AHMEDABAD: While majority of the patients of Covid-19 — about 70% according to some guesstimates — get on with their lives after mild to moderate symptoms, remaining 30% have a long road to recovery.
In second wave, several young patients recorded very high lung involvement due to which their hospital stay was prolonged along with post-discharge recovery.
TOI profiles three youths who fought the infection and are now getting back to routine slowly.
Jalpa Patel | Lung involvement 80%Jalpa Patel, 35, will complete nearly a month after getting discharged from a hospital after surviving Covid-19.
However, the young mother of a six-year-old boy still cannot move around the house in her signature brisk manner as before Covid without stopping to catch her breath.
In fact, she is still advised to go slow in doing house work and advocated as much rest as possible to allow her battered lungs to heal.
“I still feel breathless most of the time.
Sometimes the fatigue is extreme.
I cannot dare to go up and down the stairs like before.
I used to work non-stop before Covid-19.
Today, I feel apprehensive at the prospect of walking briskly in the house,” says Jalpa.
Jalpa says she along with three of her family members contracted Covid-19 in early April.
After spending a few days in home isolation, she started coughing hard and was asked to get a CT scan which revealed 65% of her lung was affected.
By the time she was put on oxygen and later on Bipap ventilator, 80% of her lungs were infected.
“I was discharged after I could sustain on atmospheric air but my lungs, badly damaged by Covid, are recovering painfully slowly.
Doctors say she still needs some more months to fully recover,” says the mother who had sent her super-active son to her brother’s house till she is able to find her strength.
Preyash Vora | Lung involvement 70%Preyash Vora, 42, has not recorded a magical recovery from Covid.
Son of Gujarat’s famed magician Harshad Vora – better known by his stage name Junior K Lal – who succumbed to Covid, says it has been more than three months when he along with the entire family, barring 92-year-old grandmother, tested positive.
“But it has been a slow recovery.
Even after discharge, I had to remain on oxygen therapy at home for two months.
Till last month, my pulmonary function test score was less than normal,” says Vora.
Vora, a chemical businessman, says while his father succumbed to Covid, he was hospitalized for 12 days as Covid had infected 70% of his lungs.
“When I tested negative, doctors advised me to recuperate at home on 4-6 litres of oxygen,” says Vora.
All through his recovery, he has been taking personal physiotherapy sessions for breathing to nudge the lungs to recover and breathe life back into him.
“I do multiple breathing exercises.
In June, doctors said my lung function had improved but still I do not feel fully recovered.
I feel breathless while undertaking basic activities like walking and brisk walking initially.
Even today, I cannot think of hitting the gym like before.
I am slowly moving towards normalcy,” says Vora.
Harsh Patel | Lung involvement 50%Harsh Patel, 35, an IT consultant, got the classical symptoms such as fever on April 19.
The RT-PCR tested positive, and HRCT was 0/25.
“In just three days, it shot up to 15/25.
The doctors recommended it due to my rapidly deteriorating condition, says Patel, whose father and uncle also got infected, but they did not need hospitalization.
With breathing difficulty, Patel was admitted to a city-based hospital, and after a week, he had to be first taken on NRBM (non-rebreathable mask) and then on BiPAP.
“The lung involvement was over 50%, and I was praying fervently that I would get back with my family.
I had already lost a friend to the pandemic,” he said.
In all, Patel spent 25 days under hospitalization.
“I got shifted to another hospital due to the lung damage.
Even after the discharge, I need some oxygen breathing at home, as my physiotherapy to improve lung condition is also on,” he said.
Today he is on path of recovery.
His relatives said that with physiotherapy sessions, Patel has started walking slowly within his room.
The oxygen requirements have also gone down a bit as he is hopeful of getting back to routine soon.