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A Nigerian nurse in the UK has told the story of how she survived the rampaging coronavirus. A Nigerian nurse in the United Kingdom who recently survived
COVID-19, Mrs Kemi Samuel, 52, shares her painful experience with GBENRO
ADEOYE
You are a COVID-19 survivor, how does that feel?
I am relieved that I came out of the
tunnel because there were a lot of worries and despair. The disease was
just killing people, especially blacks. I feel thankful to God.
How did you contract it?
I don’t know. In the build-up to the
lockdown, we had to do a lot of shopping. I have two children and I
wanted to make sure there was food at home to last us for the period.
Sometimes, we had to queue at the supermarket. Also, I was working; I
work as a nurse and midwife although I was observing all protocols but
we were not well protected at work. The British government didn’t
provide adequate personal protective equipment as recommended for health
workers. It could have been through anything, including letters from
the post. It is difficult to say exactly how.
What symptoms did you have?
It started with a headache and I don’t
usually have that. It was a frontal headache that affected my eyes. It
went on for about three or four days, then I started coughing. I could
hardly say a sentence without coughing 10 or 15 times. I coughed for
about two days before my temperature started going up. I had a fever,
body aches, body tenderness, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, vomiting,
hallucinations, and heaviness in the chest. I had these for over a week.
Oftentimes, I was tempted to call for an ambulance to pick me up but I
resisted it because I felt I could use a lot of remedies at home.
Were you not initially sure it was COVID-19?
Yes. I was doing quite a lot at home. I
made sure I isolated myself in my room. I didn’t allow my children to
come near me. It was difficult to do that. Luckily, they both could
cope. I couldn’t eat what they prepared for me as I didn’t have an
appetite. I didn’t experience any loss of smell. I just didn’t have an
appetite.
I made sure I was moving about and not
just lying down because that is very important to keep the fluids out of
the chest. Then my doctor called on April 2, 2020. I was supposed to
have an appointment with him on that day anyway. He had sent me a text
saying I shouldn’t come to the surgery and that he would call. He called
and heard me coughing. So he said my cough was terrible. He asked if I
wanted to go to hospital and I said I was okay. He said, ‘You don’t
sound okay, you sound very chesty.’
Then I heard him coughing too and I
said, ‘You are coughing too.’ He said yes and that he was calling from
home because he had been confirmed to have COVID-19. I said, ‘Oh, so we
are in the same boat.’ But my symptoms were much more terrible than his
because it affects people slightly differently.
He prescribed some antibiotics for me because I requested. I knew what had worked for my cough in the past.
How was it confirmed to be COVID-19?
I wasn’t tested but the GP (general
practitioner) asked me some questions about my symptoms, the pattern and
all that and he said I had it. He said I should isolate myself from
the rest of my family, try not to have contact with them or go out. He
said if I needed to go to the hospital, I should call for an ambulance.
And there is a dedicated phone line that we use here – 111. I called
and they also confirmed it.
But they would tell you if your symptoms
get worse, just call for an ambulance to pick you up. But I didn’t
want to go to hospital. It got to a stage that I felt I needed it but I
thought I could look after myself better at home than going to the
hospital to add to the workload of health workers there. I felt if I
could not cope at home, then I would call for an ambulance to pick me up
but I managed to cope.
What kind of drugs did you take at home?
I took quite a lot of medications; I
took paracetamol. You must not take ibruprofen, it makes it worse. I had
read about that so I didn’t use it. I took different multivitamins;
high concentrated Vitamin B Complex, Vitamin C, and others. I was
drinking lots of fluid like lemon, ginger, or lime with honey. I boiled
some onions and garlic. I always have that in the fridge anyway because
it is good for warding off symptoms of cold.
I made sure everything I drank was hot. I
was doing inhalation –my children would boil lemon or lime peels and
put in a bucket so I could inhale the steam. I was doing that up to
three or four times a day.
