Cindy

Age at interview: 60s
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Chinese
Background: Cindy is Chinese and in her 60s. She is retired and lives with her daughter.
Cindy is retired, a carer of adults, and a Christian. She lives with her daughter. She caught Covid while looking after her friend who also had Covid. She still feels some of the symptoms of Covid.

Cindy caught Covid in December 2020. She thinks she caught is while visiting her friend. She explains, I sit down together and teach her [friend] how to do it [use a tablet] and we spend over an hour together. The next day, when I finished work, when she [friend] opened the door for me, she was totally another person. She was all, her hair was wet and she was shivering Cindy says that she booked her friend in for a Covid test the next day. At this point, her friend’s Covid symptoms had progressed. Cindy says her friend could not walk and was coughing a lot. Cindy tried to protect herself by wearing a face mask and gloves.

At first, Cindy tested negative and her friend tested positive. Her friend, although elderly, was not put in a hospital bed because the hospital was full. So, Cindy decided to look after her at home (e.g., leaving shopping on her doorstep). After a couple of days Cindy started to get Covid symptoms. She says, I started to feel shivering, coughing, and temperature up to hundred and four degree

Cindy says that her symptoms got so bad that her daughter had to ring the NHS 111 helpline. She explains that she was almost unconscious and did not really know what was going on. Cindy says that the ambulance crew came to her house and helped her get her breathing under control. They did not think Cindy needed to go to hospital and felt that she could be looked after at home by her daughter.

Cindy says she isolated for about ten days until she received a negative Covid test. She says that even months after having Covid she still feels some of the symptoms. For example, her breathing is quite off and she often becomes out of breath. She also feels that her voice is not the same as it used to be. What helped her during this time was her faith in God.

Mahabuba and her husband were able to call on their friends for help.

Biggest impact. I think I will realise that I lost my health, very healthy person but not like before, you know. Sometimes I still feel the chest pain struggle with breathing, you know. But another good thing is I cherish my life more, you know, do a lot, love my family and I got my life back, you know. So I more cherish the life, you know. Look after myself, look after the health, you know.

Embed Print Transcript

Adele found it reassuring to share experiences with people with similar symptoms through a Facebook group for doctors with Long Covid.

To be honest, my character, my personality, I don’t rely on medicine and, even when I’m very, very ill, I still believe that our body, my body can fight, you know. So normally, I only take some paracetamol when I, if I really headaches but I try to do this, I try to use my own body to fight first until I’m really bad and then I will take some Panadol or sometimes if I’m coughing really bad, then I take some medicine for me, to allow me to just allow to sleep, you know. Just that normally, I don’t like to take medicine.

Embed Print Transcript

Mahabuba continues to be in more pain than before getting Long Covid and has less interest in her life.

I started to have to isolate myself because I live with my daughter in a coach house. This means it’s only got one floor so I sleep in, I slept on the living room and my daughter was living in her bedroom. So in one morning, I think, the next day morning, I was really, really struggle to take any, I was really bad, very struggle to breathing as well. And then I get a sign for my daughter and she was very clever. She straight away she call one, 111 I think or she call the ambulance. So, which is I was really unconscious. I don’t know, what’s, fully picture of this because I’m fully, I’m really unconscious and I can still hear the sound and I hear somebody ask me to open my eye but then I was so struggle but, according to my daughter, say they was pull me up and just try to get me back so breathing again. And because again, on that day, I was not that worse to be sent to the hospital. They told my daughter, look after me and if I really, really struggle, call 999 again.

Embed Print Transcript