Uche Edochie, one of the sons of veteran Nollywood actor Pete Udochie, has shared his experience with COVID-19 and revealed how 80% of his lungs were damaged.
In a lengthy post shared on his Instagram page, Mr Edochie said he spent a couple of weeks treating malaria, unknown to him that he had contracted the virus.
However, by the time he was rushed to the hospital, 80% of his lungs were damaged, and he couldn’t eat, walk or breathe.
According to Mr Edochie, he was on oxygen for weeks and had no control over anything for the first time in his life.
He added he’s recovering from the virus but still on oxygen and other medications.
While calling on the government to invest more in the health sector, he said he spent N350,000 daily at the hospital, making his total treatment cost over N6 million.
He wrote: Me in recovery at the covid 19 isolation treatment facility in Gbagada around 12 days ago. My older brother @leoedochie paid me a visit. Best big brother ever. So Covid finally got me and it is quite some story.
When I fell sick weeks ago, I thought I had malaria. So I spent the first couple of weeks treating for malaria. By the time I realised this could be something else, it was too late. By the time I was rushed to the hospital, eighty percent of my lungs were damaged. I couldn’t eat or breathe and I was on oxygen for weeks. I couldn’t walk either and had severe chest pains. I kept blacking out. It felt like I was dying and waking up over and over again. I have never seen anything like this.
For the first time in my life, I had no control over anything. I felt like I was on a boat drifting away in the still of the night rudderless.The days that followed passed by slowly and everything was a blur. I just remember laying in the hospital and floating endlessly like a feather in an abyss of nothing. The days turned to weeks and my recovery is going well. I am fully cured of covid now and I am able to walk a little. My lungs will take months to heal completely. So I am still on oxygen and other medications but I am back home.
Curing covid costs a fortune too and that is a problem. That is often why people die. The facility where I was treated charges N350,000 a day. I was there for 12 days before being moved to First Cardiology Centre in Ikoyi for my lung and heart rehabilitation. Total cost of my treatment so far has exceeded six million naira. I know a guy whose covid treatment cost seventeen million naira.
Governments must invest in affordable treatment or more and more people will die. Affordable treatment is our last line of defense. We have tried lock downs, masks and vaccines and covid is still spreading. Even the vaccinated are still catching covid.
And that was my covid experience. My family has been incredibly supportive and so have the healthcare workers that took care of me. In all these people, I saw the face of God. I will never forget.
Below is Uche Edochie’s post on Instagram: