What It Is Like to Have Coronavirus

From Wirepoints:

Ten lessons from an old friend that just survived an ugly bout with Covid-19 – Wirepoints

An old friend of mine from my childhood years in Georgia just survived an ugly bout with Covid-19. Chip Burger was the older kid I looked up to when I was younger. Our old hometown of Albany is actually experiencing one of the worst outbreaks of the virus in the nation. It’s heartbreaking to read about. 

Chip, who now lives in Atlanta, recently wrote about his experience with the virus and I want to share it with you. It’s a reminder that no matter how strong or healthy you think you are, this virus is dangerous.

It’s a smart, inspiring piece that everyone should read.

– Ted

***************

I was released from WellStar North Fulton Hospital yesterday after nine days fighting viral Covid-19 pneumonia – six days in the ICU and three on the medical floor. I thought I would share with you the top ten things I learned:

On Wednesday, 3/11 I developed a dry cough and worked from home the rest of the week. I felt good and actually overdid it on Saturday running errands and doing things around the house.

Lesson 1: Don’t overdo it – If you have a cough, fever, shortness of breath, sore throat, loss of appetite, loss of sense of smell or other potential Covid-19 symptoms, notify your doctor, rest and take over the counter medications that help your symptoms.

From Sunday, 3/15 to Sunday, 3/22 my condition worsened. My cough persisted, I had very little energy, my sense of taste left me (food tasted like a mix of cardboard, sawdust and black mold) and toward the latter half of the week I started hearing a dry, crunchy sound in my chest.

Lesson 2: Listen to your body – You know when something is wrong. Early in this week I should have contacted my doctor and gone in for an evaluation. I thought I was supposed to stay at home and not overwhelm the medical system. But if I had received medical treatment earlier, I may have avoided my stint in the hospital.

By Sunday, 3/22 I was among the walking dead and Heidi was having no more of it. She loaded me in the car and we went to WellStar Urgent Care. During the check–in process I was impressed with how professional and attentive the staff were and how alarmed they were at my condition. They knew practically immediately I had pneumonia (remember the dry, crackly sound in my lungs?) and they measured my blood oxygenation level and said it was extremely low. They told us they could either call us an ambulance or we could drive, but that we were going to the WellStar North Fulton Hospital emergency room practically across the street. Heidi zoomed me over there and I was whisked away to emergency. That was the last I saw of Heidi for nine days.

While in the emergency room I sort of went into slow–mo mode. I could see how concerned the emergency room staff were and the thought occurred to me that I was circling the drain. I was so weak and tired that the realization didn’t scare or alarm me – it was just an observation. I snapped out of it when Dr. Tony said my situation was very serious and that they were going to put me on oxygen. If my blood oxygen levels did not improve quickly, they were going to intubate me and put me on a respirator.

Lesson 3: Push for the least invasive treatment option – This is the hardest lesson to describe yet the most important of my experience. I think if I had relinquished control of my recovery to a machine I would have been in the ICU longer. I don’t know this – I just feel it. I asked the doctor to give me a chance with the oxygen and focused all my energy on breathing as deeply as my crackly lungs would allow. Over time, my blood 02 levels improved – so much so that they actually switched me over to just an oxygen tube that fit in my nose.

During the early part of my stay in the ICU, it became obvious that for the foreseeable future my life would suck.

Lesson 4: Embrace the suck – At this point it seemed everyone wanted a piece of me. Technicians getting vital signs, blood draws, x–rays, the works. If you ever get in this situation – the suck is what is going to save you. This is where the medical team is getting the vital information they need to help you. If they want to draw blood every morning at 3:15 (they did) you smile at them and thank them when they’re done. Same with the folks that come at awkward hours to get your vital signs – which tells them how you’re progressing and gives them early warning if something is going wrong. The belly shot at 5:00 pm to thin your blood? Tomorrow let’s do cocktails with that! You are always glad to see them and hope they come again soon. 

