I feared I’d be next victim but cheated death by whisker
By Harrison Kivisu, July 14, 2020Anderson Bongo, who spent 26 days in the Intensive Care Unit after he was diagnosed with Covid-19, yesterday narrated his close shave with death.
The 45-year-old recalled the petrifying fear of watching other patients who were admitted in the same ward with him die and the troubling thought he was likely the next one in the line.
“I was admitted on May 11, 2020, and left the hospital on June 5. All those days I was put on oxygen supplements because I could not breath.
At times, I could see the next patient pass away as I watched. It was really painful,” said Bongo.
As he oscillated between consciousness and unconsciousness, he left his fate to God.
“It reached a time when I was feeling like I was going to die. As I lay on my bed, I saw an angel of God encouraging me that I would get well; that morning I woke up and could walk to the toilet,” he added.
Immunity boosters
During this time, doctors advised him to take, more vegetables, oranges or bananas because they would boost his immunity.
The fact that he has high blood pressure put him at risk, but doctors asked him to do more exercises.
He said his wife and his four-year-old son were also subjected to mandatory quarantine after they also tested positive.
They were rounded up by Ministry of Health officers and forced into quarantine.
“The most painful thing is when your family suffers because you have infected them.
While admitted in the hospital, my worry was to leave my family even without saying a word,” Bongo told People Daily.
His fight with the disease started two months ago when he woke up with a slight fever and decided to visit a local health facility where malaria tests were done.
After examination, he tested negative for malaria, but the doctor prescribed some antibiotics.
He had no history of recent travel, neither had he attended gatherings prior. Therefore, being a Covid-19 positive was the last thing he could think of.
However, after two days, the resident of Tudor says he developed some muscle pain, this time he decided to go to the Coast General and Referral Hospital (CGRH).
By the time he was getting to the hospital he could not breath and he had developed chest pain.
After examination, it was established he was Covid-19 positive. His situation was deteriorating and doctors had to rush him to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed at the CGRH.
Fighting stigma
When doctors discharged him to go for home-based care on June 26, Bongo—a taxi driver in Mombasa—says has now taken to social media to caution Kenyans on the need to take the necessary precautionary measures as directed by the Health ministry.
“I knew people will stigmatise me when I left the hospital and I did not want to give them that chance, So, I took to social media to announce my status as a recovered patient,” he added.
Bongo, is now urging Kenyans that contracting Covid-19 is not a death sentence. Many have recovered and what he advises other Kenyans is to heed to government’s calls to ensure safety precautions are adhered to.
“Covid-19 is not a death sentence. If people observe the set precautionary measures, they will stay safe.
During my stay in the hospital, I had incurred bills amounting to Sh240,000 for both me and my family, which was all catered for by the government,” he added.