I spent 50 days in a coma but, thankfully, can’t recall a thing
– Professor Grant Mcintyre
Professor Grant Mcintyre is the Covid-19 patient that spent the longest time in hospital in Scotland.
He spent 128 days in hospital, including 50 in a coma, and is still dealing with the after-effects.
Today, almost eight months later, he is working to regain sensation in his hands. Professor Mcintyre, 49, clinical director at Dundee Dental Hospital, was so ill he needed ECMO treatment, where a machine takes over the work of the heart and lungs, and was given 56 pints of blood to keep his vital organs oxygenated.
Two months after leaving hospital, where he lost four stone and suffered terrifying hallucinations linked to so-called ICU psychosis, he is battling to walk without a stick and hopes to return to work at the end of the year. “I am working through a programme of physiotherapy and occupational therapy,” he said.
“I am ready mentally to return but am undergoing treatment for the legacy of pain in my hands and feet. This involves working to recover a lack of grip in my hands as good dexterity is necessary for a working dentist.
“My GP has referred me to a rheumatologist for the chronic pain issue and I will continue with therapy for grip strength along with physiotherapy until my muscle strength and stamina return to normal.
“Mentally, I feel I have recovered well enough for work and am keen to return.”
He recalls his time in ICU as exhausting and terrifying. “I remember nothing of the 50 days I spent in a coma, which is probably for the best. After coming out of the coma I struggled to understand who I was, where I was and who the people around me were.
“For around a week I had terrifying episodes where I could see a python wrapping its way around me along with various other animals in the ceiling. I also thought the hospital staff were trying to kill me, which is not uncommon in hospital patients recovering from comas. Again, the nursing staff were incredibly reassuring.
“However, this episode lasted around a week and was part of the price of recovery.
“When I first became ill, I had an out-of-body experience where I was floating on the ceiling looking down on myself in bed. I am still haunted by this to some extent, but so grateful to have survived.”