I am alive after getting COVID 19

in We Are Alive Tribe4 years ago (edited)

Till this day I still wonder how I got the virus.

The Philippines has one of the longest lockdowns initiated to combat the COVID 19 Pandemic. We are now at the six-month mark with three thousand new cases daily.

My house became a workplace, living place, amusement place. My whole life revolved around it.

Sometimes when I go sit by the balcony I think and miss my former life. Going out to meet family and friends over shared meals. Having coffee with someone special. Browsing through books and promising to just buy one but ending up with three.

All of these stopped when the government announce the Enhanced Community Quarantine which is basically a lockdown all but in name.

Life stopped. Businesses, schools, religious centers and transportations were all closed as the number of patients continued to rise.

Every two weeks the government would extend it giving it new names like Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine to General Community Quarantine. Each one introducing idiotic plans and policies that clearly showed they did not know what to do.

So I stayed inside. Lucky enough to be able to work from home. Able to afford to get things delivered instead of lining up for 2-3 hours waiting in lines in supermarkets and stores. Had enough things to enjoy like books that were unread, series to binge, and trainings to take.

Four months in the lockdown I suddenly got sick. I had fevers that were on and off. I developed a cough and on the 5th day started getting diarrhea. On the 7th I had difficulty breathing.

My lips started turning blue and the colors beneath my fingernails paled. I tried taking long, deep breaths to no avail.

I was rushed to the hospital and the attending physician in ER placed an oximeter and was alarmed at how low my oxygen saturation was.

He called for a wheelchair and got me hooked to an oxygen tank. It finally felt a bit better.

ER was packed with people. Accidents, illnesses and of course COVID.

I really did not want to be there. I was afraid. I did not want to get infected.

They decided they could not release me with my oxygen saturation at below 85%. Unfortunately, there were no rooms available so I spent 3 days in ER with cloth curtains separating me from other patients.

My second day they did a swab test and the next day I received a negative result for COVID 19. I was relieved and yet my vitals were still falling.

It went critical when my oxygen saturation reached 77%. They needed to intubate. I had apprehensions, no I was downright scared. Everything that I read and watched about COVID 19 how painful being intubated is. How you already have one foot in the grave. In my mind, it was game over. So I refused. I was going to get better without it.

It kept falling even with the oxygen being pushed into my lungs. Family and love ones implored that I get intubated. To give myself a fighting chance. They did a second swab test and it came out as COVID 19 positive and like that, I felt my world ended.

The doctors pointed out that I am relatively healthy without any preexisting conditions. I don't smoke and drink. My blood pressure normal. So I have a good chance of surviving but intubating would give my lungs a chance to be helped in breathing. I finally said yes.

I was sedated and a tube inserted down my throat and attached to my airway. I was then hooked into a ventilator to assist my breathing. It went without any hitch and then I woke up.

I woke up alone and it was dark. I felt the tube choking me. One of my nostrils had a tube running down to my stomach. I had a catheter attached to my privates. I could hardly move. I was choking in the dark, was panicking and thinking is this how I would die?

My heart rate was rising. One of the machines started beeping loudly. I could not reach the call button for the nurses. No one was coming. I could see people walk by and yet no one was looking my way.

It felt like forever but it could have just been 5-10 minutes after regaining consciousness when someone finally checked the beeping. She said she was sorry as there were so many people in ER but to fret not since I was going to be moved once they have an available room. She held a syringe and said it was a mild sedative to help me sleep. So rest well fighter and be well.

I woke up in ICU. Dressed in a hospital gown and wearing a diaper. An oxygen mask strapped tightly to my face and a tube firmly attached to it. Wires attached to my chest and a blood pressure strap on my right arm. I had IVs on both arms. The painkillers were wearing off. I could feel the tube choking me again. The worst was still to come.

Alive.jpg

I was told by one of my doctors that they would use Remdesivir as medicine to combat the virus. I was regularly sedated and every day at six AM I would be woken up and three vials of blood taken from me to run a battery of tests.

I hated those needles. My arms and wrists turned black and blue as each day those needles would pierce my skin and draw blood. The sensation of broken veins left me feeling both in pain and numb. I would be X-rayed almost every other day as they monitored the fluids in my lungs.

There would be times when fluids would fill the tubes. It comes from the condensation from the air. my breath and occasionally from the phlegm and fluids in my lungs.

The fluid would slowly build up and flood the tube and it would need to be suctioned. That was the worst. The phrase to drown in a glass of water comes to mind. It means to be easily discouraged and in a way it was discouraging whenever I needed to be suctioned. It felt like a mini drowning each time. Funny how you can drown on a half glass of water in the lungs. It was morbid but I was thinking that each time. I felt like giving up.

Twice I really thought I was a goner. Three days into ICU I could see the fluids fill the tube. I tried to breath slower, I tried to move the tube so that it would collect on a different area and not hinder the oxygen. I was losing this battle and my next breath filled my lungs with the fluid. I started to cough hard in an effort to expel it. It felt like my airways were blocked and I couldn't breathe.

I pressed the call button and the nurse was quick in coming in my room. She had to put on additional gloves, fixed her face shield and she started to vacuum the excess fluid, moving tubes and sliding plastic rods to close and open valves. It felt more than a few drops of fluids. She called for more help. Things started to turn gray, sound slowly disappear, the beeping ceased and time slowed down. I could still feel my heart racing as I started to panic and then it slowed down. Then everything went still as if time stopped.

I slowly felt my heart start beating. Color started coming back. The sound of the monitors beeping its frantic sound. I was back.