Normally I don’t drink alcohol but a
friend’s husband who is from Jamaica had told me to have Jamaican rum at
home, just before the lockdown. He said whenever I felt tingly at the
back of my throat, I should take a shot and that I could also rub it on
my body. After doing inhalation and my body dried up, I would rub the
rum on my body and drink a little. I would wait for an hour or two and
go and have a shower. And I would rub menthol cream on my chest and my
children would wear gloves and rub it on my back.
I had some eucalyptus oil that I put on
tissues to ease my breathing a bit. I had to maintain an upright
position all the time; I couldn’t lie down, especially at night. At
night, I always felt unsafe and scared. I felt if I closed my eyes, I
was going to die so I couldn’t sleep much during the period. And I was
using the toilet a lot. I was coughing quite a lot too, and trying to
get mucus out but it would lead to vomiting.
How long did that go on before you started feeling better?
It went on for over two weeks and I
couldn’t put anything on my skin. I was naked. I couldn’t allow anything
to touch me because my body was very tender and sensitive. Even though
I was feeling cold, I could not have anything touching my skin. I was
very sweaty as well because my temperature was very high. It lasted for
two weeks and a few days, then it gradually started easing off. Now it
is just the cough I have.
Often times, I would want to pass out.
There was a time I went to the toilet and passed out. My son had to
ignore all the protocols. He carried me and took me to my room. I
insisted he had to have a shower. He bathed himself thoroughly and took
some of the things I was taking.
With the contact your son had with you, did he get himself tested?
He has had no symptoms. I made sure my
daughter didn’t come home because she is diabetic. My son isolated
himself from his sister as well. Luckily, we live in a building with
three floors; my daughter lives on the second while my son lives on the
first floor with me. They were drinking everything I was drinking but
when my son touched me, I had to force him to double the doses.
How scared were you when you had all the symptoms?
I was very scared because I am a single
mum. I was scared for my children’s lives. I thought if anything
happened and I didn’t make it, what would happen to my children? I
wasn’t scared to die but I was scared for them. I thought, ‘Who is going
to nurture them like I have been doing?’ I am not God but there is no
one that can be like your mum. My daughter is 24 and my son is 22, so
they are adults but they will always be my children. I thought, ‘Have I
put enough in their lives to be able to stand on their own?’
I thought I had been through a lot and
had not even had time to look after myself because I had sacrificed
everything I had to nurture my children. I overworked myself so that I
could give them my time. I used to do only part-time work so that I
could be at home when they returned from school when they were younger.
I was thinking about all this one day
when my son came to my door and started talking to me. He said, ‘Mummy,
you have been through a lot, this is not going to kill you. I don’t
want you to start worrying, just keep praying. You will survive it; God
will not allow you to die now.’ It was like God sent him to me to
reassure me. It came at the right time because I was getting deflated.
He said, ‘Just keep moving around, don’t stop.’ He kept on talking and
talking and that really helped me.
Also, I send gospel stuff to people in
the morning; this is my own way of evangelising. My married friends
would tell me they know I would wake them up between 6am and 7am. I send
prayer points and things like that unfailingly. But when I was ill,
people started noticing I wasn’t sending them on time and it was not in
my character. Those who noticed they were coming late got in touch with
me and I told them my experience. God just put it in their hearts to
bless me.
Some would send me WhatsApp messages;
some would ask me for what I needed. They would buy lemon, ginger and so
on and bring to my door. I felt so loved. Some of them are not even
Nigerians. I was touched by the care.
Did you experience any stigma during the period?
No, I didn’t experience that. Even one
of the people that we studied nursing together contacted me out of the
blue. She wanted to ask about something and when she asked what was
going on and I told her, she said she was just coming out of it.
Hers was confirmed by the hospital. We
started comparing notes. I would say, ‘Yes, I experienced that too.’ But
she had survived it while I was still going through it. It gave me
some encouragement.
Does the experience make you appreciate life more?
Yes, it makes me appreciate life more
and realise that I should just live for the moment. However, I have been
doing that since 1991 when my brother died. I am not saying people
shouldn’t be ambitious; you can be ambitious but also live in the
moment. While you are still alive, take time to savour the blessings of
God and appreciate Him. It made me put a lot of things into
perspective. I have always been simple anyway, so I am not into
designer things or specific types of cars.
