Now, a harrowing, personal, first-hand account worth reading... You’ve been warned. PS- This dude’s a doc.
Now that it's been 15 days and my wife and kids remain asymptomatic, I can now tell my coronavirus story.
I was wrong. I had seen it before. Media had sensationalized the news. SARS was coming, MERS was coming, Swine flu was coming, Ebola was coming. Small groups of people panicked, small groups were affected. The viruses that were to be the next plague faded away and the media shifted attention to some other news to get ratings- one week it was 24/7 discussion about Hilliary and her private server, the next week maybe something about a Kardashian, or members of the US Women's Soccer Team declining an invite to The White House.
With that history of news hysteria, I discounted the admonitions and went on my planned vacation. A week on the 80s cruise. We had received information regarding the travel restrictions for guests who would be on the cruise. We were told of the enhanced embarkation screening and the increased on-boat cleaning and sanitization that staff would be completing during our trip. To my knowledge no staff or guest had any symptoms of the coronavirus during the cruise.
What a great cruise (except for the fact that the cruise cost twice the price for most cruises and the major headline performers cancelled either the day before or day after the cruise set sail. Yeah The B52s, Loverboy, and Brett Michaels- I'm talking about you guys.)
I don't know when I had contracted the virus that week. Amusingly my wife and kids have remained asymptomatic despite being in close quarters with me that week. I wore an N95 mask on the flights to and from Miami, (my family didn't). Only I had used the spa for a massage. I rode shotgun to and from the Port of Miami while my family rode in the back of the taxis we used. I washed my hands many more times than I usually do a day. Mind you, I'm a general surgeon- I wash my hands alot. I wiped down door knobs and my cell phone with antibacterial wipes I had all the time in back pocket. I did all of that to make me feel better about catching a virus I thought was surely being sensationalized by the media. It was small risk and it wouldn't be so bad even if I caught it.
Let me state this again. I was wrong.
Though we had minimal internet service on the cruise, we were able to get news updates whenever we came into dock. It looked like things were getting REAL. People are hoarding toilet paper? Banning flights from Italy? Disney World is closing? Tom Hanks has the virus? When we got home that Sunday I convinced my wife to go shop for some non-perishables and marvel at the empty shelves where the toilet paper should be. We came home and hunkered down. I had already received a text from my hospital's infectious disease specialist. She knew I was on vacation and wanted me to stay low and surveil for the development of any coronavirus symptoms.
I didn't have to wait long. The next morning, my Day 1 of living with coronavirus, I woke with one of those irritating coughs that tickle the back of your throat. Then a mild headache. Then muscle and joint pain. All of these were allergy symptoms I have every year when the yellow pollen snow coats my home's lawn and driveway. Still cautious, I cancelled my week's scheduled cases and office visits. I isolated from my family and moved into our walkout basement. I got back with our hospital's ID specialist who told me to stay at home but not to be too worried because I had no fevers.
The fevers started on Day 2. These weren't high spiking 102.0 fevers (those would come later), but low grade fevers that made me feel flushed and irritated. They were easily controlled with Tylenol. I drove over to the hospital's new drive thru viral testing center. I knew the staff working there; they laughed at me thinking a was pulling a prank on them. "You don't look sick," they said. Our ID MD came out and shoved the longest cotton swab I've ever seen into my left nostril and told me results would take 48hrs to come back. I know now how wrong I was during my surgical residency to place all those nasogastric tubes at bedside without remorse.
Day 3 and most of Day 4 was a continuation of the same. I was obviously sick but not too bad if I could keep my temperature down.
Then things began to progress quickly. I received a text from our administrator for physician affairs just as I had my first fever above 101.5. 'This is *** ****.
Can I give u a quick call?' Damn. I knew what he was to tell me. So 10 minutes later I have to holler upstairs to my wife and let her know I have coronavirus and we are all in quarantine. She decides since it's late in the evening, she'll sit tight and find a way to break it to the kids in the morning. 2 hours later the fever is worse. Then the breathing problems started. I felt I was trying to breathe through the cardboard tube that holds towel paper- able to be done, but uncomfortable after a few minutes. At midnight I called my wife and told her I was driving myself to the hospital. I called the ER MD that was on call and told him to expect me. My lab work, vitals, chest xray, and ekg were all fine and I was told I could go home or be admitted for observation. I had been sick for 4 days and was now much, much worse with shortness of breath- why was I even given an option to go home? I chose admission.
I spent the next 8 days in the hospital. I was not well. Fortunately I never was hypoxemic where I required oxygen supplementation, though I used a oxygen venturi mask for breathing comfort. The first 6 days of my hospitalization could be summarized easily. My day involved lying under blankets help with my chills and body aches. The blankets would soon be torn off the bed and I'd strip down to my underwear because I'd become feverish and sweat profusely. It was during these sweat fests that my breathing worsened considerably and I prayed to God for a miracle. I always thought, "is this the one where my breathing gets so bad the nurses say, 'he's spiralling, take him to the ICU.'" The cycle of blankets and stripping and sweating and gasping would happen 4 to 6 times a day. Usually the worse episode occurred at night. I'd always get some sleep between 23:00-1:00. Then each night I'd be up for the remaining early morning hours fighting another fever.
There are a limited number of Forensic File episodes. They are played one after another on the HLN channel from Midnight to 6AM. I have quickly approached to seeing almost all of them. I would maybe get another 1-2 hours of sleep during the day.
For those who have never 'sweated a bed' it is a very uncomfortable thing. The breathing difficulty became much more pronounced when I sweated the bed. Moreover it was embarrassing to do it in front of the nursing staff you see daily at work. First time in my life I really took to heart the tale about mothers saying to always wear clean underwear because you'll never know when you get into an accident. Thank you to Dr. Bakhtazde for having the compassion to run over to Target and buy me a fresh 6-pack of briefs on Day 4.
