My 5-year-old son was diagnosed with COVID-19 a few days back. And of course, being a mother, I got quarantined with him in one room. As a health care worker, I had received both doses of vaccine, so had hope that I might remain negative throughout.
But staying with him 24 hours for so many days, the thought that very soon I will be positive never left my mind. Also as you all know, taking your 2 shots of vaccine does not guarantee 100% protection against Covid and there are many patients with their 2 shots again getting infected by the disease, as this is a new mutant strain of the COVID.
Nonetheless, I had to try, so I said to myself that you have 2 options:-
- Give in to it and make yourself positive.
- Try your very best and still if you get positive, deal with it.
I decided to go with option 2 and did my bit to protect my son while attending to my sick child.
- So I started with wearing a double mask.
- I kept the windows of my rooms constantly open.
- I used to make him eat first with my both masks on and then would tell him to sit in another corner with a mask while I had my meals.
- Not to mention I would constantly sanitize and wash my hands and also all the things like utensils, linens, his toys etc.
- Sanitizing 100% everything wasn't possible but i did my best to do as much as possible.
- I took various multivitamins and I never remained hungry, keeping in mind that it would decrease my immunity and make me more susceptible to what I am trying to avoid.
- I made it a rule that everything that was sent in my room in the form of food, or cups or utensils or toys, I never sent it out again keeping in mind that other members in my house should also remain safe. So I stocked up on disposables.
But the most important thing in this whole situation was my son. He was very cooperative and he used to also wear a mask,not continuously, but at least when I asked him to. He was so understanding and surprised me with his mature behaviour.
To my surprise, he would agree to whatever I asked him to do contradictory to what usually used to happen- with kids tantrums etc. I guess in such situations even they automatically get that sense of understanding. And they deserve praise for that!
The days were easy but the nights were most difficult. I used to make my son sleep in a bed and I myself used to sleep in another corner of the room a bit far near the window. I tried sleeping with a simple cloth mask but couldn't do it, so the nights were the only time when we both didn't have any mask, the only hope being the social distance we kept with each other and the fully ventilated room.
It was a bit hard when he used to ask for a hug, would request me to sleep with him and I would have to explain to him that we needed to sleep in different corners of the room.
But remember- the key constants were: hydration, steam inhalation, good food on time and good sleep- this is what I declared as a non-negotiable for my child, and he willingly obliged without any fuss or tantrums! He needed to be engaged and occupied, so I made sure we played many different games so that he would not feel the whole situation a bit heavy. He has learnt almost all card games that can be played by 2 players, we coloured together and I taught him sudoku, puzzles and many different board games to keep him busy.
My biggest win at the end of this was the great schedule we had made together that made him say, "Mumma! Let's stay this way!"
I was so surprised, it's then that I realised that for a long time we never spent so much time together because I was always busy with the clinic and normally the only time I spent with him was when I used to make him eat or sleep. 24*7 playing, eating, sleeping, talking, laughing; it was like a small world of our own.
And I had my own moment of scare when I had a sore throat one day. A world of thoughts came to my mind on what will happen if both of us are positive or if I am positive he is negative etc. And much to my relief, both of us tested negative!
I attribute all of this to his cooperation during these tough times. So much so, that I miss our alone time!
We were lucky that his COVID wasn't that bad and we both came out of it quite safely but I would just like to share this story of mine so that people can know, sometimes if you just take good care, staying along with a COVID positive person doesn't always make you positive and as I enjoyed my quarantine time, even you can have a nice time and make a good story out of it.
Just remember: Mask is vital. And that's the only thing that an protect you. Don't stress. Stay happy and most importantly- educate your children about the importance of wearing a mask!
Stay home. Stay safe!
Mansi Zaveri
Neha Savla
