1/🧵🎥 “It’s a very bad disease. It can be overcome.”
My #COVID patient tearfully speaks of his BIG DECISION on the ventilator.
This soldier & leukemia survivor made it through 3 weeks on a ventilator. How?
Video shown w his permission “to help others find hope, Doc.”
#Hope
2/ This immunocompromised man was in massive viral septic shock from COVID.
Huge doses of vasopressors.
Gargantuan levels of O2 & vent pressure to save his life.
Lungs, Kidneys, Heart and Brain all failed.
3/ His wife was there with him daily.
We put up pictures of his kids and pets.
We talked to him about the things he loved every day (even when sedated and seemingly unable to hear us).
Somewhere in all of that, he made a silent decision…
4/ “Sir, while I was down and under, I made a decision.
“Over time, you have to decide to live. If you decide to #live then everything else falls into place.
“So in my mind, you decide to live & then everything will fall into place. And then eventually you work through it.”
5/ I asked, “Sir, you were on that ventilator so long. What was it like being delirious?”
Him: “You’re on the in & out. I asked one of my sons, what are you gonna do today? He wouldn't answer me. So I asked the next one. He wouldn't talk to me either. They weren’t there.”
6/ But my wife, she called up both of them and said "Dad needs to talk to you. You tell him what's going on for today." And that's everything right there.
He was hallucinating with ICU #Delirium, which is so common in COVID:
bit.ly/3vQ7SaF
7/ I don’t want anyone to lose hope due to #PICS & #LongCOVID.
I tell him: “You can get your brain back. Brain cells have gone on vacation & we're gonna get them back through types cognitive rehabilitation - Sudoku, and Scrabble
All in due time.
wb.md/3JvUH6d
8/fin
What does this brave soldier think of COVID?
“Overall, sir, it's a very bad disease. Very bad. But also I think the disease can be overcome. And like you just said, it's gonna take a while...
Friends, please stay safe & work to keep others safe.
And get fully #VAXXED.
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