An Unexpected Battle with COVID-19
With unknown underlying medical conditions, 杰克逊43岁的父亲和未婚妻威尔·罗德斯在2021年2月感染新冠病毒后发现他的生活发生了巨大变化. Finding himself in the hospital for over a month, 他的故事真实地证明了一个人在诊断出COVID后可以经历什么.
告诉我们关于COVID课程的开始阶段
“I contracted COVID at the beginning of February. 我刚刚在宝洁公司工作了9天, so even though I had started to feel bad, I figured it was tiredness from working. 我通过了每天的体温检查，但当我开始工作时，我知道有些不对劲. 我的导师建议我回家观察我的症状. 从那以后，我吃不下饭，下不了床，咳嗽得厉害，还发烧. 第二天，我未婚夫的新冠病毒检测呈阳性，所以我做了一个得来速测试，结果检测呈阳性. 医生给了我在家服用的药物和治疗方法，但似乎没有帮助.”
When Did You Come to the Hospital?
“As my symptoms progressed, my fiancé called her doctor, 他们告诉她，如果我不能走路或说话，就该去医院了. 我很固执，所以我坚持等到第二天. 第二天早上，我试图下床去吃点东西，却昏倒了. At that point, I agreed to go to the hospital. 当我到达急诊室时，我不得不坐在门口，因为我站不起来. 一位护士推着轮椅来接我，把我带回一个房间.”
What Was Your Experience Like in the COVID Care Unit?
“当我回到我的房间时，他们开始测量我的生命体征，并给我输氧. It was not long before the room filled with people. They were drawing my blood, 给我静脉注射，给我戴上高流量鼻插管，戴上面罩，因为当时我的氧气是53. 医生告诉我，这取决于我，但她的建议是插管. 我唯一的要求就是打电话给我的未婚妻和孩子们，让他们知道我爱他们，因为, honestly, I was scared I was not going to wake up again. I wanted to have a fighting chance at least, so after calling my family, they put me to sleep, and I stayed on the ventilator for ten days.”
What Was it Like Coming Off the Ventilator?
“I was having what they call ICU delirium. 我不能和孩子们在一起，这让我很难过. I was stuck in the hospital, 不知道今天是什么日子，吞咽或说话等简单的事情都很困难. 看到我自己感觉很奇怪，因为我瘦了30磅，胡子也剃光了. 和我的未婚妻和孩子们视频聊天很愉快，护士和医务人员也很棒. I decided to stay in the hospital for inpatient rehab. I was moved to the inpatient Tower to rest, 恢复，让我的耗氧量降到足够低，开始康复过程.”
What Were Your Goals Through Inpatient Rehab?
“我的第一个目标是能够去接我两岁的孩子. My second goal was to be off oxygen when I went home. 我是一个伟大的投球手，所以我的下一个目标是能够再次投球. My last goal was to be able to play guitar again.”
治疗师是如何帮助你达到这些目标的?
“Dr. Hunter 她的团队总是非常鼓励和创造性的治疗方法来帮助我实现目标. 他们锻炼了我的全身力量——在第一天之后，我再也不用助行器了. I used a medicine ball to regain my balance for bowling. 我用一把捐赠的吉他再次增强了双手的力量. Since it was springtime, 我是第一个走进康复艺术花园的住院康复中心的COVID患者, 这是一个整洁的经历，新鲜的空气帮助很大. Over time, 我完成了大部分目标，并通过了评估，周二就可以出院了, March 9.”
Do you Have Any Long-Term Effects?
“The brain fog is horrible. 我有很长一段时间没有开车，因为我们要开车, 我就会忘记我们要去哪里或者我们在哪里. 有时，我不记得我的电话号码或我在做什么，当我走进一个房间. I still get tired easily. 我的氧气没有下降，但如果我做任何太剧烈的事情，我就会气喘吁吁. 我仍然需要带着氧气睡觉，而且由于开着呼吸机，我的肩膀有些问题. But, the worst of it all is that COVID brain fog.”
在感染COVID-19之前，您有任何合并症吗?
“I did not know at the time, but when I was admitted to the hospital, they discovered I had underlying type 2 diabetes. I had all the symptoms – weight loss, frequent trips to the restroom, increased thirst and blurry vision. 我通常每天工作12个小时，所以很容易忽略和忽略这些迹象. 尽管许多人认为他们会很好地应对COVID并且没有合并症, 他们仍然可能有潜在的条件影响他们的COVID病程. 我现在告诉人们每天要观察自己身体对事物的反应, and if they think something is off, do not be stubborn. Go get it checked out.”
从COVID中恢复过来后，你的生活是什么样的?
“我已经开始重新打保龄球，弹吉他，和家人在一起. 我仍然害怕再次感染新冠病毒. 我尽量不去繁忙的地方，我到处都戴着口罩，因为不戴口罩会让我感到焦虑. The first time I went to Schnucks, 排在我后面没有戴口罩的人开始不停地咳嗽, and I almost had a panic attack – I could not handle it. 我最近接种了全面疫苗，我所有有能力的孩子都接种了全面疫苗. 我还在Facebook上发布视频，讨论案件的增加, vaccines, 我对COVID的经验以及人们可以做些什么来减缓传播.”
关于COVID-19和你的经历，你还有什么想补充的吗?
“我离开医院的那一周，赌博软件下注关闭了新冠病房. I was one of the last patients. When I saw the unit was reopening, my heart dropped. 我曾经说过，接种疫苗是你的选择, 但现在我正在推动人们照顾好自己:如果你生病了, stay home and, if you can get vaccinated, please get vaccinated.”
Learn more on our COVID-19 page. 要预约COVID-19疫苗，请致电 573-381-5958.
