How a nurse’s family fought the virus together
MARY KIM, HER DAUGHTER AND PARENTS GOT INFECTED
The last two months have been a blur for the family of a Filipina nurse that saw four of them hospitalised after being infected with Covid-19.
“We fell sick in March, and it was only in the first week of June that I finally began feeling like myself,” Mary Kim, a 27-year-old nurse told Gulf News. “It was so scary because my six-yearold daughter and both my parents also contracted the virus. The disease itself was debilitating, but I have to say that the hardest part was that we were all being treated in isolation, often in entirely different facilities.”
The experience has brought the tight-knit family even closer. “Looking back, I am thankful that we got this second lease of life,” she said.
How it all started
A nurse at Burjeel Hospital, Kim was the first to get infected. The first sign came when she started getting the chills. “I also had body ache and fatigue. I reported it to my supervisor who asked me to get tested and stay home. Three days later, the test results confirmed I had Covid-19,” Kim recalled.
She had already begun isolating herself, but within a few days, her 49-year-old mother, Marryline Pabiano, began showing symptoms. A day or two later, her 54-yearold father, Alejandro Pabiano, was rushed to emergency care after his fever spiked. Kim’s daughter, Casey, fell ill a week
The disease itself was debilitating, but I have to say that the hardest part was that we were all being treated in isolation, often in entirely different facilities.”
Mary Kim | 27-year-old nurse at Burjeel Hospital
later. “The puzzling thing is that my father tested negative twice. The last test was two days before his fever spiked. He was fine then,” Kim said.
All four were hospitalised in different facilities.
Two-month ordeal
“I ran a fever for two weeks, and needed intravenous fluids. As my body was fighting the virus, I was worried sick about my father and daughter,” Kim said.
Fortunately, her husband was able to stay with Casey, and Kim said that the doctor tending to her father — Dr Faisal Dalvi, internal medicine specialist at Burjeel — was kind and attentive.
“I was very worried about my father because he has comorbidities like hypercholesterolaemia, sleep apnea, and diabetes. He also had a kidney transplant in 2005. When his oxygen saturation dropped to less than 80 per cent, they transferred him to intensive care,” Kim said.
The care team administered high-flow oxygen to stabilise him without intubation. It worked and after five days, Alejandro was moved to a regular ward.
Connecting over Zoom
Another thing that kept the family going was connecting over social media. “We were on WhatsApp all day long, and every evening from 6pm onwards, we would all log on to Zoom and pray together. This, along with my mother’s positivity, helped us weather the storm,” Kim said.
Recovery
On May 10, Kim was discharged along with her daughter, and the two returned home. By May 20, her parents were approved for discharge. “We bought a pulse oximeter to monitor my father’s oxygen saturation. Dr Dalvi continued to check on my father,” Kim said.
Kim said her brush with Covid-19 was “torture knowing that I could not do anything for my daughter or my parents, even though I am a nurse. But God has been good to us,” Kim said.
On May 21, Kim shared the family’s ordeal on her Facebook page, saying that they are now “Covid survivors”.
On June 6, a day after Alejandro received his second negative test result, Kim’s parents celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary. “After almost two months of isolation in separate rooms, we were able to eat at one table,” Kim said.