Health Professionals Tell Their Experience Of COVID-19

Two healthcare professionals from Turkey's western province of Manisa told Anadolu Agency about their experiences of COVID-19 infection.

A nurse and mother of two, 41-year-old Sevcan Torun said she felt the first symptoms while at work at the hospital in the morning of Dec. 17.

She was isolated at home upon learning her PRC test came out to be positive.

Torun said other members of her family were also tested, and her 20-year-old son and her husband were also infected with COVID-19.

Noting that her husband is a police officer, Torun said: "My husband and I are in the risk groups due to our professions. We have been working with a fast pace over a year and had been saying 'Will we one day get infected, too?' and we did."

She said the first thing to come to her mind when she found out that she contracted the virus was her 12-year-old son who has Familial Mediterranean Fever disease.

"What I worried about the most was the probability of infection of my little son. The test results for the rest of the family was positive but his was negative. Our family companions came to take him but he did not want to leave us. He stayed in a small room for 15 days. We left and picked up his food at his door. We tried hard to protect him and thankfully he did not get infected. That was the biggest joy for us," Torun said.

After her situation worsened on the eighth day due to pneumonia, Torun had to complete her treatment at the hospital.

"When I was told that I had pneumonia, I thought about my colleagues that we lost to COVID-19. I wondered whether I would die, too, but then my children came to my mind first," she continued.

Torun added: "Every day, coming home from work, we hug our children with suspicion. My infection was a severe one, but thankfully it is over. It's impossible to understand without experiencing it."

Clinical Microbiology Specialist Oznur Tavsan said that after she was diagnosed with COVID-19, she was quarantined at home and recovered by using the recommended medications.

Tavsan, stating that she perceived COVID-19 at the beginning as a viral infection that becomes effective every year, said: "It was certainly the most severe infection that I ever came down with. Extreme weakness, extreme perspiration, back and joint pains, and loss of appetite were the symptoms that I had, [but] no loss of sense in taste or smell."

Tavsan noted that it was an uneasy period of illness and continued: "What worried me the most was whether I would develop breathing difficulty the following day. I did not have lung involvement but I was very stressed over the possibility. What will happen the next day really creates anxiety until you recover. Besides, concerning over whether you infected your family and children is very demoralizing."

*Writing by Dilan Pamuk in Ankara. -