PETALING JAYA, May 6 ― A Malaysian woman has documented her Covid-19 journey on Instagram to spread awareness and for all to not take the virus lightly.
Preferring to be known as Joyce, the 23-year-old was discharged from Sungai Buloh Hospital (HSB) on April 29 and has since been recuperating at home but is still coughing and has a mild fever.
In her Instagram post, Joyce from Petaling Jaya recalled that she panicked after knowing that she tested Covid-19 positive on April 20.
“Your hands are shaking as your positive test results stare right back at you. How could this happen?
“You have dinner with your parents everyday. You could probably survive this even if it’s a bad variant but what about them?” read the post.
After getting her test results, she was asked to make an appointment at a stadium in Shah Alam which she described as “hot, humid, and masses of people around you.”
She told Malay Mail that she waited from 10am till 7pm at the Covid-19 assessment centre because of the long queue and felt tired because she only had dried fruits with her.
“There were kids, adults and elderly people with their luggages and the centre was packed like a sardine tin.
“And if I didn’t stand in line or had to go elsewhere, I had to queue up again so I just stood there and waited until it was my turn to see the doctors.”
While she was initially supposed to be sent to Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang, she was instead sent to HSB because her blood pressure was high and doctors suspected that she was experiencing hypoglycemia (low blood glucose level).
So the ideal option was for her to be sent to the hospital to run a few tests to make sure she was okay.
When she arrived at HSB’s emergency ward, she saw how burnout the doctors and nurses were after treating patients.
“I really saw how tirelessly the frontliners worked and I felt for them. Despite some having to fast, they worked tirelessly around the clock.
“I also felt homesick and was emotionally exhausted.”
Joyce was then sent to a step-down quarantine centre located nearby HSB as her symptoms were not severe and was discharged after a day.
She hoped and wished that other Malaysians would not have to go through what she experienced and described it as her “worst experience”.
“Our frontline workers are human beings and they are struggling to make sure we are okay.
“Stay safe and don’t take your immunity for granted,” she said.
