A personal Covid Experience

[tmm99]

Being able to eat, even if it's just ice cream, is huge progress. Great to hear he's on the mend!

 

[harllee]

Oh Alan, so glad Jeffrey is improving a little every day. Prayers being answered but I am continuing prayers for 100% recovery.

 

[NW-Bound]

Ice cream today, Indian curry and fish & chips are next. We just need a bit of patience.

 

[Sue J]

I hope your family's roller coaster is smooth sailing from here until he is home and HEALTHY again.

What a horrible assortment of symptoms this COVID-19 causes. Not just respiratory, but stomach and digestion and exhaustion. The world is learning a lot from this.

 

[ivinsfan]

So glad to hear good news yet again. Praying for continued strength for recovery.


You talking about how weak he still is just reminds me how vicious and hard hitting Covid can be. He's weak as a kitten and needs time to recover.

 

[rodi]

I am so happy to read this morning's update. Hope his nausea dissipates and that he continues to improve overall. Can't wait to read that he's being released to home.

What is the plan for caregiving when he gets out of the hospital? Since you and Irene are vaccinated will you be taking that on. I know you had the family bubble...

 

[Alan]

We plan on looking after him either in our house or his own depending on how he is and what the hospital advises.

 

[dirtbiker]

I just stumbled upon this thread and read all the way through (well Alan's posts only). Wow, what a rollercoaster. Happy to hear he's on the mend!

And I was literally just on the phone arguing with my 18 year old 'adult' son about getting the vaccine, which he doesn't want. Ugh.

 

[pacergal]

Wonderful update, so happy for your family, Alan!
It will take him a bit to recover his strength, perhaps a few weeks, but it sounds like all the indicators are moving in the correct direction.

 

[Calico]

Since that 7am phone call he is washed, shaved, and has seen the doctor who told him he is making REALLY good progress. As I said above it was the first time talking to him since he went in that he sounded normal, not out of breath or gasping so it's good to get confirmation from the doctor on his progress.

Hopefully it will only be a week or so before he is well enough to come home. He still can't get himself out of bed to sit in a chair yet.
Since he asked us to drop off some items so we drove over to his place, then to grocery store, hospital and onto the seaside a few miles away where we had a lovely walk along the seafront, coffee, then haddock and chips all while looking out to sea over a glorious beach and a cloudless sky.

Brilliant morning, really starting to relax some now.

 

[Gremlin]

Since that 7am phone call he is washed, shaved, and has seen the doctor who told him he is making REALLY good progress. As I said above it was the first time talking to him since he went in that he sounded normal, not out of breath or gasping so it's good to get confirmation from the doctor on his progress.

Hopefully it will only be a week or so before he is well enough to come home. He still can't get himself out of bed to sit in a chair yet.
Since he asked us to drop off some items so we drove over to his place, then to grocery store, hospital and onto the seaside a few miles away where we had a lovely walk along the seafront, coffee, then haddock and chips all while looking out to sea over a glorious beach and a cloudless sky.

Brilliant morning, really starting to relax some now.

Nothing like the illness of a loved one to put life into sharp perspective. So happy to hear the good news and continued prayers/healing vibes until your son is fully recovered!

 

[Vacation4us]

Hopefully he hasn’t lost too much weight. I have heard of multiple patients loosing 30 to 50 lbs while hospitalized with Covid.

He will be weak for a while but with your support and strength I am sure he will make great strides in returning to his past healthy status.

So glad he’s gonna beat this battle!

 

[Gumby]

My 37 year old nephew lost about 15-20 lbs to COVID and he wasn't even hospitalized, just confined to his bedroom at home.

 

[CDRE]

Load the young man up with his most favorite ice cream.

 

[Alan]

He says that he has lost 25 lbs so far.

He had to be put on the large cannula in the nose oxygen overnight as his stats dropped but is back on the small clear 2 pronged one today and his blood oxygen is again stable at 97-98%.

