bohumm
Posts: 5705
Joined: 10/28/2007
From: Altadena, CA
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Bruce Johnson
It's been a mixed bag. I mean, I'm sure some health care workers have been rewarded handsomely. When I was in the hospital for Covid, a lot of the workers were from out of state here to make the big bucks. I'm not knocking any of that. They were providing for a special need and they were able and willing to provide it.
On the other hand, there are businesses that are out or that will never recover. There must be individuals who must have terrible stories of how they were financially ruined. T
Then there are those sad stories of those who did not survive. My story is more of an inspirational story, I believe, but I do wonder if the residual effects will be the end of me sooner than I realize. I mentioned that my daughter the ultrasound technician checked out a number of my vital organs and told me that she was pleasantly surprised that I was as good as I was from what she could see. I know that I am not the same, though. I can not make it through a day without an afternoon nap. When I resist, it feels like I will die. It's actually painful- not acute in a sharp manner, but generally it literally hurts to stay awake. I was never near close to that before. Nevertheless, I awake from my nap and after getting up I feel good. It's another chapter in my life, for sure and I have to embrace it for as long as I can keep it going. I know that I should be counting my blessing and thanking God each and every day.
You may already know this, but you ended up on the ventilator because of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) resulting from COVID pneumonia. Your alveoli (the air sacs at the end of your airways) and the interstitial space between your alveoli and the capillaries of your pulmonary circulation were flooded with proteins, red blood cells, white blood cells, cytokines, and other mediators of inflammation and healing. Type II pneumocytes were laid waste. Fibrin likely deposited in your interstitial space and a hyaline membrane likely formed on the walls of your alveoli.
When you recovered from the ARDS enough to come off the vent and resume your life, all that debris was left behind, like the aftermath of a hurricane. Even for someone whose lungs will recover nearly completely, it can take 6-12 months to sort our the damage. Even if there is lasting damage, there will usually also be a great degree of recovery.
The best thing you can do is take that nap like a birthright. Use the energy you have to get stronger little by little, gradually rebuilding stamina and strength. Go for walks and do progressive resistance/weight training (starting very easy) to make your everyday activities a little easier. You can't speed up the process in your lungs, and unfortunately there may be a limit to their recovery. But in either case your quality of life should improve by being attentive to your rehab, and that precious nap.
You mentioned that coming out of your sedation you realized the great value of your relationship with your wife, and your commitment to cultivate that. This kind of thing is a very underrated aspect of healing, and even of disease itself. Embrace it, and let that vault you just like the rehab and the naps. You and your body were one place a year ago, a different place in the hospital, and a still different place since then. Your mind and spirit were with you. Your trip through life has changed its itinerary....my advice is to strap in and go with it.
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RE: Covid 19 and those infected - 
but I'm not letting down my guard one iota.
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