OVID-19, ks, Pain
medical conditions. Except recently she had told her husband that she could have been suffering from high blood pressure.
The couple would have celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary later this year. Mr Tuicicia said he had encouraged his wife to get vaccinated.
“She was at home for about a week before testing positive. She took her leave and had planned to then take her first jab,” Mr Tuicicia said.
Ms Tucicia had hid the pain she was going through from her husband.
It was on Friday night of the same week that Mr Tucicia had felt her wife’s body become sweaty and cold.
“She couldn’t sleep that night. So I urged her that we go to the hospital,” Mr Tuicicia recalled.
It was about 10pm on Friday when they left. Upon arrival at the CWM Emergency Department, Ms Tuicicia had gestured to the medical workers that she needed oxygen.
Her oxygen level was at 17 per cent. Normal oxygen level for humans should be between 95 per cent and 100 per cent.
Ms Tuicicia was put on oxygen until Sunday morning. Her health status had deteriorated. Her last option was to go under the ventilator at the COVID intensive care unit.
“On Sunday I received a call from the medical staff that I needed to talk to her before she was put on the ventilator,” he said.
“I told her ‘I’ve released you, we will be praying for you at home’. The doctor said she could only close her eyes and cry.”
Mr Tuicicia received the news that his wife had passed away on Monday morning.
“I accepted the news and I was at peace. My wife was fighting to breathe, but her heart was too weak, and her neck swelled.”
With the same clothes on her body, Ms Tuicicia was wrapped in a sheet, put inside a body bag and taken to the morgue.
Ms Tuicicia’s son, Bola Tuicicia couldn’t believe that her mother had passed away.
“I was shocked because I was just talking to them over the phone on Friday and Saturday in the hospital,” he said via Zoom from England.
“I was telling her to be strong, and she was giving me a thumbs up and said she is OK and we need not worry about her.”
Bola said he was emotional knowing that he wouldn’t be able to attend his mother’s funeral.
Mr Tuicicia said he told his son to be strong.
“I told him his mother had done her duties and responsibilities and we had to move on,” Mr Tuicicia said with tears.
Bola recalled his mother was a hard working woman, who had sacrificed a lot for him and her
sister. Bola said his mother passed away on the day that his daughter turned one-year-old.
GET VACCINATED
Mr Tucicia and his son Bola are encouraging Fijians to get their doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Mr Tuicicia said he had taken his daughter to get her injection.
“This sickness is only affecting those who are unvaccinated or had only one dose of the vaccine,” Mr Tuicicia said.
“After what’s happened to my wife, my family members have started going to get their injection, except for my father who is more than 70 years old, and so we keep him safe and ensure he doesn’t get exposed, until now he’s healthy.”
Mr Tuicicia said he took the vaccine because his work involved crossing borders and he did not want to risk his family’s life.
Mr Tuicicia completed his isolation period this week. A date is yet to be set to bury his wife.
Suliana Bulavakarua – a fighter The last time Gabriel Gade Lomani and his sister Everlyn saw their mother was in an ambulance.
Ms Bulavakarua was reminding Mr Lomani to take care of her 13-year-old sister. Even their last goodbye was emotional, Mr Lomani recalled. His mother wanted Evelyn to go with her because she was worried about her health.
Ms Bulavakarua was taken to the Bhanabhai Makoi Health Centre on the night of July 16. The next day, she was transferred to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital.
HOSPITALISATION
Mr Lomani said her mother was never worried about undergoing the operation.
“Around 11am on Sunday when I called her she, said she was about to enter the operating theater for the caesarean section, I was surprised that she didn’t tell us,” Mr Lomani said.
“She said the doctors had to conduct the procedure so that she could breathe and take the baby out.
“Because it was her line of work, it was all normal for her. The way she told us, she didn’t want us to worry. We also understood this because she often told us stories about the work she did.”
The two siblings waited anxiously for their mother’s call on Sunday. It was unusual for her not to call.
Fifteen calls to their mother’s number at around 6pm on Sunday were unanswered. Mr Lomani tried calling again around 11pm. Still no answer.
At 3am, Mr Lomani’s calls were still not answered. It was not until 11am the following day when she responded with a text message asking for Everlyn.
“We spoke on the phone for a while and she said she was going to call later because she was under the ventilator as she had severe shortness of breath,” Mr Lomani said.
There was no word from their mother on Tuesday. Only her mother’s friends from work had visited them to say that the doctor wanted to speak to them.
“The doctor said they had to put her on the ventilator because she was not breathing well and that they had to put her to sleep for her body to rest,” he said.
“We just broke down and cried, we didn’t expect the news from the hospital.”
The siblings turned to God. They fasted and prayed for their mother, hopeful.
On Wednesday night the doctor phoned them. He said their mother’s heart had stopped at around 3pm and they had to perform a Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
The siblings held on to their faith, and slept through the night peacefully. But news reached them on Thursday morning that their mother had passed on.
A LIFE OF SERVICE
Mr Lomani said over the years they came to understand their mother’s line of work, especially when their biological father had passed away in 2014.
“We always understood that she’d be away at very odd hours, that she’d be gone for an extended period of time.
“I’m sure she understood the risk of working in a high risk area during this crisis, but it was the love for her job that kept her going to work.”
Ms Bulavakarua was also a tough mother. Her dedication to her work taught her children to be independent.
“She loved us and her dream was to see us successful in life.”
Ms Bulavakarua dedicated 21 years of her life to the profession.
CWM EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT FRONTLINERS
As of Thursday July 29, 2021, the Ministry of Health and Medical services recorded a total of 6,951 recoveries since the first case was reported in March 2020.
One of them is Monisha Naicker. She is a registered nurse at the Emergency department. She tested positive in June.
She had shown mild symptoms and had to self-isolate for 28 days.
Because her family members, including her young son, were her primary contacts, they also tested positive and had to undergo home quarantine.
They have all recovered.
She said it’s a challenge being a health worker and testing positive for COVID-19.
“As frontliners, we also have emotions, we see the people here, we also feel what they are going through, we empathise with them.
Ms Naicker said COVID-19 was a challenge that she and her work colleagues must overcome to treat their patients.
“This job itself is challenging, for a nurse, a doctor or anyone in