Some of you may remember my friend from London who had Covid, was put into an induced coma and was in intensive care for seven weeks, but was finally discharged from Hospital at the end of June 2020.
I met him today. He still has to use a walking stick and can only walk short distances and is still under observation for kidney damage, but he remains the guy I knew. There is much talk of long Covid, there is an assumption that once you survive Covid, you are OK - but that is incorrect. My friend's health has been shattered by the virus - and aside from the "obvious" impacts of the infection, there are a few other things that I learned....
He actually caught Covid in Hospital..... he was taken in with unrelated issues and basically left to stew for 2 days due to the focus on Covid. When they eventually tested him, his count came back as one of the highest they had seen. His wife was twice called to prepare her for his death, as the medics exhausted treatment after treatment - basically throwing everything at the infection. But whilst the medical care against the virus was first rate, his treatment as a patient was poor.
His ring finger is now re-growing the last section (badly) - because it "fell off" due to the pulse monitor being left in place for days whilst he was at death's door and cutting off the circulation. Nobody bothered to change its position.....
Likewise, when he came out of hospital, he had weeks of treatment for bedsores... because nobody moved him whilst he was in semi-coma. All that happened was that they checked he was still alive and moved on.... they presumed he would die as had the other 20 patients in ICU at the time he was there.....
His front teeth were smashed as they intubated him.... he's still waiting to get them fixed. His muscles wasted due to the induced coma, leaving him with pain in his knees and ankles and limiting his mobility.
Plus, of course, he has several scars on his throat due to repeated tracheostomies.
Yet he is cheerful, glad to be alive and grateful for all that was done to save him
All he says is..... "believe me, you don't want to get Covid!"
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