My COVID story: "Both my parents tested positive and it was quite terrifying"

Dr Khushboo Gandhi from Indore was volunteering for COVID duty, when she got the news that her dad who was also a doctor had tested COVID positive. This is her story of keeping the family strong through this testing phase.
I was working as an intern at the Government Dental College, Indore when this virus spread through our country and created the mayhem that is in front of us. The dental hospital was shut down due to lockdown however we were asked to volunteer for COVID duty. On 31st March, we had our official training and started with sampling duty at CMHO from 1st April.

Since it was a pretty risky business and I didn’t want to increase the chances of my family getting exposed to this virus in any way, I decided to isolate myself till I continue with the sampling work. Meanwhile my dad who is also a surgeon also got called for emergency duty. Towards the end of the month of May, a patient of my dad tested positive for Corona and thus my dad had to get himself tested. When the results came back positive, we all were shocked and pretty scared. Having followed the same procedures for endless families previously, I never even thought that I might have to go through this ordeal with my own family!
We all had to get ourselves tested and while luckily the kids tested negative, unfortunately our mom tested positive. Being asymptomatic, they both isolated in two separate rooms at home and our house was barricaded and nobody was allowed to enter or leave the house for those 17 days.

We had shifted our grandparents to our farmhouse right at the beginning of the lockdown to keep them away from any source of infection and thus even they were not allowed to visit us. So it was just me, my younger sister (17 years old) and my younger brother (12 years old) incharge of the whole house, our parents and our pets.

Honestly the first two days were really terrifying but we decided that we must put up a strong front for our parents to get them through this tough time and thus we divided the chores and embarked on this journey which was honestly a life changing experience, dealing with one day at a time. It brought us all closer as a family like never before. We would play music in the morning to make the atmosphere cheerful, make a variety of different dishes to help elevate the overall mood of the house and just put on a happy face to show them that we can get through this together.

The first few days were really bad for both my parents, a few symptoms started showing and the restlessness of being trapped in one room all alone all day got to them. However, they got used to it in a while and when the symptoms subdued they were much better physically as well as mentally. We made sure to have all the meals together even though they had to eat in their respective rooms but they sat near the door so that we could see each other.

After 17 days, we all got tested again and this time the result was thankfully negative for all of us. I was even more motivated to get back to work now and help as many people as I could after seeing the impact of corona first hand and therefore I resumed duty the very next day.

My advice to anybody facing such conditions personally or with their families would be to keep themselves and the people around them as positive and happy as they can under the circumstances. It is a hard time but this shall pass too.

Also as a healthcare worker who is seeing the ground reality everyday please be careful and don't take this disease lightly. We were very lucky as a family to not have any serious consequences but a lot of families have not been so lucky. So stay safe and take all the necessary precautions.

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