I decided to walk my own path in home-based care 

As I mentioned yesterday, after leaving the hospital, I was encouraged to enrol in home based care. But, after checking out the options available and the cost involved, I decided to craft my own.

With an asymptomatic wife in the same house and two young adults who are negative, I had to think quickly how we were going to live in the same house.

The first was obvious; both my wife and I had to isolate in different rooms, have our set of utensils set aside, get packs of masks in each room and sanitiser, and whenever we venture to the common areas, we have to wear masks indoors — all the time.

So the living room and kitchen are designated as the common areas where masks have to be worn all the time. I then made a private arrangement with a doctor to be checking on us everyday; all the vitals — pressure, temperature and sugar levels.

The doctor has been diligently keeping the records of these readings after which the final test will be undertaken end of the week to determine our status.

So far, we are on course and all the vitals are proving okay. The only issue is I lost 8kgs during my 10-day hospitalisation period.

Laboured breathing

It is important to stress that Covid-19 presents differently in different people. In my case, the cold came first, followed by the chills after four days and finally culminating with the bronchopneumonia which was diagnosed after the x-ray.

The laboured breathing and elevated sugar levels followed leading to hospitalisation. In some cases, a patient may present with clots, others with pneumonia. 

But most hospitals have now taken to screening all patients for Covid regardless of what took you to hospital.

In my ward, we had a young man who was admitted over a broken arm. He later tested positive for Covid during the routine screening and that's how he ended up in the isolation ward.

The other complications that patients are presenting with are shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing, rigours and chills, body malaise and aches.

In some extreme cases, a Covid patient can also be delirious from a fever that does not go down at all, despite medication. This would explain why in my case I was wearing five layers of clothing and still waking up at night to wash away the sweat.

The shortness of breath, according to one doctor I spoke to, is due to overproduction of mucous which forms plugs that block the airways that supply air to the lungs. 

This can be removed through an operation called bronchoscopy. So what is this operation?

Biggest challenge

Google defines it this way: “Bronchoscopy is an endoscopic technique of visualising the inside of the airways for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. An instrument is inserted into the airways, usually through the nose or mouth, or occasionally through a tracheostomy.” If this is performed locally, it would go a long way towards addressing the mucous blocking the airways.

But the biggest challenge is posed by those who are asymptomatic. Since they do not display any symptoms, they are super-spreaders.

The only way they can be identified is either through routine screening or when travelling. If not found in time, they will end up infecting the weak and elderly whenever they come into contact with them.

That’s why it is important for everybody to wear masks, observe social distance and sanitise regularly. 

Mr Mbuthia, a former Nation quality editor, is currently a consulting editor