My spiritual and medical responses to COVID-19 – Doyin Okupe

By Doyin Okupe
Psalms 24 vs 4. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.
I have gone through a lot in my life. I was diagnosed hypertensive at the age of 30. I had cancer of the Prostrate at 56 years of age. At 63 I had to have a non invasive corrective surgery to treat Congenital Sinus Bradycardia. Now at 68yrs I was infected with Covid-19. I bear on me virtually all the risk factors against survival against Covid-19 infection. I am 68years old, hypertensive, and diagnosed diabetic in Oct. 2019. I have sleep Apnoea. This is the story of my life. But the Bible says, ”Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but God delivers him from them all.”
For the reasons above I have chosen early to be close to God and build an army of Christian soldiers around me.
In February of this year I was restless in my spirit. I called for an appointment with Primate Oshitelu, who is the leader of the Church of the Lord Worldwide and lives in Ogere, less than 10km from my residence in Iperu.
He saw me and I told him I wanted to pray for God’s Mercy.
We never met at that close level before then. He told me to come for three days prayers on the Mercy land. I did. On the 3rd day, the ministers who prayed with me asked me to come for three days retreat on mount TABEORRAH. This was a special privilege because the place is opened to public only once a year. I went. I told God privately that I had come to seek His face, ask for mercy and seek refuge in a secret place in His Holy Terbanacle.On the 3rd day when we had the closing prayers, I was told all will be well but that when I got home, Satan was still going to attack but I will be delivered by God Almighty. I was slightly upset but decided to rest on God’s promise for deliverance.

When the trouble finally came, and I was told by Dr Dele Ajayi, the Head of Covid-19 Team in Ogun State, I was devastated. He was extremely nice to me and assured me they will do their best. He arranged to test my entire household and our movement to the isolation center.
Thereafter I called the Primate and we prayed. He assured me the sickness was not unto death. I called my spiritual father and mentor Rev. Joe Olaiya and other ministers of God with whom I have been praying for more than 10 years. I already mentioned them in my previous posts.  I called a senior brother, Apostle Dave Salako, with whom we shared the word and prayed frequently during my sojourn at the isolation center.
Unbelievably, together with my brothers in the Lord we prayed for no less than seven to 10 hours daily, day and night. Satan can afflict us but cannot affect our prayers. Prayer is the most powerful weapon of a Christian in and out of crisis. That’s why the Bible says” Men ought to pray ceaselessly “. My wife and I knew that we were in a war situation and since the best doctors in the world do not know for sure which treatment works, if any works at all, it was better for us to face squarely the Almighty God who is the all knowing and all-powerful God to heal us. And true to His promise, he did. All glory, honour and praise to His name and the power in the blood of the Holy Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, by whose STRIPES we were healed.
On Friday 8th of May, we heard the good news that my wife and I had tested negative. We then needed another negative to be discharged. We were glad. But on Sunday 10th, Satan struck. Another result confirmed that my wife recorded her 2nd negative while I tested positive again. Hope crashed and the heavens literally fell on me. The doctors insisted my wife must leave immediately to avoid re-infection which happened to a couple we met there. My wife broke down and wept uncontrollably. The doctors stood their ground and I also pleaded that I would rather she left for her children’s and everyone else sake. She got up and told the doctors that if she is forcefully removed she will kill herself and her blood shall be on the necks of the doctors.
At this point, the doctors were taken aback and they left. They came back one hour later and gave us a set of drugs which will reduce viral load further and prevent re-infection. They also insisted we both must wear masks in house 24/7 and we agreed. When they left my wife and I agreed that we should not be ignorant of the devices of Satan. I was due for another test in few hours.
We called everybody and we all launched serious supplication that God must intervene.  We told Coronavirus that its name is insignificant when pitched against the name Jesus which had been exalted above all names. That it must now bow. Besides because the righteousness of Christ Jesus resides in us and Jesus was the light of the world and God already at creation separated light from darkness, Coronavirus, being an arrow from the kingdom of darkness, cannot co-exist with the God of light inside of us
It must leave or must be ready to contend with the power of the blood of Jesus. I quickly brought out my Holy communion wine knelt down, prayed and drank it and invoked the cleansing power of the blood. As we concluded, behold the doctor was at the door to take our samples for test. He did and left….
