I was a superfit sportsman but Covid-19 began to ravage my lungs in only a few minutes
FORMER Scotland cricket captain Majid Haq is among the hundreds of Scots with Covid-19. Majid, 37, was admitted to the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Paisley, Renfrewshire, on Wednesday after a week of self-isolating at home. Yesterday, by phone from his sick bed, the batsman and spin bowler told The Scottish Mail on Sunday what it feels like to have the virus and also of his fight to recover...
ON March 9, when I was walking along the street, I suddenly felt a shortness of breath. I later developed a really bad temperature and I was sweating a lot – it all came on really quickly. My brother Abid and I were watching TV and they were all saying to self-isolate if you show coronavirus symptoms, which is what I did. I went to bed and I stayed there for a whole week.
It feels like you don’t have much energy and you can’t even go for a walk or get up out of bed.
You don’t have much of an appetite, either, and you have a strange sort of taste in your mouth while eating. The taste is sort of sugary.
But even after a week of being bed-bound, I wasn’t getting any better. On Wednesday, I went to my local doctor, who did a few tests and said that if I felt any worse I would have to see him again.
He also gave me amoxicillin, an antibiotic, which paramedics later told me was not the right medicine to have taken.
My brother knew there was something really wrong with me, so he got in touch with the ambulance service straight away.
The two paramedics who were dispatched to help me were really good. They were asking how I was and asking me a lot of questions about how healthy I was and how I was feeling.
They gave me an oxygen mask, which I needed because I was struggling for breath and the cough was taking my breath away.
It’s quite sharp. When I was lying on my back the cough wasn’t that bad, but then when I moved onto my side there was huge pressure on my chest.
The paramedics took me to hospital, where the staff were all wearing hazmat suits. Then they tested me for the coronavirus. The results came back positive.
I was in London a couple of weeks ago and I think that I might have caught it on the Tube.
Obviously, I was worried because
I had seen everything that was happening in the news.
I was taken into an isolation room and started receiving treatment.
Since then, I have been moved to another ward but I am still in my own room. I think I’m the only person who has coronavirus on the ward and I don’t think that there are many of us patients in this hospital with it, luckily.
I’ve been taking paracetamol and they’ve put me on a drip as well so that I get the fluids I need.
I’m still wearing an oxygen mask most of the day – right now I’ve got the oxygen tube up my nose.
My family aren’t allowed to come and see me because you can’t be in the same room as someone who has the virus, but my cousins have come in to drop off some clothes at reception for me.
As I lie in my hospital bed, I think that everyone should listen to the Government and the advice being given by scientists and medics.
Sometimes you think you’re invincible and that you can’t get sick, but obviously sickness doesn’t discriminate against what age you are, what religion you are or how much money you have.
SO IT can come to anyone. Prepare yourself and take care of yourself and your family. I’ve had flu in the past but it’s not normally lasted as long as this and it’s not been as bad as this. One worry that I’ve got in the back of my mind is about the state of my lungs – hopefully there’s no long-term damage.
I’m looking forward to getting out and enjoying some fresh air, which will be nice, and then I’ll take it from there – just see what I’m allowed to do and what I’m not allowed to do.
But I am doing better now, although I have lost about a stone in weight.
I’m more confident walking and I’m feeling a bit stronger in terms of eating – I just need to keep the fluids up.
Hopefully, I will be able go home in a couple of days. I thought that I might go home yesterday but they want to keep me in hospital because they need to keep an eye on my oxygen levels.
This illness has been a shock to the system, and it has really knocked me for six.
However, I hope that it will not keep me down for much longer.