My Covid-19 Tale Part 1

The beginning

[Friday] Day 1: Self-medication

I woke up on Friday, April 17th 2020 in poor health. I had a headache from hell, body pains that were

sent from God-knows-where, my taste buds were missing in action and my body felt like slime, or

maybe more like kinetic sand. I hated the feeling. I should add that while I was on the field, with the

Project Ark team, I had a bad case of diarrhea-- it was so bad that I messed up my undergarments andwas forced to dispose of them. So when I woke up feeling the way I did on Friday, I was not too

pleased-- I mean, I could not afford to fall sick during this crazy ‘rona season. I did not suspect I had the coronavirus until my conversation with P.ED (a.k.a Papa Bear) later that day.

Shortly after I had shared my symptoms in the Kingdom Community Whatsapp ground, PU (Pastor

Udy) and Aunty Alero called to check up on me. Aunty Alero called to list off home remedies and

precautionary measures that had me questioning my life. The alarm in my head didn’t go off until PU

sent a list of prescriptions for me to purchase and I saw Hydroxy-chloroquine on the list. I broke out in

cold sweats-- I felt like a bottle of cold coca-cola. I had to buy the medication then, didn’t I? After I

bought the medication, I noticed the bag closely resembled Ajogba ogun (ask your mom about it, fam!). On my walk back from the pharmacy, I felt confused and angry; I was confused by the sight of a crowd in the market and angry at how defiant people were in spite of hearing the coronavirus noise. As I walked home, someone’s aunty stopped me on the road to say, “are you okay? Because you look like you are very sick ooo! Sha go and buy chloroquine and erythromycin.” Her words burst my bubble. I took myself back upstairs with my bag of agbo in one hand and my medication in the other; I thought that the worst of the day was finally over but I had no idea what was coming next.

Later that night, I decided to be a good citizen and call both the NCDC and Lagos State COVID

response lines. After being put on hold for up to 40 minutes, a representative was finally assigned to

me. I recounted my symptoms and explained how I was feeling to the woman on the end of the line.

Do you know what she responded with? ‘Ahhhhhhh!’ I guess she was Yoruba because my kinsmen like to ‘ahhhh’ pass food. A second alarm goes off in my head. Lagos State kept posting me and no-one returned my calls. While I was waiting to hear back from the NCDC, some KC members had begun showering me with love-- I swear I turned into hot akara. I appreciated their love but I also warned them to stay far away from me; because according to WHO, I was a potential biohazard. I followed precautionary measures as advised by everyone, including Google.

P.S: Google your symptoms at your own risk. I legit thought I had 12 hours left to live after I googled mine.I went to bed praying and hoping I would not die in my sleep

[Saturday] Day 2: Sluggish but alive

Well, as you can imagine, I made it through the night and woke up alive, but far from healthy, on

Saturday morning. I woke up feeling sluggish and my lungs felt like the road to Heaven-- very narrow

and tight. The struggle to breathe was real and for most of the day, breathing was a chore. I contemplated giving up a few times but even that wasn’t an easy feat. I managed to push through with an ‘it is what it is…. WE LOCOMOTE’ attitude.

[Sunday] Day 3: My mother was not having it!

Sunday was the hardest day. Everything didn’t feel right in spite of medication and ginger. I inhaled

aboniki and turmeric to open up my lungs. Nothing was working. I also figured I could not smell

anything. The third alarm went off. At that moment, I knew I had the virus.

At some point, my mom wanted to do something for me and I kept asking to stay away from me—

Lagos State was on its way to test the both of us and I wanted us to wait for their arrival. My mother

replied with, ‘ah sho ti ni Coro ni? (Do you have Coro now?). She was not down with the plan of staying

away from me and didn’t want to be managed in her own home. I tried to explain that I was asking her

to keep her distance for her benefit and my request had very little to do with me. As far as I was

concerned, she could afford to contact the virus because she had underlying health issues.

Later in the evening, she called my sisters to complain about me to them. Even though my sisters were

on my side, it did nothing to stop my mother from listening to any of us. She instead suggested that I

leave the house for her. Ha! Well, since I was not feeling well, I decided to pack a small and go to LUTH or some other hospital.

While I was making that plan, someone from outside suggested to my mom that she leave the house instead and she listened to their piece of advice. She decided to take all our keys, sent my aunty out of the house and she locked me inside. I was very angry. About 15 minutes after she had left me locked inside, people from the health centres around the house began to call me and chastise me for letting my mom leave the house. I asked one of them to plead with her to come home, unlock the doors and allow me to leave.

