FATHER-OF-FOUR COVID-19 SURVIVOR HAD THOUGHT ABOUT GETTING ‘AFFAIRS IN ORDER’

A TRALEE father-of-four who has recovered from COVID-19 has said he owes his live to staff at University Hospital Kerry – and has spoken about how the illness broke into his life without warning and made him endure sleepless nights in a hospital high-dependancy ward.

The man, who is in his late 50s and has no underlying medical condition, does not wish to be named. He has, however, opened up about his experience and has encouraged other sufferers to “never give up” against the dreadful virus.

“There were two nights in there, I worried about getting my affairs in order, being totally honest,” the man said. “You can’t sleep, you’re staring at the ceiling, and you feel so bad, so caught for breath.

“I had no symptoms at all [initially]. I worked on a Monday, a 10-hour shift on March 23, and I was fine. Then I woke up at 3am on the Tuesday, drowned in sweat. I felt terrible.

“My wife took my temperature, and it was high, and I got progressively worse over the next few days. It was shockingly sudden.

“I was getting aches and pains, shivers, and then the Wednesday night I got caught for breath. I’d no cough at any stage. On Thursday I could hardly breath, and my wife called the ambulance. I was taken to hospital immediately.”

Initially, the man shared a ward with one other person, though they were on opposite ends of the room from one another.

He was tested on March 26, and his result came back as negative the following day. One doctor, however, suspected that he had COVID-19 in spite of the test result and continued to treat the man as a suspected case.

This hunch was proven correct when a second test was carried out and a ‘positive’ result returned.

He was moved to a solitary high-dependancy ward, the “next step down” from intensive care.

“No doubt I was treated as a suspected case throughout, even when the first test got back,” he said. “I had all the symptoms. My temperature was rising, and I was on oxygen and things. My blood pressure was shooting up and down.

“I was on two different types of IV antibiotic, and the second one seemed to help me turn the corner. It brought my temperature down and saved me from ICU, I think.

“They [medics] are in and out the whole time to you, and it didn’t faze me, them putting on all the gowns and everything. They were brilliant, from the ambulance crowd all the way through.

“And it’s not just the nurses: the cleaners, the people bringing in your food, they’re all putting their lives on the line.”

Throughout the ordeal, he was allowed to use a phone and was in “constant contact” with his family. He eventually came off oxygen after about eight days, his temperature was under control, and he was able to return home.

“But it wasn’t until about two weeks ago that I really felt myself again,” he said. “I was okay, but my energy took a while to get back. I couldn’t get up the stairs in one go. I’m back working now, thank God.

“My message would be this: if you’re in this situation, think of others. Fight on for your family, everyone, and don’t give up.”