“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10, NIV
Our family has always been so blessed. God has provided for all our needs and always in abundance. The real test of our faith and trust in God is not when times are good, but when we face serious trials and challenges. I thank God for always being there for us when our family faced such a challenge.
On Sunday, 25 April 2021, my husband started to show signs of fever. We thought it was a common fever that would go away after taking some paracetamol. As the fever persisted and even got worse after three days, we took him to a doctor. Little did we expect that the PCR test for COVID-19 would return positive. We immediately isolated him at home and prepared ourselves to provide the best care for him. I was confident that we could do this since I was also COVID-19 positive last year. The doctor prescribed antibiotics and vitamins that we thought would help him for the next seven days. Unfortunately, the medication did not help to improve his condition.
Over the next few days, his fever remained high. We were worried for him. He started to complain of body pain, headache, and other problems. He had no appetite and was not sleeping well. Seeing him in this condition saddened the family. Just as things were already bad at home, Ryan, our younger son, started to have fever from 1 May. We took him to a doctor and his PCR test was positive. Now not only were we facing one COVID-19 patient but two. My elder son, Richard, and I looked at each other in sadness as we started to face this challenge.
Richard always encouraged me, telling me that we could go through this. My husband’s fever subsided slowly but Ryan’s fever remained very high and at times at a critical level. Richard and I took turns to take care of my husband and Ryan. We were emotionally, physically, and mentally very tired. We had to regularly wash and sanitise our home and ourselves until the excessive washing roughened our hands. We also kept a record of their temperature and blood oxygen saturation level. Soon, their fever subsided to normal body temperature. We thought that it was a significant improvement finally and we could look forward to their recovery. We were so focused on their fever that we did not expect what was to come next.
Though Ryan’s condition had improved very quickly, my husband still complained of severe body pain, headache, and cough. It was then we realised that his blood oxygen saturation level was very low and we did not know what to do. But thanks be to God, through my sister, He provided us with a doctor all the way from New Delhi, India. We did not know her personally and had never met her before. She provided advice to help maintain the blood oxygen saturation and prescribed new medicine for my husband. This comforted us and calmed us mentally.
However, my husband still complained of body ache. It was so bad that he sighed, “I want to give up; I can’t keep up anymore. I don’t want to eat anything - not even medicines.” I was very sad and felt hopeless to hear that. Every morning, I cried to the Lord for strength but it seemed like nothing was happening. It was too hard to see my husband suffer so we took him to the hospital where we found out he had pneumonia. We were very concerned and wanted to hospitalise him because of his severe condition. But the doctor told us that he himself would not be able to get a bed if he was sick. We had no alternative but to continue to take care of my husband by ourselves again.
The next day, we received a little good news that he was tested negative for COVID-19. Thus, we were able to provide closer physical care for him. The doctor said that his pneumonia was so bad that he needed oxygen. But it was close to impossible to find any due to the shortage of supply in Nepal and India. Again, our loving and faithful God showed us that He still cared for us. Through a doctor friend, we were able to acquire oxygen for my husband. With the oxygen therapy at home, my husband’s condition slowly improved until recovery. Praise the Lord! Ryan took another two weeks to recover but he remained patient and trusted God to heal him.
I learnt and experienced many things through this journey. The words from Isaiah 41:10 really kept me motivated and helped me to trust in God. Even though at times, we felt hopeless and doubted Him, God always showed His faithfulness in many ways. Let us remain in Him for He is our Hope, our Rock, and our Salvation.
I thank everyone who prayed for us and supported us through many caring ways during our time of trials and challenges. There are too many names to fill this page, but each one of you will always be in our family’s prayer. God bless you all.
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