Survivors triumph over coronavirus with grit & fighting spirit in Lucknow

LUCKNOW: At a time when the second wave of Covid-19 is causing devastation, every Covid survivor family in the city has an inspirational tale that keeps the human spirit alive.
If a son’s desire to make his parents proud motivated him to fight, hold onto life, a son-daughter duo went all out to save the lives of their parents.

When software developer Rishabh Ranjan Mishra (32), a resident of Shardanagar, had a sudden attack of breathlessness with blood oxygen level dropping to 88% in the morning of April 10, his parents contacted six hospitals, but none admitted him citing unavailability of beds.
After trying desperately for the entire day, the family arranged a bed in a hospital in Gomtinagar at 10pm. The RT-PCR test found him Covid-19 positive and chest X-ray indicated that only 10% of his lungs were functioning due to Covid induced pneumonia, considered to be the advanced stage of the disease.
“My parents were scared. My confidence also shook after seeing other patients in the ward gasping for breath, but the thought that I have to hold onto life and achieve my career goals and plans to make my parents proud, motivated me to fight,” said Rishabh, who recovered after spending 13 days in critical care.
“All kinds of tests, drugs and therapies you go during treatment also bring fatigue, but pep talks by doctors and nurses kept my hopes alive,” he added.
Anuj Srivastava and his sister Deepali were scared when the Covid-19 test reports of their parents, Sanjay and Savita, who were suffering from fever for the past few days, came positive on April 13. Suddenly, their blood oxygen level dipped to 70-80%. After running from pillar to post, the siblings managed to hospitalise their mother in a Gomtinagar hospital but could not find a vacant bed for their father. With no other option, they converted their father’s room into a mini ‘high dependency unit’ by installing oxygen support system.
“The sugar level of my father, who is a diabetic, also shot up. It appeared then that we would lose him, but he kept fighting and after four days, we got a bed for him in a private hospital. However, before we could heave a sigh of relief, the news arrived that the oxygen supply in the two hospitals where my parents were admitted was exhausted. We somehow managed to get two oxygen cylinders and rushed them to the two hospitals on time to save their life. During their hospitalisation period, we daily shunted between home to the hospitals to provide food, medicines and other essentials to them,” said Anuj.
“In between this struggle, Deepali too contracted infection but remained asymptomatic. She recovered in home isolation. My father got discharged from the hospital after eight days on April 21, but my mother had to spend 16 days in hospital as her recovery was slow. She returned home on April 29. During this period, we often felt helplessness but motivation from friends and doctors helped us survive the tough time,” he added.