Muscat: When her husband Suresh came home one day from office sometime in February this year, complaining of pain in the joints, tiredness and feeling feverish, Trishala didn’t waste any time.
She set a regimen that included round-the-clock monitoring of her husband’s temperature, and compulsive feeding of food, mainly, mutton soup or paya nihari as its commonly known in South Asia.
Suresh had already gone to a clinic before he reached home to have his PCR test done, when he got the symptoms of fever and tiredness. “Suresh’s colleague had tested positive some days ago and incidentally he had a meeting with my husband. That triggered the alarm to get the test done as well,” Trishala said.
“Day one was very rough as his temperature soared high and he complained of body pain. The clinic had given him a course of antibiotics and had asked him to take Panadol to bring the body temperature down.”
The test result that came the next day showed that Suresh had COVID-19. Trishala said that throughout the period he lay sick, she ensured that he was given warm water at every one-hour interval, with medicine round the clock to bring the temperature down. During the course of antibiotics for five days, Trishala ensured that nourishing food was consumed by her husband.
“He did not have an appetite for anything. But I force-fed him with mutton soup, tempered with curry leaves and roasted garlic and rice porridge and also lemon and orange squeezed in hot water. I changed and washed his bed linen and clothes daily and gave him sponge bath with warm water. He also did steam inhalation daily more than once, which helped.”
After five days, Suresh started feeling better. Trishala continued her treatment regimen for over two weeks after he got well and tested negative in his PCR test.
Trishala is also a keen yoga practitioner, and says that also helped her with positive reinforcements.
