COVID-19 SURVIVOR TELLS OF ‘AMAZING’ NHS STAFF
54-YEAR-OLD STEVE FELL ILL WITH CORONAVIRUS AFTER RETURNING FROM HOLIDAY
AN East Yorkshire man has spoken of his experience of being treated for Covid-19 in hospital.
Steve Nicholson, 54, of South Cave, fell ill with coronavirus shortly after returning home from a holiday in France in March.
He spent seven days in hospital moving through Hull Royal Infirmary’s A&E and Ward One before being treated in Castle
Hill’s contagious and infectious diseases unit.
Now back home after recovering from the virus, Mr Nicholson paid tribute to the staff at the hospitals and the “incredible” level of care they provided for him.
He said: “Afterwards, having spent time on the ward you realise the lengths people are going to.
“It’s not just the nurses and the doctors, but the auxiliary staff, the people who bring the meals round, the people who clean in the hospital. They have to come in to your room, the risks they are taking to look after people, it’s crazy.
“That’s one of the things that really stands out for me, that they still function, they still look after people.
“The level of care I got from ringing 111 to the paramedics that moved me around, the porters and all the doctors, was incredible and it’s such a difficult situation for them to be in.
“While you are isolated, you’re still just minutes away from being looked after.
“I just had to push a button and you’re never a long time away from someone who has put all the gear on coming to see what you need.”
Initially, Mr Nicholson thought his symptoms were just a chest infection.
He said: “Once I fell poorly, I honestly thought I just had a chest infection at first. I am an asthmatic, but it’s controlled and I am physically fit, I do a lot of walking and cycling.
“And then, to be honest, I’ve never had symptoms like it before. I felt really, really poorly.
“Both me and my wife were ill at the same time with pretty much exactly the same symptoms and we were taking it in turns when one of us felt better to go up and make a cup of tea.
“I had literally no appetite and didn’t feel like eating anything and that went on from Wednesday, March 18, to Sunday March 22.”
Eventually their symptoms eased and the pair presumed they were over the worst of it, but then, as has happened with so many others who have suffered with the illness, Mr Nicholson took a turn for the worse.
He said: “I started to have issues with what I wrongly assumed was my asthma and what it actually was turned out to be the onset of pneumonia, which I didn’t find out until I got admitted to hospital.”
His asthma medication was increased and he was given precautionary antibiotics, but it made no difference.
“On the Friday (March 27), I physically struggled to get upstairs because I didn’t have anything in my lungs and when I did eventually get up there I just had another massive coughing fit and I was really short of breath.”
After being advised by his GP, Mr Nicholson called an ambulance.
He said: “When they turned up they checked my stats and my oxygen saturation was too low, so they decided to admit me straight away - making no other assumptions as to what it was or what had caused it.
“They put me oxygen and took me straight to hospital. Obviously, my wife couldn’t come with me - she was left at home.”
Mr Nicholson was taken straight to A&E at Hull Royal Infirmary, where he was immediately placed in isolation and tested for the virus.
“They place you in a cubical and every time the nurses come in they don the PPE,” he said.
“I was happier to be in hospital because I knew I could have people near me to help me straight away.
“To be honest, I think if I hadn’t had called the ambulance when I did I think my situation would have been a lot worse because I would have not got the treatment when I did.”
“While I was in A&E they tested me for coronavirus with a nasal swab - although they call it a nasal swab it’s more like ‘getting the inside of your brain’ swabbed to be honest.”
Before the tests were back the doctor told Mr Nicholson he would be treated for pneumonia and placed him to Ward One where he was put on a drip and given intravenous antibiotics.
After a few nights at Hull Royal, Mr Nicholson was informed that his test had come back positive and he was transferred to Ward Seven, the contagious and infectious diseases ward at Castle Hill.
“The facility is absolutely amazing you can tell when you go in that you’re turning up to somewhere quite special. They can deal with people with Ebola – it’s a high-tech hospital,” he said.
“But the protocol at Ward Seven was no different to what was afforded at A&E and Ward One and Ward 16.”
Mr Nicholson said the strangest part of the experience was the strict isolation.
He said: “It’s really strange, having been in hospital before, the social element that’s normally associated with being in hospital having banter with the nurses and people coming in and this that and the other, all that was right out of the window.
“You are properly isolated and anybody
who comes into the room you’re in is fully donned in all the PPE.
“The number of times they do come in is reduced to an absolute minimum. It’s really quite a strange experience.”
Because of impact of coronavirus on the respiratory system patients have to be nebulised to assist with their breathing.
Mr Nicholson said he never feared for his life during his time in hospital but described “frightening” moments waiting to be nebulised.
He said: “When you’re waiting to be nebulised that’s quite frightening because you can’t breathe properly, you can’t talk you can’t really do anything.
“But I don’t think the penny dropped about how serious it was until I was watching the news at the end of the week when I was moved into Ward 16.
“You were just seeing so much information about how many people had died and I think that’s when it hit home about how much of a close call it was.”
Now home having beaten the deadly disease, Mr Nicholson warned others that flouting lockdown is not worth the risk of being hospitalised with the virus.
The risk of going out there and mixing with people just isn’t worth it
Steve Nicholson
He said: “Having returned home, I am still to all intents and purposes in isolation and the isolation at home that people have been complaining about is a hell of a lot easier than being isolated in hospital on oxygen. “The risk of going out there and mixing with people just isn’t worth it.”