I asked the nurses and doctors what happened during that time. I was lucid, hyper lucid and yet they said my heart did not stop long and I should just focus on getting well. It did not stop long.

I had another episode but not as vivid as the first one. Eventually, I started to get better. The medicine was taking effect and they removed the tube on the 8th day in ICU.

I was moved to a regular room, started eating solid food. When they removed the catheter I was finally able to stand and go to the bathroom by myself. Taking that first piss by myself was so empowering after wearing a diaper.

Two days before I was discharged I got my last swab test and got the result that I was now COVID 19 negative. I had beat the virus. I have survived it and recovered.

Admittedly until now I still feel my lungs are weak and not 100%. It has been more than a month since I was discharged from the hospital but I am still afraid.

The science shows that each month the antibodies in COVID 19 survivors are decreasing so immunity is still not possible. So I take every precaution and still do not go out.

This brings me back into wondering how I got the virus. I always wash my hands, disinfect with alcohol every time I hold something. I use a sterilization box for all delivered items and disinfection with alcohol solution.

I still don't know how I got it but please be careful. Take every precaution you can do, take vitamins and strengthen your immune system by eating right, sleeping well and minimizing stress.

I am grateful to be alive and be counted as one of those that recovered from this virus. So be safe and know that COVID 19 is no joke.

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You've really been through a scary experience. Glad to know you pulled through

Thank you so much and I am grateful to have pulled through and survived it. Truly it was one of the scariest things to happen to me.

It is well

All the best for you!

very brave of you and glad you made it and thank you all for that information so many others went through that

Thank you! At first I was afraid of letting people know what I went through but thinking how it could be a message of warning and hope made me want to tell people.

Good to hear that you are doing fine. thanks for sharing.
Take care and be safe

Thank you and I hope by sharing it gives information and get people to take it seriously.

Hello dear friend @maverickinvictus good evening
I celebrate that he is alive and has overcome this disease, I am very sorry for what you had to go through. I appreciate that you let us know about this situation
take care of yourself dear friend

Thank you for the kind words and indeed it is a celebration of surviving and being alive. Hopefully, my writing will inform people how serious this is.

without a doubt dear friend @maverickinvictus your experience will be of great help to people.
Very happy with your recovery
have a beautiful sunday

Wow, what a battle you had, that is crazy and the worst part you were taking every precaution to be safe and still got it. It's great that you beat it and are getting better all the time. Keep up the fight

Yes and so sometimes I still wonder how I got it. Maybe it was just because I was unlucky but lucky enough for the rest of my family no one else got sick.

I really feel for you, your journey sounds so terrible but I am glad that you have survived. Maybe you may never know how you contracted COVID. So many unanswered questions about this terrible virus. Take care.

I still don't know how but I try to keep safe. Thank you for your kind words.

Sometimes I hate myself for being scared and unable to go out because I don't want to get sick again. Most cases of reinfection turn out to be more deadly so I feel trapped and have turned back to writing about it.

Maybe it will help remove my fear and I can go back to some level of normalcy.

Hey @maverickinvictus

I hope you are now very well and thinking about something different in your .
Your a hero and brave man.best of luck

Thanks for thinking that I am brave. To be honest I am still scared at times but I am trying my best to get better.

Man, what a horrible experience that has been for you.

I am glad you shared it though. I didn’t know that it could be like this and it will make me more cautious.

If I make a difference and get one person to be more careful then I consider it as a win!

I would not wish Covid on my worse enemy.

 4 years ago  

Happy that you are doing fine. I still wonder the effectivity of prolonged lockdowns. We just need to do the best we can to survive day to day. Do take care!

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The effects of prolonged lockdowns is a topic a lot of people discuss as they weigh between what is more important the economy and health. Sad with out country we have to choose one over the other which should not be the case.
The lockdown for me is okay if there is a good plan behind it and for the rehabilitation of livelihood after.

 4 years ago  

sadly there doesn't seem to be an exit strategy for it 😑😑😑

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 4 years ago  

Wow that was a really bad experience with Covid @maverickinvictus, and really great that you where able to beat it and are alive still, thanks a lot for sharing and very welcome to the #IAmAliveChallenge, stay safe, awesome and alive.


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Thank you @flaxz finding your community gave me the idea to write about my experience. It was one of the scariest thing to happen to me.

It was also one of the loneliest with the barest amount of human interaction due to the nature of the illness. I was not able to get my phone when I was still in ICU and so could not talk to family and love ones.

Wow, Thanks for sharing your journey with us, I am happy to hear you are on the other side of it and abole to tell the tale



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Thank you Russel for thinking my post is awesome. In a way, I wrote it to give light to my experience and to be able to try to remove the fear that lies in my heart.

I am glad to be alive but the fear is still there.

An intense account, thanks for sharing this scary experience.

Thank you Asher! yeah a lot of friends when I tell them my story they say it is as if they were there and could feel my fears, my thoughts of loneliness and being so helpless at that time.

It was scary and honestly till now I am scared of being reinfected so I am trying to be doubly careful.

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 4 years ago  

It is really great to hear that you are alive after that very bad Covid infection @maverickinvictus, keep getting well and stay safe, awesome and alive.


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It was a tough battle. Glad that you survived. Stay well.

I am so glad that you survived and are regaining your health! That is crazy - that you were home and isolated and still got the virus.
I am pretty much doing the same thing but am astounded how many people are not aware of keeping their distance and wearing a mask.
For sure, I am powering vitamins.
Wishing you all the best!! Thank you for sharing your story and a full recovery is my wish for you!

Get well soon

Hey nice to see you!!

Yup getting better everyday and hopefully get to 100%

Good to see you too, take care.