Many coronavirus survivors face difficult recoveries following ventilator use
Ventilators may save lives, but patients are waking up to some extreme physical and cognitive challenges.
Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
A Florida man who said he initially thought the coronavirus pandemic was “a fake crisis” has issued a stark warning for others and both he and his wife contracted the virus and landed in the hospital, where his wife remains sedated on a ventilator.
UK WOMAN, 102, BEATS CORONAVIRUS: 'A MIRACLE RECOVERY'
“Many people still think that the coronavirus is a fake crisis which at one time I did too and not that I thought it wasn’t a real virus going around but at one time I felt that it was blown out of proportion and it wasn’t that serious,” Brian Hitchens, of Jupiter, wrote to his Facebook followers on May 12. “We kept on watching the news and kept on hearing about the spread of the coronavirus and to be honest I didn’t really think nothing of it I still thought it was being blown out of proportion until about 4 and ½ weeks ago when I started to feel sick and once I started to feel sick I stopped working and stayed home.”
Hitchens wrote that around the same time his wife also started feeling ill and that they quarantined. After his wife tested positive, he wrote, they continued to recover at home until both of their conditions worsened.
“So three weeks ago Sunday we decided not to play around with this anymore and I just had enough energy to drive us to the hospital Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and we both got confirmed that we had the coronavirus,” Hitchens wrote. “They admitted us right away and we both went to ICU. I started feeling better within a few days but my wife got worse to the point where they sedated her and put her on a ventilator.”
Hitchens said that while he has been improving, he still has COVID-19 and pneumonia in his lungs, and he’s coming to terms with his wife’s condition.
MODERNA SEES 'POSITIVE' PHASE I DATA FOR POTENTIAL CORONAVIRUS VACCINE
“My wife has been sick before in the past quite a few times and she always fought through to get better but now after three weeks I have come to accept that my wife may pass away and the peace I have about it is that I know without a shadow of a doubt that she will be coming home to be with the Lord but I also do believe in miracles and I’m holding onto the chance that she may get healed but if not I am thankful for her I know we’ve been married for 8 years.”
He urged his followers to “think about what I wrote and think about if this thing is a fake crisis,” and to acknowledge that the virus affects people differently.
“This thing is nothing to be messed with please listen to the authorities and heed the advice of the experts,” he wrote. “We don’t have to fear this and by heeding the advice doesn’t mean that you fear it that means you’re showing wisdom during this epidemic time.”
Hitchens later wrote that when he was being transferred to another floor, staff stopped by his wife’s room so he could see her and speak to her.
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
“I am so thankful for all the doctors that are working so hard to try and help my wife get better and all the nurses that are working hard and everybody putting long hours in a day to help make a patient’s day a brighter day,” he wrote on May 16. “These doctors and nurses and all the hospital staff I am so thankful for. Everybody’s been so good all the nurses have just been fantastic.”
Stay up-to-date on the biggest health and wellness news with our weekly recap.