OPINION: My near-death experience with COVID-19 | mpholakaje
COVID-19 in Gauteng remains relentless. Driven by the delta variant first found in India, cases in the province continue to go up exponentially. As a result, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday, South Africa would remain on alert level four lockdown. Unlike the first two waves, the current one appears to be a lot more ruthless as the number of deaths continues to skyrocket.
By that time, I was in quarantine, bedridden and terrified. As I battled to breathe, my mind started turning on itself. Am I going to be here in another day or two? Will I still be with my wife and three small children? Am I reaching the end of the road? What’s going to happen to my family, should I succumb to the virus?
Word of my ill-health reached my family members, friends and colleagues here in South Africa and abroad. They began calling and sending messages of support. Their words became important. While COVID-19 is a physical sickness, the battle tends to play itself out on a psychological level. It was on a Tuesday morning when I visited my GP. He did a thorough ECG test because “COVID-19 can cause cardiovascular damage”, he said. He was happy with the results. Great. I was equally relieved. It was time for a chest X-ray. Remember, the aim was to get to the bottom of the chest pains. When the X-ray results came back, the doctor said, “The virus really affected your lungs. I can even see where it was seated. But no worries. We’ll fix this.
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