Simon Kisaka’s testimony about his Battle with COVID-19

On 30th August (Sunday), I begun to feel unwell with fever. I called into work on Monday to report sick, in order to be in conformity with the COVID1VFCC9 guidelines.

However, I did not believe it was COVID19. I just thought it was one of those rare fevers I get that lasts only one or two days after my body lowers resistance following intense exercising sessions.

After all, I had been careful in following COVID19 SOPs and guidelines. But as we all should know, one cannot be careful enough when it comes to COVID19 and the way it is spreading now in the City of Kampala.

My fevers didn’t disappear as I expected. On Wednesday I found an establishment with a temperature gun and checked my temperature and it was alarmingly high at 39.5 degrees! The first thing I did was go to Agakhan Hospital on Thursday.

The blood-work showed no abnormalities; no malaria. To eliminate the possibility of COVID19, I was asked to come back the next day. Friday is when I started to cough a bit and feel these sore or tingling sensations in my throat. I moved from IHK, to Makerere University then Makerere Student Sick Bay looking for testing services that were hard to get.

On Sunday we called the Ministry of Health (MoH) for the results, the news was not good. An ambulance was sent to pick me and transport me to Mulago Hospital on Sunday 6th September.

By the time I was checked in and climbing the steps to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) ward, I was short of breath, coughing and feeling like I was about to collapse due to lack of air. I was immediately put on oxygen support which I believe saved my life that night!

I spent eight days in the HDU and then had to be taken into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU as) my conditioned worsened instead of improve and the battle intensified! I was in ICU for a total of eight days where in some moments I despaired for my life (as I felt as if my air passages were closing up) and said many prayers to God.

During my time in both the HDU and ICU I saw at least five people die right before my eyes!

In purgatory (to use Roman Catholic language – the place between Paradise and Hades) of ICU, the machines and sensors with their ominous sounds are the deciders of your fate whether for death or for life, the doctors are simply messengers who give you the best support they can and monitor your journey to whatever fate!

The real battle is in how well your body (and mind) fights back against the virus! My greatest fear in ICU was to be intubated on those ventilation machines where the survival rate was like 50%! And that I knew and had witnessed.

My battle was a long end epic one, spending an on average record time of over 23 total days in ICU and in the hospital! Being supported by many prayers by family and friends all around the country and in other countries. Oh what a glorious day when the stone was rolled away from ICU by the angels of ICU (doctors and nurses) and I emerged from there raised up by God from the bed of near-death!

After the eight days of ICU, I spent another seven days back in the HDU and then the general ward as I steadily improved.  I was finally discharged yesterday, after 23 days in hospital.

Yes, my friend, I was like you! I thought I was more enlightened than most about COVID19 and followed the guidelines as best as I could. Yet the disease got me! I observed how the ones I saw suffer the most were the middle aged and the elderly. These were the ones dying. Younger people fared much better though there were those young people who saw suffer greatly.

My experience also taught me that COVID19 is a stealthy disease. The symptoms will not present themselves in the way you expect. The doctors in ICU told me that most people think they have malaria when they really have COVID19.

The coughing and chest pains or restricted breathing (in my personal experience) may only come when the disease has already taken a firm hold and reached a certain threshold, by which time, you are in a critical state!

I also noted through discussions with the doctors that COVID19 does have other impacts on the body apart from the devastation to the lungs or respiratory system.

Doctors were observing that COVID19 was having a multiplied effect on or causing things like high blood pressure and diabetes. I noted that for the eight days or so of my stay my blood pressure was either normal or below normal but as the damage increased to my lungs, the blood pressure shot up and stayed up for a while till my oxygen circulation levels returned to near normal. I pray there are no other impacts/ravages on my body and do not feel or observe that they are.

When I came down with COVID19.  I had taken a medical check just weeks before and was given a clean bill of health. I had been dieting, had lost weight and my blood pressure and everything else was in the normal range. So as a result, the body fought better.

Then further help came from a good diet where I saturated my body with alkaline or immune boosters; i.e. lemon, garlic, tangerines, oranges, ginger, lots of vitamin C, vitamin D&E, lots of zinc and lots of vegetable and fruit based fresh juices.

Another measure that helped save my life was following the doctor’s directions to; sleep on my stomach which allowed for better oxygen circulation.

The rest was administered by the doctors by way of anti-clotting agents, anti-inflammatory drugs and anti-biotics to prevent Pneumonia from setting in.

But in the end, when COVID19 has taken hold and has reached a certain threshold you are in the hands of God. I believe it was in the end only God’s grace that saved from intubation and further from death! For the survival rate for patients who are intubated is 50%. This I witnessed myself while in ICU.

Furthermore, as we have been told as I witnessed firsthand, People who have underlying conditions or morbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure, respiratory issues, overweight have a higher risk of having a harder time with COVID19.

Some of the lessons learned in my experience is that testing services need to be stepped up in Kampala.  First: Rapid access to testing and the turn around with the results, then quick access to COVID19 centers, is critical in arresting the rapid onset of the disease.

I had to travel to three different places in the City before I could get a test. Second; Emergency vehicles and waiting areas for patients should be fitted with oxygen tanks or facilities. On the whole, it is very important to take the test as soon as one starts getting any of the symptoms of COVID19 – and especially any extended time with fever, Don’t assume it is malaria or typhoid. Go and be tested.

I was also privileged while in the hospital to witness the roll out the new plasma anti-body treatment for COVID19. The fifth patient in Mulago to receive this treatment was my neighbor in the hospital and he is doing well so far.

Before I end, I must give kudos to Uganda’s COVID19 response teams and the great women and men, doctors and nurses on the frontlines battling COVID19 and saving many lives! I was impressed with how the doctors and nurses in the HDU at Mulago and in the ICU approached every situation with fortitude, grace and positivity whether the situation was hopeless or hopeful! The care was first class, close and constant!

I was also very impressed with the State of the Art or World Class technology and machines at Mulago. After this harrowing fight and experience with the deadly pestilence, I know I will never be the same again in the way I look at and live life.

For those who were aware of my being sick, thank you for your support, words of encouragement and especially your prayers on my behalf. And thanks all for all your kind words and prayers in advance.