In the night, we did a vigil with Mathew 18 vs 18, 19 & 20. We then both chose Tuesday, 14 April as our departure date from the isolation center. By 6pm on Monday 13th my wife completed packing all our belongings and we were ready to go. All the fruits in the fridge we put together and gave our neighbour.
We thanked God for our discharge and slept. I was woken up at 7.30am by a phone call from Dr. Ajayi, the head of the team in Abeokuta that our results tested negative and we were free to go.
My friends, our God is still in the business of hearing and answering Prayers. With faith in God and fervent prayers, we can overcome all life challenges.  Only we must believe and not doubt because He is faithful who has promised us and His word has never failed.  Jesus is Lord. Hallelujah!!!
It is very sad that presently people of the world including world leaders fear Covid-19 more than they fear God, the creator of heaven  and earth. This is a global calamity and a sure path to pain sorrow and misery.
We Christians must take our stand. God Jehovah is greater than all things, forms or forces. We must esteem Him above everything on earth or in heaven. All powers belong to Him. If we call Him, confess our sins and humble ourselves nationally or globally, He will hear us and heal our lands in Jesus Name.
And to Him who is God eternal I give all glory, honour and worship. I exalt the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, who rules and reigns forever and ever . Amen.
The medications I took for my Covid-19 virus infections.
*Hydroxychloroquine, 400mg daily for two days.there after 400mg daily for three days.
*Azithromycin 500mg daily for 10 days.
*Zinc  sulphate 100mg daily  till   today
*Vitamin C 1200 mg daily till now.
I had malaria while on admission. Was effectively treated with an anti malaria. I also developed cough after about a week and was effectively treated by fairly large dose of  Augmentin for seven days.
I must say that there is no universal medical consensus on a specific treatment regime for Covid-19. Also most of the drugs being used in different centres worldwide are not backed by any detailed or extensive research work anywhere in the world.. Most scientific works and studies currently going on have limited scientific acceptability either because the samples used are too scanty, sometimes as low as 40 to 60, or because controls do not exist. It will take another four to six months before results of credible works are available.
However the humongous nature of the global emergency make it impossible for countries not to explore experimental drugs that show any possibility or potential  to contain the virus.
In my own case I commenced treatment with the hydroxychloroquine regime four days to my isolation. This is because I read extensively on various options of treatment for Covid-19 and I follow global debate on its pros & cons of the treatment. With my medical background and local consultation with colleagues, I already made up my mind that the chloroquine regime was so far the most promising. I ordered for the drugs just in case someone close or even I should unfortunately pick up the virus.
I MUST WARN HERE THAT IF YOU HAVE CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIAS ,  YOU WILL NEED TO CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE YOU TAKE HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE. I DID. so I was advised to use 200mg twice daily instead of 400mg twice daily for two days.
After I put my wife and I on the treatment my low grade fever disappeared completely and my wife’s bone pains too. Personally I beleve the combination works. Lagos uses anti-viral drugs and they also get good results. However the scientific truth we know about treatment for viral infection is that ultimately what eventually works is the innate capability of the immune system of individual patients. It is the immunity level that eventually decides the course of the infection in each individual. That is why age and other existing comobidity factors are crucial to survival and wellbeing.
Hence for those who are not sick, you should ingest immune boosting drugs and preparations. Like Zinc Sulphate,  Immunace, Reload and similar immunity enhancing drugs.
I also took copious amount of ginger, garlic, tumeric and lemon. In Kaduna, I am told that they add dongoyaro leaves to the above mixture and drink liberally.
As a tip also, it is known that when the virus first gains access to the body it stays in the nasal cavity and the throat for two to three days. In this position the virus itself is vulnerable. It dies naturally in temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius. If at this stage you can consume large quantities of hot water with lemon you can abort the attack.
My Advice
Pursue personal safety at whatever cost. Stay at home. Don’t visit  and don’t recieve visitors. Check drivers, maids, and aides. Since it may be difficult to gauge their compliance, either reduce to the barest minimum or do without. Those that must stay must be made to be resident and movements restricted.
*Maintain  physical distancing if you must go out. Comply with the hygiene protocols as recommended by NCDC.
*Fortify yourself daily with  immune boosters.
*At the slightest sign of trouble, fever, catarrh and or cough, get help instantly.
I hope someone finds this piece useful.