Lungs Like a Rock

My life was exactly where I wanted it. I reached everything that I was working so hard to get, and I was steadily moving forward. Then a nasty controversial pandemic started the landslide that was becoming my new life. I was viewed as an anti-vaxxer and sent home from the hospital with a fever of 104deg and positive for COVID-19 pneumonia. Eventually, both my lungs collapsed, my diaphragm was paralyzed, I had nerve damage and blood clots, and I was on a ventilator. The doctors prepared my family by letting them know that I wouldn't make it through the night. When I woke up, it was three months later. I was transferred between four hospitals and two post-acute care centers. I was on a ventilator with the wrong settings, had missed the crucial period for lifesaving treatments, was cursed at and demeaned by nurses, was left to lay in my own feces and urine for over an hour on a regular basis, was getting incorrectly treated with old discharge papers, was eaten alive by my bed, had my feeding tube yanked on until it became dislodged, and begged hospital staff during a return ER visit to not send me back to the post-acute care center because I feared for my life.

I lost my home, my vehicle, my hair, my time, and my independence.

This is my story of how I barely survived a sickness that many called fake or compared to getting the flu. This is for anyone who says that vaccines are worse than the disease. This is also for those who are fighting this debilitating sickness themselves or have family members who are also struggling or those who lost a loved one to this awful disease. The doctors still don't know how long I have left, so it's important for me to get my story heard before it's too late. This is a story of hope and life. This is the intimate story of my life from COVID-19, an awful pandemic that made me realize that my life was not perfect nor was I where I was supposed to be before I got sick. This is a story about how COVID-19 saved me.