Much has been written and said of the warning signs, symptoms and dangers of COVID-19. But how is it like to live with this disease that has taken the lives of so many people across the world?
Several stories have been read about people who have somehow beat this disease and recovered but very few have openly narrated the day-by-day medical conditions, thoughts and observations in the journey from testing positive to negative.
One of such survivors is 51-year-old Fred Drah, a Ghanaian who has chronicled his traumatic experience to Ghanaians as a way to demystify the stigma persons who have contracted the disease go through.
Sharing his ordeal and experience in front of some ministers of state, officials of the Ghana Health Service, journalists and other groups of people, and on national television, Mr Drah detailed his account this morning at the press briefing organised by the Ministry of Information.
Early detection of symptoms
Mr Drah recounted that on March 17, 2020, he started feeling feverish at 12:15am. Though he kept drinking water, his throat kept drying up within the shortest possible time.
His wife administered the first aid by giving him two tablets of paracetamol, which he confessed helped his sleep that night.
The next day, though the about 4 lab test results from the Tema Polyclinic came out negative, he was still not convinced he was fit enough to go home.
"They took my temperature and realised that my temperature was above the normal temperature, so they started suspecting me. They isolated me to a different place for 45 minutes, samples again were taken."
The traumatic journey for him began when doctors contacted him the next day, a Thursday, to announce to him his COVID-19 status. He was advised to keep a distance from his family especially children to prevent spreading the disease. Two days after the phone call, staff of the Ghana Health Service came to pick him up with an ambulance.
Saying goodbye to family en route to isolation centre
Mr Drah who is married with four children revealed that he completely broke down when he turned to see his family crying at the sight of him being whisked into the ambulance.
"At the moment, the only thing I could do was a wave, indicating I will be back," he told the media. In his mind, he assumed that was the last day of his stay on earth, since he had a perception that contracting the coronavirus meant death.
Good care at a facility in Ga East
Mr Drah explained that, he was taken to the Ga East District Hospital. He commended the nurses and doctors that took care of him.
"In fact I will give the nurses and doctors at where I went 95%. Because they did very well...The food was good, it came on time in the morning, afternoon and evening. The doctors were good, they were able to help me push through."
Having stayed at the hospital for some weeks, he was finally discharged and asked to go home.
"COVID-19 is real. COVID-19 is real", a visibly emotional Fred Drah tells the public.
He is hopeful that his initiative to tell his story to as many Ghanaians as possible, will help people realised that Covid-19 is not a death sentence and as such people living with it or people who have recovered from it should not be stigmatized.
