Beating Covid: I was in a coma for two days but survived to tell my story

“It started with having difficulties in breathing and flu, but I did not takes it serious for I did not know how exactly coronavirus affects the body,” Ms Irene Jenkins Langa, a head teacher of a government-aided school, Rubongi Primary School in Rubongi Sub-county, Tororo District, says as she recalls how she battled Covid-19.

Ms Langa is also the current president of head teachers of primary schools in Tororo.
She suspects that she contracted the virus from a burial ceremony.

“As a practice in the African culture, one feels respected after shaking hands. I shook hands with many people and I suspect that is where I contracted the infection because I am ever conscious of my health to an extent that I usually sanitise my hands after an interval of 15 minutes. But this time round, I was caught off guard,” she narrates.

“It was on May 4 that I woke up with no sense of smell, weakness in the joints, a sore throat and no appetite for food. I decided to visit a nearby medical clinic in Tororo Town to test for malaria. They said my sugar level dropped so low and that I had a bacterial infection in the chest. But after two days of medication, I was not seeing any improvement. The signs of coronavirus had started developing,” she reveals.

On the third day, Ms Langa says the situation worsened and she was taken to Devine Mercy Private Hospital in Tororo Town where another test was done and it was detected that she had developed acute pneumonia. The doctors prescribed treatment, but after three days, the situation got even worse. She was now suffering chest congestion and terrible cough despite the cough syrup she had been given, a situation that forced doctors to refer her to Mulago hospital for further management. Getting her to Mulago hospital, however, was going to be a challenge.

“My daughter told me that by the time the doctors referred me, I had lost consciousness at around 3pm. So they had to mobilise money to hire an ambulance from Mbale Regional Referral Hospital. The ambulance delayed slightly as it had been sent to evacuate another patient,” she says.

At around 7:30pm, they received a phone call that the ambulance was setting off from Mbale and that they should prepare to embark it once it got to where they were, information that gave them some hope.

The ambulance arrived at 8pm, picked them up and arrived at Mulago at around midnight. She was promptly taken to have a Covid-19 test done. As she waited for the results, Langa saw many sad scenes. 

“At the waiting lobby, I saw many people being brought in, in very critical condition and I sympathised with them. Some of them died before being put on treatment,” she says.

 Soon her results came back and they were positive for Covid-19.
It was then recommended that she is taken to the Intensive Care Unit, but so bad was her situation that before that could be done, they asked her to write a will, it was a life and death situation.

“I had little sense of what was happening and I had no energy to talk to my daughter. At this point, I was wondering what was happening and why they were delaying to start giving me treatment. I then used some signs to ask my daughter what was happening.

“I asked my daughter to write what the problem was on a piece of paper. She wrote ‘They want you to write a Will before they can start treating you as is required for all Covid-19 patients’, ’’ Langa narrates.

“I was puzzled, however, I asked them to give me a pen and paper and I wrote down my properties, the people I decided would take over them, and the future plans I had. After this, I was rolled to the ICU.”

Ms Langa says she was at the ICU for two days and unconscious. It was on the third day that she started regaining her senses and started asking why she was there and who had taken her there.

“I looked on either side of my bed and I saw other people on oxygen. The saddest moment I had in there was when a person who was on the fourth bed passed on and I saw him being taken away. At that point, I thought I was going to be next in the queue,” she recalls.  She is, however, grateful for the doctors who cared for and continuously counseled her, something that helped her become confident that she would eventually recover.

After spending seven days in ICU, Ms Langa was then shifted to the High Dependency Unit (HDU).
“While in admission at the HDU, I spent four days on oxygen support and three days where I could breathe on my own.

However, for the time I was there, I saw many strange things happening. I saw people die and this affected me so much, to the extent that after having a second Covid-19 test done whose results were negative, I pushed to be discharged but the doctors didn’t allow.

“Another strange thing I remember was when I saw an old man whose son brought him and threw Shs5 million on the table. The doctors then put off another patient from oxygen and put it on the old man whose son had splashed the money. The other person eventually died,”  she says.

Drugs for medication  
For treatment, Ms Langa was given a number of drugs including Vitamin C, Zinc, Paracetamol, syrups and Azithromycin. She was also advised to take plenty of fruits and water. While at the hospital, her family members and friends would check on her but at a distance. They would deliver the necessary support but would not spend as much time with her.

“Most of my relatives and friends would make phone calls while others sent text messages wishing me quick recovery, especially when they heard that I had regained my sense. This gave me courage. After 14 days, I was tested again and the results were negative, something that brought a smile to my face and that of my daughter,” Ms Langa says.

But there were still a few challenges to come. After being discharged, even her closest family members were afraid of coming close to her. This made her feel uncomfortable. But she tried to take this in stride and focused on recovering completely.

“I think what has helped me even after being discharged is doing exercises and taking garlic, lemon, ginger and boiled water,” she comments.

Ms Langa says a lesson she has learnt from this experiences is having your finances in order. This was key for her, otherwise she believes she was going to lose her life at the time they were asked to hire an ambulance, if they did not have the money to pay for it.

In addition to that, she says: “What I have learnt is for one to have people around you who can be of help in terms of money and comfort. Above all, what I can say is that Covid-19 is real and requires people to observe standard operating procedures.”