He still has pneumonia so they continue to treat that with antibiotics. He has spent more time sitting in a chair yesterday and today but needs help getting to and from it. Physiotherapy starts tomorrow to help his mobility. As he gets better one of the tests he has to pass is climbing stairs before being allowed out. He is still nauseous, he brought back his tomato soup last night, but managed okay with weetabix today. (Ice cream also seems to stay down).

We are still hopeful that he will continue to make progress and be out in a few days time.

 

[Aerides]

The docs will probably recommend he try things like Ensure and protein drinks, which are usually far easier to digest, and optimized for nutrients. Tomato soup having acid, i can see that being problematic.

As much as you want him to come home, it's likely they'll want to see his digestion stable before release. and that's often slow to come around. Still, amazing to see his progress so far!

 

[sengsational]

I have a few nephews and nephew in laws that are saying they don't want the vaccine and are saying "I'll be fine". Well, maybe, and maybe not. I'm going to tell them this story. Of course Jeffrey didn't have the opportunity to get the vaccine. Hopefully hearing a specific story about some their age having to go through the suffering will get them to protect themselves.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I have a few nephews and nephew in laws that are saying they don't want the vaccine and are saying "I'll be fine". Well, maybe, and maybe not. I'm going to tell them this story. Of course Jeffrey didn't have the opportunity to get the vaccine. Hopefully hearing a specific story about some their age having to go through the suffering will get them to protect themselves.

It might help, but it's tough to get the youngin's to listen to good reason. It seems like unless they have "been there and done that" then it can't happen. I suppose I was guilty of it when I was younger, too.

Glad to hear the news with your son...getting better everyday!

 

[Alan]

He has been having protein shakes and the like for the last couple of days since they removed his feeding tube. He is keen to get onto “solid” food again.

Got a text from him this afternoon to say that the physio-terrorists came today instead of tomorrow. They had him marching in place and were pleased to see that his blood oxygen stayed high. As we thought, they will be working towards having him climb stairs and even after he is released home the physiotherapy will continue.

Here’s hoping his digestion improves, his pneumonia gets fixed and his physical strength increases enough to be released home soon. I suppose he will also have to test negative for Covid. When we talked this morning he was telling us about some of the other folks in the ICU with him, and there was one person in an ICU side ward where the doctors and nurses donned an even higher level of PPE before entering the room. Maybe infected with a very infectious variant? The UK does genome sequencing on a very high percentage of Covid cases now that the numbers of infections are low, and the rapid genome sequencing is described as near real time.

 

[Helen]

Holy cow, 25 pounds in such a short period of time, that is pretty amazing. I can't wait to read that he has come home.

 

[ivinsfan]

He has been having protein shakes and the like for the last couple of days since they removed his feeding tube. He is keen to get onto “solid” food again.

Got a text from him this afternoon to say that the physio-terrorists came today instead of tomorrow. They had him marching in place and were pleased to see that his blood oxygen stayed high. As we thought, they will be working towards having him climb stairs and even after he is released home the physiotherapy will continue.

Here’s hoping his digestion improves, his pneumonia gets fixed and his physical strength increases enough to be released home soon. I suppose he will also have to test negative for Covid. When we talked this morning he was telling us about some of the other folks in the ICU with him, and there was one person in an ICU side ward where the doctors and nurses donned an even higher level of PPE before entering the room. Maybe infected with a very infectious variant? The UK does genome sequencing on a very high percentage of Covid cases now that the numbers of infections are low, and the rapid genome sequencing is described as near real time.

Thanks for telling us what we need to mention in prayer. In the giddiness of his dramatic improvement we forget he has obstacles in front of him

 

[pb4uski]

.... Now that he is whining at warp factor 5 we can tell that he is definitely on the mend.

That is indeed a great sign.

 

[rodi]

Is ice cream considered a solid food? He should be given large bowls of it since it seems to stay down.

I literally lol'd at the term physio-terrorist.

Your and yours remain in my thoughts.

 

[pacergal]

Hoping your son continues to improve.
A bit of weight gain and increased strength and mobility, without O2 reduction , will be in my prayers for him today.

 

[powerplay]

Happy to read that he is progressing and hope he soon can take solid foods without issue and stand and walk up those steps!
Wishing him a steady recovery so that covid becomes a distant memory.