By the time she returned home, I had my bags packed and was ready to head to the hospital. One

minute, everything was calm, the next minute, my mother hijacked my clothes and began to physically

restrain me from trying to leave her house. She ripped my clothes and did a number of things that

night. I called a family friend  who was familiar with my mother and knew the implications of her being in the house. He overhead our debacle, called PU and they both managed to settle the issue. I ended up staying in the house. On the other side of my side of my family drama, aunty Imo and the rest of KC’s leadership were making calls and trying to get me into one of the holding centres and get me tested. Early in the day, Lagos State had released a list of centres and I managed to get on the phone with one of the doctors (Dr. Asiyanbi). Dr. Asinyabi mentioned that they had not begun testing on Lagos Island; they lacked proper testing gear and were likely to begin on Monday. He

advised me to stay away from everyone and I replied that it would be nearly impossible to practice social distancing at home

[Monday] Day 4: Non-existent taste buds

By Monday morning, my taste buds were practically non-existent and I had lost my appetite; however, I needed to eat. Damilola called to let me know she would be sending food my way. When the dispatch rider called to confirm my location, I went out into the balcony to give him directions. While I was out on the balcony, I placed my phone on the railing and heard a voice say, very clearly, ‘come away with me.’ I said, ‘okay no whala.’ A few minutes after I heard the voice, my phone fell off the railing and landed on the ground floor. The phone situation began my ‘come away’ journey.

In the process of trying to get a phone, I went out to find a phone store. I didn’t want anyone to feel

agitated about not being able to reach me that day. I found a guy who sold phones but he didn’t have a

POS and I couldn’t initiate an account to account transfer. I had to go to the bank to withdraw some

money to purchase the phone. I could barely breathe during the walk to the bank and people on the road thought I was going to faint. After I gave the man his money, he disappeared and left me waiting for him for a full hour. When he returned, he returned empty-handed. Apparently, they didn’t have the phone I wanted at the main shop. He refunded my payment and sent me on my merry way. However, on my way back home, I counted and realised I was N3,000 short. I could not believe he stole my money and didn’t even get me a phone! I didn’t bother going back to his shop to call him out I figured that there was no point and I had my breathing issues to worry about. In the midst of my phone drama, my mother was not speaking to me which meant I was left to fend for myself at home.

Later in the night, I began throwing up and could not keep anything down. Everytime I tried to eat, I

either threw up or experienced another round of diarrhoea. I stopped eating and naturally, I barely had any energy and became very weak. Bear in mind that I was supposed to go into a holding centre and get tested but because I had not heard back from aunty Imo, I didn’t have a lot of options at my disposal. I struggled to sleep through the night; I was afraid that I would die in my sleep. I was that scared.

Of course I did not reveal my fears to KC leadership because I didn’t want to put any of them on the

edge. Every time they, or anyone called, I pulled every bit of strength I had in my reservoir and pushed through the calls. My Monday night was so dramatic that I still can’t adequately describe what I went through that day.

[Tuesday] Day 5: “She needs oxygen.”

I left home with a small bag I packed and headed to LUTH to meet Dr. Robert for testing and possible

admission. When I arrived at the IIDC (Infectious Diseases Centre) myself, aunty Imo and Drs Robert

were making calls back and forth. While that was going on, my breathing began to grow faint again

and the doctors on duty kept saying, "she is fainting”, “she needs oxygen”, “she needs help", but no help came my way. When I fell down, somebody appeared out of nowhere, carried me to a pavement and gave me water; he didn’t bother to ask a single question or ask what was wrong with me . While I was on the pavement, everything became blurry and the man kept telling me to stay with him. In the midst of my fainting spells, the doctors stayed away and kept saying there were no available wards. Over three hours after my sample was taken, the struggle to get a bedspace began; after what felt like eternity, I was driven to IDH Yaba with hopes of getting a bed space. When we got to Yaba they checked my SPO2 (oxygen saturation) and it was 85/100 ( 90/100 is already an emergency) but at 85, I was still surprisingly conscious. The people at the IDH in Yaba tried to get me a bed space but their efforts were in vain.

We left Yaba at 8:30 PM and could not find any means of transportation due to the lockdown. The

ambulance couldn't take me home, so the driver dropped me off at LUTH and I had to find my way

without a working phone. I trekked halfway to Ojuelegba with SPO 80/100 with no help in sight. I

eventually found an angel of a bikeman who stopped to take me to Ojuelegba. When I got to

Ojuelegba, I faced the real trouble of figuring out how to get home. It took me 20mins to walk from

Ojuelegba road to Premier lotto HQ where I managed to find a taxi. During my walk, people kept

running away from me.

I got home, charged my phone, called aunty sunshine (aunty Imo) and the quest to get me into another

holding centre resumed. Around 10:45pm the Lagos State ambulance service called to let me know

they were on their way to pick me. I waited for a few hours before they arrived a few minutes to 2 AM-------- there is another story here but I will tell it at the end of the victory tale.

To be Continued...........