By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia “Mother” Pratt says she’s happy to be recuperating at home after surviving horrific COVID-19 symptoms in hospital.

“It’s been rough, oh it’s been rough, but praise God, I made it,” Mrs Pratt, 75, said yesterday.

“I thought I would have gone home (to the Lord).”

She told The Tribune she caught COVID-19 ahead of plans to get vaccinated against the virus.

After testing positive for the disease a week before, the former St Cecilia MP was admitted to hospital last week. Her physician Dr Lynwood Brown insisted at the time she had been admitted out of an abundance of caution for overnight monitoring.

In the days that followed, Mrs Pratt said she experienced severe pain.

“Oh, man, I tell you only (through) God. I have never had so much pain in my entire life,” she said of her illness.

She thanked medical staff for their care and concerned citizens who showed support throughout the ordeal.

“I am out of hospital and I am recuperating. I wish to thank doctors at the hospital (and) the staff. They’ve been tremendous. They have been there for me.

“I can’t under-emphasise the amount of people that have been calling and I am so grateful.”

Mrs Pratt told The Tribune in a previous interview that she suspected having the virus after experiencing nausea and fatigue.

The former National Security Minister followed up with a COVID-19 test, which confirmed her suspicions.

“This started about a week now, but I feel a lot stronger,” she said in a telephone interview from her home about two weeks ago, before she was admitted to the hospital. “This started last week Wednesday, and it started with nausea. I have been careful. I didn’t go out in crowds. I always wore double masks and things. I have always been careful.

“When I started this nausea, I thought maybe it was something I ate that upset my stomach. “So, I got some Dica and I took that and it gave me some relief just over a short period of time and then it came back.

“I then started to feel very weak, and I was fighting to put one foot before the next one. I said ‘Lord, something isn’t right here.’ I am a woman with energy. I could go like the Energiser bunny, and I was walking from the kitchen to the living room and every two minutes I had to sit down.

“So, I decided to call my daughter. I told her I am going to get checked again because I have had five tests for different things, and they were all negative, but I never had any tiredness like this. I knew something didn’t connect. My daughter took me to get the test and mine came back positive and hers was negative and that’s been a week now.”

She also experienced loss of taste and smell, tell-tale signs of a coronavirus infection in many cases.

“I noticed I couldn’t smell the food I’m cooking and then I couldn’t taste the food. I had no fever, I had no vomiting, but the diarrhea came later,” she said previously.

“So, all of the signs weren’t really there at first and then, of course, I didn’t have a cold. . . but then I was bringing up a lot of cold, but I always have a problem with sinus on and off so I didn’t pay that much mind. The next thing I know I was diagnosed with COVID-19.”

After her initial diagnosis, Mrs Pratt urged Bahamians to take the proper precautions to avoid the disease.

“I want to say you could never be too careful and as much as you try, you don’t know who has it. This thing has no eyes, so some people look healthy, and they don’t even know they have it themselves.

“Do what you are supposed to do to avoid it,” she said.

Several public figures have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including Progressive Liberal Party Leader Philip “Brave” Davis, PLP Senator Dr Michael Darville, Minister of Works Desmond Bannister and former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, among others.