The staff also tested me for Flu A/Flu B which entails inserting a bristly feeling wire into your sinuses and pulling it back out. They also tested for Covid-19 (winner) which involved inserting a bristly feeling wire into my sinuses, but then taking a tour of the inside of my head by twirling the wire around. Embrace this and just live in the moment while they do it (which happens automatically since you will not be thinking of anything else during the “swabbing”).

By Tuesday, 3/24 things had improved enough that I knew I was going to be okay – I just didn’t know how long it was going to take me to get out of the ICU. The staff gave me some devices to help me with my breathing – one for inhaling and one for exhaling. They set goals for me each day – which mainly consisted of getting off the supplemental oxygen and working with my breathing devices.

Lesson 5: Take what is offered / Do what you are told – At this point my appetite was back and I was better able to get out of bed and take care of myself. I figured the staff knew what they were doing (they did – I love them) so I decided I would accept whatever they gave me and do whatever they wanted me to do. I ate everything they brought me, drank water almost continuously, used the breathing devices on every commercial break or every 10 minutes or so if the TV was off (really weird watching the news anchors discuss the Coronavirus while you are in the ICU with it). I think getting with the program early really helped my recovery.

Also by Tuesday–ish , I was also getting to know the medical staff. They operate as a team and are very professional. I knew by watching them enter the room that they had strict protocols on personal protective equipment (PPE) and how to interact with me.

Lesson 6: Join the team – Since the nurses and techs had to come in fairly regularly to check on me, bring meals, etc., we quickly reached an understanding on how we could help each other. In order to minimize the amount of PPE they had to use, I asked them to bring two cups of ice water every time they came in. This would last me four hours or so and meant they wouldn’t have to come in as often. Cooperate with your team – they are nice people!

As I began to feel better on Tuesday and Wednesday I started asking whether there were other Covid patients in the ICU. The nurse said my whole side of the ICU was Covid. I asked her how they were doing and that’s when I learned that despite the medical team’s best efforts, considerable skill and medical technology – their patients were dying from the virus.

Lesson 7: Be kind to your staff and be understanding of what they are going through – Imagine a job where you report for your shift and people are in various stages of dying. I began talking to the people that came in my room and asked how they were doing, thanked them for their help and praised them for being willing to endanger themselves to help their patients. Everyone likes to feel appreciated – and your staff needs to hear it. If you know a medical person that is dealing with Covid patients – please reach out to them and let them know you are thinking of them and admire what they are doing. We need them!

Each day I was reducing my need for supplemental oxygen and was getting close to my goal of eliminating it completely. Soon we started talking about me leaving the ICU and going to a regular room on the medical floor. This happened on Friday, 3/27. Even though I was still on supplemental O2, I was given a transfer to the medical floor. Nurse Katie came to help me move and there was also an assistant with a wheelchair. Katie asked me if I wanted to walk to the new room and I told her I would love to stretch my legs. As we were leaving, one of the key ICU doctors passed me and stopped Katie and the wheelchair lady to speak with them. He was speaking in low tones and at first I was worried he was getting on to them because I wasn’t in the wheelchair. But then I heard Katie tell him that he should tell me what he just said. The doctor came up to me and said that no one with the level of infection I had was still alive – and that of all the Covid patients they have treated, none had walked out of the ICU. I told him I was a testament to the great care I had received from him and his staff and North Fulton Hospital. My walk from the ICU to the medical floor was one of the best of my life!

Lesson 8: Be thankful you are alive – No explanation needed. When I got to my new room, I was shocked it had a window. In the ICU and in my new room, they had to make the room have negative pressure so when the door opened air came in instead of blowing the Covid virus out into the hall. To do this they took out a window, added strong cardboard and rigged it to have a blower shooting air out of the room to the outside. Since the ICU room only had one window, I had not seen the sky in almost a week. The medical floor rooms had two windows and I just sat down and stared out of the one that remained (there was even a hawk flying around). I was overwhelmed from just being able to see outside. I felt like a prisoner who had just been taken out of the hole and given a pardon forgiving my death sentence. It was a powerful moment.

