hospitals already have it, but smaller hospitals may not have and it will be good to contact some distributor and have an assurance of the supply. Both these medicines were needed for my mother - the hospital had the supply, but I'd also made parallel arrangements to be safe

(5) COVID treatment is expensive and therefore, despite having an insurance cover, as soon as my mother was hospitalized, I liquidated some of my investments to keep cash handy.

Home Quarantine:
(1) I read that 80% of cases of COVID have mild symptoms so can be home quarantined. In my case, except for my mother, we all suffered just mild symptoms. For me, it started with loss of smell and taste, and then I'd a fever for 4 days along with extreme fatigue

Around day 5 I developed a dry cough. Fortunately, my father did not show any symptoms except the loss of smell and taste.

(2) We have isolated ourselves in different rooms and kept my father in almost a jail-like isolation. We wear masks at home, wash our clothes separately (after dipping in Dettol-water for 2 hours), use disposable cups and plates, and ensure no exchange of utensils.

(3) For medication, I consulted my cousin who is a senior doctor in Gujarat, and is my family doctor. I strongly suggest getting a prescription from your doctor and it may vary based on your medical condition.

For us, it was mainly Dolo (paracetamol), an anti-allergic, Vitamin C, Zinc, and a couple of other medicines. Dosages were a bit different for my Dad. We also did a course of HCQ (Hydroxy Chloroquine), but this should be done strictly on doctor's advice only.

(4) We have organized to get home-made food from one lady who delivers at the society gate.
(5) To boost our immunity, we take the following daily:
(a) 2-3 servings of fruit (apple, orange, papaya, banana, pear). Citrous fruits are better.

(b) 1 serving of mix of dry fruit (walnut, almond, anjir, dates, pista, raisins) - some of these can be ground and mixed with milk and taken.

(c) Haldi doodh (we stopped taking milk because of stomach upset, but this is very good)
(d) 2 eggs in any form
(e) Anvla Juice and Aleo Vera Juice
(f) Kadha - we mix ginger, honey, and lemon in water and boil it. Follow up the kadha with some fruit.

(g) Steam inhalation - 2-3 times a day. We use the inhalation machine - separate for each member.
(h) Gargling with hot water. I also add 10 ml of Bitadine and gargle.
(i) We add 1-2 drops of 'Immunity booster' that I was told is as per Ayushman Bharat guidelines.

Not sure how effective, but I saw no harm in trying. One bottle costs around Rs. 500 and lasts throughout the quarantine period.

That's a summary of our Covid19 fight. I pray, there are no more cases in our neighborhood but in case there are any cases, hopefully, these tips would help.
#COVID19 #coronavirus

My nephew, who is now virus-free, points out that he's only sharing his personal experiences. He's not an expert in this matter, so please consult your doctor for any medication or diet-related points.