Fighting fit: A COVID-19 survivor's road back to health
Mbongeni Mguni | Friday January 15, 2021 16:02
In a typical week, Patimile Fred Kebadiretse goes to the gym for five days and does ten kilometres or more of running on Saturday.
This past Saturday, he ran for 12 kilometres and each step was a reminder of how far he has come since a dark, life threatening episode in early November.
As COVID-19 numbers rise by approximately 200 per day, with reports of a new more aggressive strain from South Africa, Batswana are coming forward to tell their stories, increase knowledge, ease the stigma and fight against misconceptions that the virus is fake or harmless.
“I had a stomach bug and went to Gaborone Private Hospital where they gave me a standard questionnaire given to all arrivals. If you answer positively to some of the questions they ask you to do a COVID-19 test as a precaution. “I answered positively to two of them and did the test on a Tuesday. “I had no health issues except for the stomach ache and the following Monday, I went to get my results which were negative. “However, on the evening of the same day, I began to feel flu symptoms which intensified in the evening,” Kebadiretse recalls.
Despite his negative test, Kebadiretse could not ignore the warning signs in his body. Since the virus’ outbreak in March last year, the symptoms have been hammered into everyone’s brains, with billboards, notices on shops and adverts on media ensuring no one can claim not to know the signs.
Tuesday and Wednesday were terrible and the fitness enthusiast lost his sense of smell and taste. Alarm bells were ringing loudly, particularly as he noticed he was experiencing breathing issues and exhaustion. That Thursday he returned to GPH for tests and by Sunday, he was confirmed COVID-19 positive.
The fight had begun.
“At their worst, the symptoms were really bad. I used to run ten kilometres every Saturday but I could not even walk up the 15 stairs to my bedroom without being exhausted. “Even being on the phone talking for five minutes would be too exhausting; talking involves measured breathing and I could not do that. “I would say my symptoms were mild to the extreme end of mild, just before worse.”
Sent home to self-isolate and recover, Kebadiretse had to make changes in the house to protect his daughter. He sealed himself off from the rest of the family and wore a mask throughout, minimising any contact. Sanitising was done constantly together with other protocols. His partner and daughter would eventually test negative twice thanks to the stringent health protocols adopted in the home.
But how did he get COVID-19 in the first place? Kebadiretse says ever since the outbreak was reported in the country, he has taken all the protocols such as social distancing, wearing a mask and sanitising very seriously. He has no idea where he picked up the virus from.
“I thought a lot about this. Maybe the trip I took before my diagnosis to Phikwe, maybe the hotel room I stayed in. “Before that, I was only going to the gym and the shops. “It has been very difficult to pin down where I got it from but I was always careful about sanitising and wearing a mask. “Maybe I got it from going to the hospital for the stomach issue. I don’t know,” he says.
Kebadiretse has since recovered from the virus and is fast regaining his strength, returning to his fitness activities. He is concerned about people who still do not take COVID-19 seriously.
“When I went to Block 8 clinic to get my clearance certificate, one patient there was complaining saying COVID-19 and the testing were wasting his time and interfering with his life because he could not travel. “People who are asymptomatic may say the disease is nothing, but then they interact with someone who then gets very bad symptoms. “Remember that you may be asymptomatic and think it’s a joke, then pass it onto someone who may not react the same way.”
Kebadiretse implores fellow Batswana to take COVID-19 very seriously and guard their health.