I've posted this on different threads but never really told the entire story because it's a long one. I'm 45 years old and live in NEPA.
On January 14, while at work, I started with a dry cough and came home and bitched because my co-worker coughed days before and didn't cover his mouth. I thought I was coming down with the cold. Wrong.
I woke up the next day with a fever of 101.7 and felt like garbage but it was manageable with Advil and rest. I still had an appetite and figured it was the flu and I'd get through it like I've done every other time I got hit with it. After all, there's nothing the doctors can do with the flu except prescribe Tamiflu and help you feel better.
Four or five days later with the high fever, which went into the weekend, I started to develop a horrible cough and lost my all taste and smell which made eating pointless. I couldn't sleep because laying down would make the cough worse so I was on 2 days of no sleep. The headache was unbearable. 10x worse than a hangover with those Milwaukee's Best Ice 12 packs we used to get at Pennsylvania Pizza late night.
On January 21st, around 4 am, I was struggling to get my breath and went downstairs to tell my wife who was sleeping on the couch. I passed out before I could get to her but the thud of me hitting the floor woke her up. We argued about calling an ambulance and I went outside and got my breath back.
Later that morning, I went to the ER and they did flu swabs up my nose and a CHEST X RAY. The physician's assistant was very nice and she told me I tested negative for the flu but I had pneumonia and a fever. I was sent home with a strong antibiotic and an inhaler. I was hesitant but I'm not a doc.
I didn't sleep an hour that night, and spent most of that day in the bathroom with diarrhea. Our bathroom is on the second floor and I could hardly breathe by the time I reached the top stair all day. I decided it was time to head back to the ER on January 22nd.
In the ER they started pumping me full of fluids because I still had a fever and was dehydrated. The doc sent me for ANOTHER chest x ray and when I got back to my ER room the physicians assistant for the day earlier came in to check on me. She started grilling me on why I was back because "THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE". The nurse that was now taking care of me told her that I tested positive for Influenza A1 after labs. This was after a day earlier they did the tests and sent me home.
After a lot of fluids in the ER, I was admitted into a room and at that point I had a hard time getting off of the stretcher and onto the bed. The nurse tried to coach me how to breathe to keep my oxygen level above 90 after he put it on my face. I later learned I had to be above 90 or I'd have to be in ICU.
Another night of no sleep. The fever was still so intense that I had the nurse bring in ice packs to put on my chest and behind my neck.
For the first 4 days, I feared going to the bathroom 6 feet away from my chair to take a piss because I would get out of breath and stand for 3 minutes trying to catch my breath, on oxygen mind you. To drop a deuce on the mini child toilet still with diarrhea, 5 minutes of trying to catch my breath like drowning.
My doc would come daily and let me know what was going on. He admittedly told me judging by my numbers he thought I wouldn't look good. He was very happy by how I was responding. He sent me for another chest x ray telling THEY USUALLY DON'T DO THIS.
So by day 7 of steroids and antibiotics and mucinex and loss of 20 pounds of they thought it would be a good idea to release me from the hospital. My oxygen was 92 sitting still and I felt ok. On the day I was released, my doc had me walk the hallway and my oxygen dropped to 84.
So at that point it was decided I would be sent home with oxygen. THE NURSE ON MY SHIFT SAID SHE'S NEVER SEEN THIS . She said no one my age gets sent home with oxygen. I was just happy to get into my own bed. My insurance doesn't cover oxygen for a 45 year old that doesn't have COPD so I paid out of pocket. Whatever.
In a follow up with my family doc he went over all of my hospital results and said my lactic acid, calcium and potassium were dangerously low, a sign of going septic.
I went back to work in a limited setting 2 weeks later. A follow up chest x ray came back with "unresolved pneumonia". A second follow up came back with the same. My doctor set me up with a appt with a pulmonologist and he asked if I had traveled, etc. He actually said it's very suspicious. I have a video appt with him in a week. He's hesitant to do more testing to put me at risk at a lab. I asked to be tested for antibodies. He said its not available in PA yet. We need this testing.
I truly believe many more people had it than suspected, and we might be able to relax sooner than later.
