As promised, I have been posting experiences of friends who suffered and survived COVID in Ghana. For the purposes of proper impact and targeting, we feature young people only. This story involves a pregnant woman.
Read first story here and second story here
Today, we bring the story of Dede Sasraku Cudjoe, a young health worker in Accra who almost lost a precious pregnancy to COVID-19. Prior to getting infected, she was a healthy lady.
We begin as usual with a reminder from our very first story: “…… dead people don’t talk. Our departed brethren will never be able to tell their stories and so whichever version you listen to, know that the real ordeals are buried with the sufferers in the graveyard”
Dede tells her story:
So I had been married for 3 years with no children, done my share of fertility treatments and even given up on getting pregnant. So around July 2020, I reported to work and an office colleague complained of not feeling well, but she used to come to work and we always had our nose masks on oh but since we eat together, when it’s time to eat, we’ll remove our nose masks, chat and then eat.
3days after she complained of not being well, she called me one evening and told me she had lost her sense of smell and I immediately told her that I suspected covid19 so she should call the GHS covid19 hotlines. She called back later and told me that they said it was not covid19 so she should get some antihistamines for the flu symptoms and some painkillers for the pain at the pharmacy. So she continued coming to work until we all began falling sick one after the other.
Mine started one Friday afternoon when I got home from work, I had this discomfort in my throat and started coughing, by the next morning, I had flu, body pains and general body weakness, as usual I thought it was malaria and started malaria treatment, after 4 days, I was still feeling unwell, so I did a double dose of arthemeter injection but still I was getting worse. I went to the hospital and had a couple of labs then and I was told I was 5 weeks pregnant. Oh so it’s pregnancy, well that’s what I thought until I lost my sense of smell and couldn’t breathe properly. I quickly drove myself to UGMC and told them my symptoms.
I took the Covid19 test and the results came in positive. Thankfully I was already on vitamins C and Zinc. I began having difficulty in breathing, not able to sleep at night, excessive sweating, vomiting, diarrhoea and nasal congestion. Loss of appetite and severe general body weakness. In fact on some days, I just wanted to give up and die, it was difficult but gradually I pulled through, with God’s mercy and strict adherence to medical treatment. I almost lost my baby.
I’m now 38 weeks pregnant and I always thank God that I survived it. The pain cannot be explained. Honestly, you need to feel it to understand it. Even the nasal congestion was on another level. People should mask up and observe the protocols because the Covid19 is very real and the pain is excruciating.