But it made me appreciate that life has
no duplicate and you just grab whatever you can and savour it. Be more
appreciative of the people around you. God can use anybody to bless
you. Don’t dismiss any human being; embrace everyone wholeheartedly. No
one is a forest and when you are in need, you will always find someone
to help you when you fall. Don’t allow pettiness and ethnicity to
cloud your judgment; we are all one. Our journeys may be different, but
we are all aspiring to attain something. We should embrace our
individuality and connectivity, which shows that we are humans. So it
has made me to appreciate humanity more.
When you realised that you had survived it, what was the first thing you did?
My action was very premature. I played
Tope Alabi and Baba Ara’s songs and started dancing. I danced for almost
two hours nonstop. I just couldn’t stop praising God and appreciating
Him. I woke my son up and said I was hungry. He brought food and I took
a little but couldn’t eat much as I started coughing. That was very
premature.
Do you eat better now?
I am overeating now, which is bad.
Anyway, I am doing exercises now. After dancing, I couldn’t breathe
well, I started feeling like I wanted to faint. Then my son said, ‘Just
listen to the gospel music, don’t dance, okay.’ I had just come out of
something very serious and my body needed time to recover. He said give
yourself another week before you start doing this marathon dancing,
okay.
I accepted and did that. And I love
cooking. Recently, I woke up early and started cooking. My son, who is
the COVID-19 police in the house, started asking, ‘Have you touched
this? Have you touched the tap? Have you touched the light?’ And he
would start cleaning them. He didn’t want me inside the kitchen but I
didn’t give a damn, I wanted to cook badly. And while I was cooking, I
was dancing because I was playing gospel music.
I was rocking and cooking; I cooked
about four different meals. By the time they woke up, there was a lot of
food and they said, ‘What is wrong with you? Have you touched the tap?
Have you touched that?’ My son decided to clean everywhere.
Have you gone out since you felt better?
Yes, recently I went out for the first
time. I said I wanted some sweets and other stuff. I got up around 7am.
They gave people working in the front line time to buy food – between
7am and 8am, before the supermarkets would officially open to the
public. That is a way of saying thank you for your services.
My house to the supermarket is less than
10 minutes’ walk on a normal day but it took me almost 20 minutes to
walk there. I felt very tired. I was feeling dizzy so I had to do
everything very slowly. Almost every two minutes, I would sit on the
ground, then I realised I had not fully recovered.
Usually when I walk slowly, it takes me
10 minutes to get to the supermarket. If I walk fast, seven minutes.
But on that day, it took me over 20 minutes to walk there and even much
longer to walk back home.
When do you hope to return to work?
My general practitioner gave me till May 13, 2020 so I will be going back on May 14.
How old are you?
I am 52. I will be 53 in December. I
think my immunity wasn’t at 100 per cent due to the menopausal symptoms
that I had been experiencing before I had it.
You said you were not well protected at work; do you have fear that you could get infected again when you return to work?
My colleagues tell me that all they are
giving now are just surgical masks, which they use in the theatre and
aprons. And they do consultation with the patients. I work in the
clinic. One of those working in the wards sent me the photograph of the
PPE she was wearing and her neck and forehead were still very exposed
so she could contract it through that because fluids could splatter on
you when people are coughing.
I have read about front-line nurses
leaving work and dying within four hours of returning home without
showing any symptoms of COVID-19. They get home and die. That is
happening a lot.
What do you consider as the adequate PPE needed for your job?
The WHO standard is that it should cover
the whole of your body, not leaving any part exposed. But the ones we
got don’t cover the whole of our face. Despite the noises about it from
January, the government was inadequately prepared for it.
Does that make you afraid to return to work?
I am really scared because having
survived it doesn’t mean that you have developed immunity to it,
according to scientists. Now I hear that it’s mutated into different
strains. So I am scared. So yes, I am petrified. I have thought about
resigning but if I do that, how am I going to keep on surviving, paying
my mortgage, bills and feeding my children because I made my son to
resign from work? The type of part-time job he was doing involved having
contact with a lot of people.
***Source: Sunday PUNCH
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