He survived Covid19 in Bangkok

[reader]

Excerpted from Khaosod English

What It’s Like to Catch, and Survive, the Coronavirus in Thailand

BANGKOK — Speaking from his condo, Singaporean expat Jay Feng asked other people currently in self-isolation at their homes to stay calm and not to panic. He knew a thing or two about the coronavirus; in fact, he survived it.

Feng, who recovered several weeks after he first tested positive earlier this month, said he beat the virus by monitoring his symptoms early on, keeping a positive mindset even when he was in enormous physical pain, and relying on the sheer strength of his immune system. Plus a well-covered insurance plan.

“The most important thing is to not panic. The Thai healthcare system is actually very good,” Feng said in a telephone interview. “The authorities are fairly decent. Even if you don’t speak Thai, communicate your symptoms and medical history very clearly.”

Feng, 36, is the owner of Ohana Poke restaurant on Wireless Road, and leads what he describes as a very healthy, active lifestyle – he never smoked, exercised regularly, eats a very healthy diet, and gets lots of sleep.

But on March 8, he woke up with a strange body ache. He bought a thermometer at a nearby pharmacy and stayed at home the whole day, but it didn’t go away.

“Usually I get well quickly, even if I don’t get sick often,” he said. “But it was a body ache not like I bumped into something, but like my whole body crashed into something.”

The next day, he decided to get checked out at Bangkok Christian Hospital, even though he didn’t have a fever. After about 20 or so tests for other diseases, the doctors asked if he would also like to get a test for COVID-19, but be admitted for the night.

However, Feng did not meet the criteria for free coronavirus test, which include a fever over 37.5C, recent visit to a high-risk country, or close contact with a proven case. Still, he chose to get tested out of an abundance of caution.

“I chose to pay out of my pocket because I see people every day have it. I just admit myself and do the test, lah,” he said.

Feng was wheeled to the quarantine area and nurses stuck swabs about 20 centimeters down his nose and throat (“It’s a terrible feeling, very unpleasant. But you get used to it.”) as well as a blood sample.

Feng was feeling relatively well – until 1am that night. He woke up, inexplicably cold, with a dull pain in his left lung. He got some paracetamol from the nurses. At 3am, he woke up dazed, incoherent, with his hospital gown drenched in sweat, with the pain increasing. He measured a 37.7C fever.

“This is when it hit me. I was completely, completely, shocked. I was lost for 30 seconds, don’t know how to react. I was completely dazed,” Feng recalled. “I started shaking because of the sickness and receiving this news and battling my emotions.”

While nurses were quickly packing his things, Feng mentally ran through the people he had been in close contact with. He called and messaged his family, loved ones, and employees. “I tested positive, you need to get tested and isolate yourself,” he said.

Feng was sent to the state-owned Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute on March 10, where “The VIP treatment continued. I was in a wheelchair, and all the lift and pathways were cleared for you,” he said. He would spend the next two weeks in a negative pressure isolation ward.

His ward was separated from the corridor by a containment room where nurses would leave medicine and the mae baan would leave his food. He could only go in if there was no one else in it.

The ward itself had his hospital bed, a sofa bed, three windows with blinds, a table, and a chair. The bathroom was spacious and the shower had a heater. “It was new equipment, excellent, and clean. High tech, with lots of motion sensors. There were few physical buttons to press,” Feng said.

Doctors told him that he would get tested every two days for the virus. If he tested negative twice consecutively, then he would be discharged. The doctors could only treat his symptoms from now on – his immune system had to do the heavy lifting.

The next few days were the worst, Feng recalled. His lungs were in pain, he was chronically tired, he was incoherent.

“I had a dry cough, not like the scratchy kind or the kind with phlegm. It was like coughing my lungs out. I couldn’t sleep because of the aches,” he said.

COVID-19 also came with a mental burden of guilt.

Days four to seven, Feng was feeling slightly better but still very lethargic. Nurses took his vitals every four hours. He remembered high-tech equipment that would digitally capture his stats and send them online to the cloud, while doctors monitoring from afar would speak to him via speakerphone with excellent English.

Feng was very disappointed on days 9 and 10 when he continued to test positive, even though he had no more symptoms. “The isolation really kicked in. You didn’t see anyone or the outside world, the air, the sun. I was mentally looking forward to going back to my regular life,” he said. “I felt lousy about it.”

Fortunately, he tested negative on Day 11. “Just one more, and I can go home,” he told himself.

And he did on Day 12.

After a negotiation with his insurance agent at Krungthai Axa, the entirety of his 147,000 baht medical costs were covered by the firm.

It would have been a considerable bill otherwise. His one day stay at Bangkok Christian Hospital alone amounted to 50,000 baht, and his 12-day stay at Bamrasnaradura cost about 97,000 baht. His close contacts also received free coronavirus tests due to their history of coming in close proximity with Feng.

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2020/03/30/what-its-like-to-catch-and-survive-the-coronavirus-in-thailand/

 

[williewillie]

As of a few days ago, farangs could get covid-19 insurance.  Total cost 850 baht.  100,000 b. coverage which can be extended 

to one million baht under certain circumstances.  The insurance company my friends and I use is frank.co.th 

Easy to use on line and in English.  When we put in pre-existing conditions like high blood pressure, heart bypass or stents,

the form showed a message that the company would respond within 24 hours or you telephone them.  Two of us were approved 

the next day

even with high blood pressure and heart issues.  My friend is 80 y.o., so age not an issue apparently.