CAPE TOWN- A 48-year-old Capetonian has shared his personal experience of recovering from Covid-19 and how he considers himself one of the "lucky ones" because he did not display severe symptoms.
Charles Canning, a director at family-owned Cannings Auto Body Repair Specialists, said that he used a
positive mindset to focus recovering and reaching day 14 which is the average length of time for recovery.
"I think I was one of the lucky ones. I got through this fairly unscathed, but from what I have experienced I can say that I have never felt anything like this in my life before. Yes I've had flu, I've had bronchitis but this was different," he said.
Canning said that he may have contracted the virus from his partner who he lives with who had tested positive for Covid-19 a few days before he himself was tested.
"While I didn't exhibit many symptoms, I felt as a business owner with staff compliment I had to go and get tested so that I didn't expose anyone to the virus," he said.
At the time of testing, Canning said he had an elevated temperature and after receiving his results he began to lose his sense of taste and smell. Canning said he does have comorbidities, namely hypertension and high blood pressure.
"For those people out there that are worried about getting it, just deal with it positively. If you keep in mind that in 14 days you will be well again, and if you use day 14 as your day of freedom it's almost liberating to the point where you start focusing on the future and you forget about how you feel in the moment."
After receiving his test results he decided to focus on treating his symptoms one at a time.
"With a positive mindset and how you treat your symptoms, you can beat this virus. I say this as someone who doesn't have diabetes or tuberculosis because there are those comorbidities that do affect people negatively," he said.
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