60 Days after the Diagnosis; The New Reality

It has now been 60 days since I was admitted to the Covid ICU unit at the St. George Regional Hospital, St George, Utah. As I look back it seems like it has been an eternity. Early on, both in ICU and on home care and recovery, the days seemed to stand still as the minutes labored to become hours, the hours days, and the days weeks. I measured time not by the clock but by how I was hopefully getting better. Moving from ICU, to the recovery floor, then on to discharge where events that overshadowed time. Now on home care, changes in my oxygen level relative to my activity and the level of oxygen I receive via my concentrator have now replaced the calendar and the clock.

A week ago I started a steroid inhaler that was prescribed by my pulmonologist. She said some Covid patients did well using it. The instructions for use included a warning to make sure after use, the user thoroughly rinses their mouth lest they end up with a severe mouth inflammation. Is this really something I should be putting into my lungs? Following the pulmonologists order and the prescription instructions, I have experienced some more rapid recovery in terms of reduced oxygen stress relative to increased activity. Taking advantage of these changes, my spouse and I have increased our ventures outdoors to include visits to the dog and other parks. We have also visited the local library to check out books The photo is of an outing to a local dog park. Note the large oxygen tank I have in tow.

This past week I now measure time and my recovery in terms of the number of oxygen tanks I go through. At a flow level of 2 l a tank will last for 5 hours. By adjusting the flow you can maybe squeeze 6-7 hours out which translates into two outings. There is on interesting side bar of lugging the tank around - a lot of folks stop to open doors for me and ask if I need any help.

I still have an unsteady gait. This plus the oxygen tank in tow reinforces my senior status. In several cases those offering me assistance where 10 to 20 years my senior.

I wasn’t quite ready for this, but then again I wasn’t ready for COVID. This is the new reality for many COVID patients and their families.