“In a few days, a virus stole my mother”

Sunday November 8, the beautiful season draws to a close. Sona Andonian, a 73-year-old girl who spent the summer picking in the orchard surrounding her house in Anjar (Békaa), has just finished preparing food for the winter. Jars of rose, apricot and pumpkin jams, jars of tomato and chilli concentrate, lavender sachets, dried fruit. It is time for Sona to leave the summer residence and go to stay a few weeks with Angèle Kendirjian, her daughter, in Zalka, for a well-deserved rest. Around a coffee, his son comes to say goodbye to him. It won’t be long. Feeling “a little seized”, he retired to go to rest. A few days later, after having undergone a screening test (PCR), he will know that he is infected with the coronavirus. It was perhaps on that day that the septuagenarian would have been infected.

Migraine and stiff neck

“Each year during this period, I was very happy to receive my mother at my home. As with an older sister, we would go out and make breakaways together. She particularly liked going to pray with Our Lady of Lebanon (Harissa) and Saint-Charbel (Annaya), ”says Angèle to L’Orient-Le Jour. But this time the escapades come to an abrupt end. “Thursday, November 12, four days after coming down from Anjar, my mother suffered from a migraine which was accompanied by stiff necks. As she has no serious health problem apart from high blood pressure controlled by a drug, she wants to convince herself that her symptoms are due to the air conditioner, ”says the young woman, affirming that she immediately feared the possibility of ‘coronavirus contamination. “A doctor had meanwhile examined my brother in Anjar, diagnosing him with bronchitis. Despite this, I was convinced that he was contaminated, as well as my mother, by Covid-19. “After a state of health remained stable on Friday, with a good level of oxygen in the blood (98%), Sona felt a strong pain in the leg on Saturday. It does not take more for his daughter to take him to the family doctor, “who diagnoses sciatica and prescribed an analgesic”, continues Angèle, her throat tight with emotion. “During the weekend, mum’s pains eased somewhat, but the following Monday, I still gave her a PCR and started her vitamin C cure.” Tuesday the results fall: Sona is tested positive for coronavirus. However, his state of health did not worsen.

Bereaved by the death of a loved one carried away by the Covid-19, some do not wish to express themselves on the hard times they have just suffered, considering that these are intimate and only concern them and their entourage. Others believe, on the contrary, that by evoking such moments, they celebrate the memory of their loved ones. Angèle is one of the latter. “I love my mother and I chose to speak about it in recognition of what she was for me”, she confides to the OLJ, the day after the 40th day of the death of Sona Andonian, dead. November 27. Angèle also brings her testimony to remind us that Covid-19 is a “reality” capable of putting an end in a very short period of time to the life of a patient and that of his family. “Because of the strict measures imposed by hospitals, a patient with severe coronavirus cannot be accompanied until his last breath,” she notes. This gives rise to an immense feeling of sadness in his family which amplifies that experienced during a bereavement experienced in normal conditions. “

Sona Andonian, proud of her lavender picking. Photo DR

35 degrees of fever

All her memories come to the surface. It is only Friday (November 20) at dawn that things accelerate. “At 4:30 am, I wake up with a start and run to my mother’s bedside. I see her lying upside down and hear her tell me that her chest hurts and cannot breathe. Anxious, Angela grabs the oximeter. Oxygen is only 75%. What’s more, the thermometer displays a temperature of 35 degrees. Very alarmed, she calls a hospital located not far from her home. “They refuse to welcome my mother, advising me to take her to Rafic Hariri hospital. I then join the Lebanese Red Cross. The person on the phone recommends that I accompany him in my own car, saying that often hospitals do not allow ambulances to emergency rooms. “My mother managed to get to my vehicle unaided. Rafic Hariri hospital opened its doors to us, especially since there was no other emergency at this time, ”recalls Angèle, stressing that she was reassured when her mother“ was immediately taken in. charging and placing under oxygen ”. His relief was unfortunately short-lived. Sona is subjected the same evening to a scanner of the lungs which reveals a “very strong” inflammation. With alternating traffic and a driving ban on Sundays, the confinement imposed from November 14 to 30 restricts Angela’s visits to the hospital. Her face covered with two masks and her hands protected by gloves, she only managed to get in close to her mother three times for short minutes. As of Monday, November 23, she is no longer able to speak. “Her face was pale,” remembers the young woman painfully. She pauses before adding, in a barely audible voice: “The next day her room was empty. “” She is in intensive care, announces a nurse, who gently tells me that I can no longer see her, “she continues. Angela greets in passing a “friendly and understanding” hospital staff. She evokes a “rapid evolution” of the disease, marked by a blockage of the kidneys and an inflammation of the blood which got the better of her mother in the space of three days. “The artificial respirator, a last-ditch tool, was unfortunately not effective,” said the young woman, before recounting, her throat tied: “Friday, November 27, I received a call from the hospital. Your mother has passed away, ”I am told. “The hardest part is not being able to say a last farewell to mom before she was buried,” she continues with a sob, indicating that the body of the deceased was immediately placed in a body bag . As for the funeral, they did not take place inside the church. “My mother deserved her funeral to take place in the Armenian-Catholic church where she worked ardently in a religious association”, proclaims Angèle, noting that it is in front of the tomb where barely a few people gathered that the prayers were recited. “Sad time when in a few days a virus stole my mother and deprived me of paying her a worthy tribute”, she says in a whisper.

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Sunday November 8, the beautiful season draws to a close. Sona Andonian, a 73-year-old girl who spent the summer picking in the orchard surrounding her house in Anjar (Békaa), has just finished preparing food for the winter. Jars of rose, apricot and pumpkin jams, jars of tomato and chilli concentrate, lavender sachets, dried fruit …