By Tiffany Lai September 8, 2023
This patient had just been discharged from the ICU. We were so happy. Our survival percentages were pretty bleak at that time and this was one of our survivors. He was a young guy in his 30s, completely covered in tattoos. He was a real edgey guy, was an avid surfer.
His wife had been prodded him to get vaccinated but he just didn’t end up doing it. They ended up catching COVID together. The wife had symptoms but not severe enough to go to the hospital. This man, however, was in the ICU for a week or so, and now discharged to the floors.
He was given a tracheostomy and was receiving oxygen through a trach mask. He was pretty weak by this time and needed two person assist for standing. His resting HR was in the 140s! And when we stood him up it spiked up to the 170s. He’d be completely winded just standing up to toilet on the commode. For reference, I did a test on myself and found I need to hike for up a mountain with about 2,000 ft elevation in order to get my HR to go to 140 bpm. The doctors knew but there wasn’t much we could do about it so they cleared us to work with him despite those readings. His cardiopulmonary system had been severely impacted by the virus.
We got him to a Min Assist level for him to go home with his wife. We were never able to completely wean the oxygen. I think he went home with 4-6 L of supplemental O2 via nasal cannula.
Despite being happy for him, I couldn’t help thinking about how different his life must be from previously. I wondered if he’d ever find a way to surf again. I wish I could know if he was able to preserve his quality of life.