Lesson 9: Take nothing for granted – There are still a lot of great things happening all around us – time with our families, texts with friends, walking your dog, drinking water with ice in it, looking at the sky. Every little moment is precious – enjoy it.

While on the medical floor I finally got off the supplemental oxygen and had to go through another round of medications before I could finally go home on Monday, 3/30. What a sweet ride! Heidi picked me up and took me home. Cruelly, I cannot be near her as I will still be contagious for about a week and have to wear a mask whenever I pass through a common area in our house. I catch a glimpse of her now and then – she’s a babe!

Lesson 10: Give back – I do not know exactly how I will exact revenge on Covid-19, but I will get it. For starters, I have written this account of my experience so that you know what to expect in case you contract the virus, to encourage you to do everything the CDC and other experts tell you to do to avoid it and maybe to scare straight those of you that have become complacent thinking this will not happen to you. It can – and you do not want anything to do with Covid-19 and you sure as hell don’t want to be responsible for giving it to someone else.

I have also heard that over the next few weeks I will begin to develop anti–bodies to the virus. I have also heard that there are studies underway to see if these anti–bodies can be used to treat those that have contracted Covid-19. I would love it if my anti–bodies could kill this damn virus in others. THAT would be sweet, sweet revenge.

Until I see you again – wash your hands, make the best of these crazy times and take care of yourselves. 

Love, Chip

= = = = =

And about that treatment that President Trump trumpeted:

Dr. Steven Smith: Hydroxychorloquinine Works; “This is the beginning of the end of coronavirus”

And in Geller Report:

“Dr. Stephen Smith then pointed out that not a single coronavirus patient under his care who was on the hydroxychloroquine regimen needed to be intibated.”


Comments

What It Is Like to Have Coronavirus — 27 Comments

  1. And this just in from the republican governor of GA;

    After resisting a statewide stay-at-home order for days, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) succumbed to the pressure and issued one on Wednesday. Part of the reason, he said, was that he had just learned some new information.

    Kemp said he was “finding out that this virus is now transmitting before people see signs.”

    “Those individuals could have been infecting people before they ever felt bad, but we didn’t know that until the last 24 hours,” he said. He added that the state’s top doctor told him “this is a game-changer.”

    It may have been a game-changer, but it was a game-changer weeks or even months ago. That’s when health officials started emphasizing that asymptomatic people are transmitting the coronavirus. The idea that Kemp didn’t know this is striking. But he’s merely the latest top politician to indicate he’s unfamiliar with the science even as he’s making life-or-death decisions for his constituents.

    Anthony S. Fauci, a lead member of the White House coronavirus task force, was talking about asymptomatic transmission more than two months ago.

  2. The level of denial that some people are living in is asinine! Go down to Chicago and lick some door handles and toilet seats if you’re so confident in yourselves (I’m talking to you “Cindy”).

    I bet all of these “Covid deniers” wouldn’t have the stones to do it!

    They just sit behind their keyboards all day wearing tin hats and eating Cheetos while yanking their cranks to Alex Jones.

  3. The Georgia governor is either (a) full of sh*t and a huge liar or (b) a complete moron who has been living under a rock the past 3 months. The governor of Florida is a coward who wanted Trump to make the call to shut things down. Trump wanted the Florida governor to shut things down. Trump didn’t want to take the blame. The gov didn’t want to take the blame. Real f*en leadership from a couple of cowards suck a$$es. Time for people to man the F up and make tough calls and do the right thing to save lives. What these stupid kiss a$$ governors do has an effect on all of us.

  4. Yes it is interesting, Cindy.

    I’m sure there’s a grain of Truth in it and maybe more.

    Doesn’t make sense to put all your eggs in this basket.

