Goutam

Age at interview: 52

Brief Outline:

Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Indian
Background: Goutam is 52 years old and is Indian. He is married and has two children, and works in IT implementation management. Goutam developed Covid symptoms during the first week of the first national lockdown. He was taken into intensive care after his oxygen levels remained too low. He found the experience disturbing, but his family gave him strength.

 

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Goutam experienced Covid symptoms at the end of the first week of national lockdown, with his wife beginning to feel unwell a few days later. Trying to reduce his high temperature and body aches, Goutam took paracetamol but kept feeling worse and couldn’t focus on anything. He phoned an NHS hotline but they were very busy and couldn’t give him more answers. After Goutam’s cough was constant, his wife phoned the emergency services and he was taken into hospital. 
 
After his second Covid test come  back positive, Goutam found that he struggled to move from his bed and was taken to the ICU (intensive care unit) when his oxygen levels stayed very low. He was told he was going to be sedated but was under the impression it would only be for twenty-four hours. He was shocked to find that he had been in the ICU for thirty five days. During his time in the ICU, Goutam explains that he experienced lots of bad dreams and hallucinations which he found very disturbing. Pictures of his family were a big source of strength for Goutam, as was the presence of his friends and community while he was recovering. While Goutam was in intensive care, his family were in regular contact with the hospital asking about any changes in his condition. Goutam felt that he was incredibly well cared for in hospital. He was thankful for the passion and commitment of the NHS staff who looked after him, who he felt were working in very challenging conditions. 
 
After leaving intensive care, Goutam found that he had to start “everything again from scratch” as he had lost a lot of strength. However, he says that feeling the sunlight when he stepped outside was “one of the best feelings”, and he also found that sharing his experiences with a friend who had been in a similar situation was very helpful. 
 
Goutam doesn’t feel that he has completely recovered, as he can’t run on the weekends like he used to before, and his sense of smell and taste is weaker. He now goes for walks instead of running and is excited to see if he can still play badminton with his friends. He thinks getting the vaccine is important to protect loved ones and the public as a whole.

 

Goutam thought that genetics played a big role in racial/ethnic differences in Covid risk.

Obviously the gene sequences are different, you know, like in ethnic minority whether it’s because black or its different in a white man and a white woman as well and whether that plays a part that must have some part really because when you see the news there was a lot of like, you know, black men and women passed away and a lot of Asian men and women as well and I think something must be I, in that which is more attractive or some way it impacts the Covid virus really and compared to a white man or woman’s genes like in some way, so that, there must be a sequence of these or something in the body which is more kind of like, you know, it’s more towards like more prone to this like I think minority people are compared to other people.

Goutam’s Long Covid symptoms have prevented him from enjoying physical activities and food he used to enjoy.

I think physically there are certain things which has impacted me long term wise like, you know, I had went to the heart check-ups and you know, there is blockage on one of the ventricles. So I started getting medicines like, you know, the starting all this like medicine and regular, this is I never used to have, so that’s one thing. Breathlessness I still have to like you know… couldn’t run that like, you know, I was gasping for oxygen after 15 minutes. So, hey phoned the doctor and they said like don’t, don’t talked about going back to run. So, I’m still walking a lot now so instead of doing a bit of brisk walking and…. and I haven’t played any badminton yet so I don’t know whether I could like play as I used to play or I’d struggle, so I’ll see how that goes. 
 
I can’t remember things very easily. But now I think like, you know, that might, something might have changed in you in, in the process of memory, you tend to forget a few things which I never used to do beforehand. 
 
Some the taste and the smell, I still haven’t got any sense of smell it’s been over a year now. I still can’t smell like, you know, the strong perfume I very, very rarely can smell it now and, you know, I used to love the smell of coffee, that’s the first thing when I go to work I love the smell of coffee but I can’t smell it. And yeah so that, that’s one thing I’m missing but luckily like, you know, one other thing like when I came back home I couldn’t taste any food which was a big, I just love food but I couldn’t taste anything a very long period of time. Like, you know, was ten months or over I could hardly see, like, you know, how a cup of tea or a cup of coffee taste like. You know, it was very metallic it was very like your mouth is very, very different just, you just can’t feel it like, you know. So that, that, that was very hard at the time, but luckily the, the taste is back now I can feel like most of the taste now which is good. But smell was, yeah.
 
But you can finally taste?
 
Yeah, yeah I remember like when the hospital, when I left there the first thing I wanted like what’s the first thing you want to do, and all I said like really need a curry and rice that’s all I really need a chicken curry and rice that would make me really, really happy and the first thing hah.

 

A regular long-distance runner, Goutam was shocked and frightened when he became sick enough to need hospital admission.

So I was really concerned at that time but the pain of the, that was like you know, started giving me grief when I really, the first time I thought something it’s not really right is when I struggled as I said, when I struggled from going from the bed to the toilet I was really needing the loo and I could, all I could do was ask for a bottle I said like [name] I can’t move and that’s when I thought like “my god like two days back I was running and why can I not walk from this bedroom to the loo and how is it that difficult”. So that, that’s when I started a little bit of like, you know, so like what is this like Covid like, you know, why is it really so bad now. And so that, I think that’s when the first I think I had a bit of fear.