My Covid Story – Yes, I am still positive

Vijay Kumar Singh – CFO, Netafim Agricultural financing Agency Pvt. Ltd.

Little did I know that interviewing a candidate who was an unknowing carrier of the corona virus for just ten minutes without a mask will put me and my family into danger. Yes, I tested positive for Covid 19. I fell victim to this nasty lingering virus that gave me the worst symptoms I have experienced so far.

The signs started to kick in occasionally at first with a bout of fever and cold which I passed off as normal flu because I felt fit otherwise. As a routine organizational practice, we ensure that all our new recruits get themselves tested for various ailments and share the report with our HR. During this procedure, the carrier candidate got tested positive and in turn also alerted me. But it was too late by then. Turns out not only me but also my family had been infected.

Thus began my Covid journey.

After getting myself and my family tested, I got to know that I was the one worse affected. My wife and son had a mild infection. Although this little information was relieving but the fear of being tested positive was still looming. We all were home quarantined with absolutely no physical contact with the outside world. My wife and kid were asymptomatic, but my symptoms continued to worsen. I was experiencing dizziness and fever with cough and cold. If all this was not enough, a while later I noticed I was coughing small spots of blood. This alarmed me further, but my doctor assured me that it could be because of continuous coughing and that it will go away as my cough subsides. I calmed myself down and decided to take the doctor’s word as the final one and continued with my self-care with monitoring my oxygen levels, using a vaporizer at regular intervals during the day, eating a healthy diet, although I could hardly differentiate between my dal from the chawal due to the loss of taste. Getting my fatigued body ready for a quick and light exercise was a feat which I only know how I have achieved.

There are times when you feel that life is cornering you with challenges just to test your vigor to fight back and conquer them. During the time I was tested positive, my office was gearing up for a new overseas deal and being the CFO of the organization, I had a key role to play in the project. Even though I was amply supported by my subordinates and the management, the constant flurry of phone calls and emails was maddening. I napped during several times in a day because of the heavy dosage I was under and like luck would have it, at that very time some crucial update came along elevating my anxiety. I was scared to sleep and prayed every time I rested my head on the pillow that all should be fine until I wake up. I was forgetting things and had to constantly keep jotting down points to help me communicate effectively with my high functioning team. But at the end of the day, I also knew that the empathy and backing that I got from my management and team was what kept me motivated to stay at the top of my game even through my illness.

A quick take away from this experience was that instead of panicking, all you must concentrate on how you can get better and come out of the situation at hand as a clear winner. All thanks to our rigorous efforts towards recovery, Me and my family sailed through it and are now completely over the dreaded infection.

I am a fun loving and jolly person and people around me have always lauded me for my positive approach towards life, but for the first time in my life I was glad, in fact ecstatic that I was NEGATIVE.

Working from home now, my mind often travels back to the day I took the interview. Despite of warnings from the government, several forwards on WhatsApp about how to keep yourself safe in the pandemic I overruled the small task of wearing a mask while interviewing the candidate and earned myself the stress that followed. The whole year we have been alert and safe but even a minor lapse in self-protection and you will be punished for your negligence in full. Articulating in our Corporate lingo I would say Compliance is a continuous process and no one can afford to play with it.

As a Covid survivor, I would like to make a humble appeal to each one that please do follow the instructions and restrictions put across by the government. Keeping yourself safe is always better than going through the stressful journey from infection to recuperation. Now is NOT the time to go to that party. Now is NOT the time to meet up friends, to go out to eat, to celebrate birthdays, to go to the beach or the park. I promise you; the celebration can wait.

You NEED  to do your part to FLATTEN the curve and prevent the growing spread to more and more people every day. I am positive that If we all abide by the simple rules, then this self-quarantine can eventually come to an end and we can soon resume what our lives used to be.

Yes I am Still Positive!