    Viruses meet some of the criteria for life.

  5. First of all, CP, if you live in a rural area, most likely you do not see Covid 19 cases and most likely you are living your life as before.

    But I am a nurse in Chicago and I can attest it is REAL.

    I suggest you are blinded to the reality of life.

    Cindy, at this point in time it doesn’t really matter what a virus or bacteria is or is not.

    I am not denying we need to take care of ourselves.

    But I am denying we can afford to let this virus go unchecked because it is lethal to many thousands of people .

    This particular Coronavirus partly comprised bat excrement.

    The bat droppings landed on fish in a market in China which was consumed and infected humans.

    The virus was not normal flora for the humans and hence Covid 19 came to be.

    We need a vaccine SOON.

  6. LOL Another liar. LOL AND they KNOW for sure. Bat droppings!! Will you people believe any scam story you hear? Yes, you will. Nurses are turning out to be the dumbest chits on the face of the earth right after high school teachers. It’s over. My hands are clean. Enjoy your new world order apocalypse. Daniel 12:10

  7. “Go down to Chicago and lick some door handles and toilet seats if you’re so confident in yourselves…” Sunshine blogger, do not take this advice literally the next time you sail around Lake Michigan in your favorite republikkklan fundraiser. Be content with that free dinner. Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, hug your neighbor, tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww…

  8. Llavona, I can’t wait to see you at the provisional tribunal. Oh, there’s no appeals, sorry,

  9. The level of idiocy that people will go to to cling to their false beliefs is amazing. Just read Nancy’s post and ask yourself what the Hell is wrong with us! There is no hope for humanity because you are all insisting on marching lockstep to your own execution all the while making excuses for the unbelievably naive things you are told. The Emperor HAS no clothes! It’s INVISIBLE! Yes, I knew there was something scary here. Here’s what Dr. Faust said last month! LOL You can’t make this chit up. Enjoy your apocalypse that you brought down around yourselves because of your addiction to couches and Cheetoh’s.

    AND Cal, I am severely SEVERELY disappointed in you. I thought you at least were a bit smarter than that!

  10. Cal has turned his political governmental processes blog into pure propaganda arm for the new world order. Severely disappointed. (And I voted for the man!)

  11. Wow Cindy, I was unsure of how stable you might be…but you voted for Cal?

  12. High impact story Cal.

    Are these goofy comments real?

    I hope they settle down.

  13. Cindy is full on nuts. It’s scary she gets to walk abound unrestrained.

  14. What’s wrong with voting for my sunshine blogger? I also voted for him. I remember that day well. The moment I cast my vote, the voting machine erupted in flames. The election officer told me: “your vote is secret, but unfortunately in this case, we all know who you voted for.” I never felt more proud of being an American. Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, hug your neighbor, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww…

  15. Now you’ve done it Cal, you gone and pissed off Cindy.

  16. Angel, you are such a liar! You know you never voted for Cal! You busted yourself when you talked about the voting machine. That wasn’t even invented yet and you know very well that back in those days we voted with rocks.

  17. My nephew, the doctor in England who worked directly with Coronavirus patients just tested positive.

    Right now he has a fever and we are praying he gets a mild infection.

    He is a hero to me. God bless him.

    It’s time to ignore people like Cindy and look after ourselves and pray for all those on the front line.

  18. I rarely respond to sunshine commenter’s accusations, but after being accused of lying by satan herself, one of the most prestigious and reputable commenters on this sunshine blog, I owe an explanation to its millions of readers. It is true that during my sunshine blogger’s early political life back in the turn of the century (the 20th century I mean) the electronic voting machine was not invented yet. I was referring to his glorious 2% gubernatorial run in 2002 where my sunshine blogger cemented forever his irrelevancy in Illinois politics. A politician was dead, but a journalism legend was born. Isn’t politics great? Stay tuned…tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, hug your neighbor, tic, tock, tic, tock, tic, tock, meeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww…

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