Here are my recent experiences. There are still plenty of covid cases, but the hospitalized patients seem less sick for the most part. HOWEVER, some people are still hit really hard. We are also seeing a fair amount of people who had covid over the winter who now have recurrent pleural effusions. Basically, a pleural effusion is a collection of fluid (sometimes just a transparent liquid but worsening sometimes to a purulent/pus consistency). When I say recurrent, I mean these people keep getting them over and over, and the treatment can escalate up to a thoracotomy and often includes chest tubes and almost always a supplemental Oxygen requirement.
I have had one patient who received both vaccines and still had an active covid infection. She was 90 years old, and she died.
We had a 40 year old man recently with no medical history other than covid in February. He was hospitalized three times afterwards. He received in total 6 chest tubes, three thoracotomies, 1 VATS procedure, 10 units of blood that I know of, and he died last week. His wife had a baby during his last hospitalization, and one of the nurses was kind enough to take him to see the baby and his wife. This was before he became critically ill.
I had a 37 year old woman last week. She was hospitalized with covid April 13-15. She came back in on the 17th and was intubated until the 3rd of May. She is now relatively confused, she can only speak with a very raspy voice, she has extreme facial hair, she is so weak she can not even turn over, she has a Foley catheter and a rectal tube, and she has extreme anxiety. I don?t think she will ever be the same again. She has an 11 month old daughter.
I would recommend wearing a mask if you are out in public and continue to wash hands/use hand sanitizer often. Wearing a mask is not a bfd, but I know lots of people think it is. I don?t know why. Best wishes to all my madjack friends. I think we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, but ffs, wear your masks a bit longer. :0008
I have had one patient who received both vaccines and still had an active covid infection. She was 90 years old, and she died.
We had a 40 year old man recently with no medical history other than covid in February. He was hospitalized three times afterwards. He received in total 6 chest tubes, three thoracotomies, 1 VATS procedure, 10 units of blood that I know of, and he died last week. His wife had a baby during his last hospitalization, and one of the nurses was kind enough to take him to see the baby and his wife. This was before he became critically ill.
I had a 37 year old woman last week. She was hospitalized with covid April 13-15. She came back in on the 17th and was intubated until the 3rd of May. She is now relatively confused, she can only speak with a very raspy voice, she has extreme facial hair, she is so weak she can not even turn over, she has a Foley catheter and a rectal tube, and she has extreme anxiety. I don?t think she will ever be the same again. She has an 11 month old daughter.
I would recommend wearing a mask if you are out in public and continue to wash hands/use hand sanitizer often. Wearing a mask is not a bfd, but I know lots of people think it is. I don?t know why. Best wishes to all my madjack friends. I think we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, but ffs, wear your masks a bit longer. :0008
