Treating Severe COVID At Home: Be Prepared

 

Just about a month ago, I began experiencing flu-like symptoms.  Congestion, sinus pressure, headaches, etc., nothing serious.  A couple of days later, my 11-year old son tested positive for COVID.  It was a foregone conclusion that the entire house would come down with it, and we did.  My Direct Primary Care doctor immediately started us on a COVID Protocol that included Ivermectin, a ZPack, and several supplements (VIT C, D, Zinc, etc).

The first week of having COVID, for me, brought about some additional symptoms.  Night sweats, I lost my smell and taste, but I wasn’t feeling all that bad.  My wife and son had a short stent with their symptoms and recovered rather quickly….thank God!

I had been sleeping in a pretty inclined position, but on my back all night throughout the first week, and one morning, around day 8, I woke up and I felt different.  I felt things had moved down into my chest.  My cough had gotten worse, I was running low-grade fever, I was having more severe chills and shortness of breath, fatigue had really hit me.  On top of all that, both of my ears were infected and I couldn’t hear anything because of the severe congestion in my ears and head.  Also, I began to see my oxygen levels very slowly decline over about three days.

One morning, I believe a Saturday, around 5AM, I woke up shivering almost uncontrollably and I tried to get myself to the shower.  I didn’t make it.  I doubled over on my bathroom counter and returned back to my bed.  I was very short of breath.  I got my pulse oximeter and checked my oxygen.  It was 72.  I was finally able to get my wife in the bedroom, she had been sleeping with our son in his room so I could incline the bed as much as I wanted.

I told her to call the ambulance.

As I lay motionless on my bed, I began to catch my breath a bit, and my oxygen rebounded to about 84, so we did not call the ambulance.  This event set in motion everything that came afterwards, and I want people to know what I went through because I think it can help so many other people.  My DPC and my family saved my life, and I want to share a little of my story.  This is my story, what worked for me and my family.  It is not some “how to” for everyone.

That early morning episode I described wouldn’t be my worst episode believe it or not.  But after it happened, my wife called my mother and my sister, and of course my Primary Care Doctor.  These are the real heroes of my story.  Dr. Deborah Moore, founder of Amarillo MD, is a Direct Primary Care physician (DPC), and I’m going to talk more about DPC later.  Many of you know I’ve been an avid promoter of Direct Primary Care for years.  Dr. Moore is an exceptional care-giver, researcher, and physician.  She cares deeply about her patients, and if it weren’t for her willingness and ability to aggressively treat me, I truly believe I would not be here today to tell this story.  She didn’t just manage to keep me off a vent and out of a hospital.  She helped save my life.  She quarterbacked my care I received from home from my wife, sister, and mother.  They followed her instructions and were there for me around the clock, literally.

My mother and sister arrived the same afternoon I had the episode in the bathroom.  Neither have a nursing or medical background.  I was determined to avoid the hospital at all cost, if I could.  But I want to take a second to say this, I established a “drop dead” moment with my PCP.  I had asked her at a visit, “Doc, when do I go to the hospital?  When do I throw in the towel and just get myself to the hospital?”

She said that if my oxygen dropped below 85 for 30 or more minutes to go to the hospital.  I could live with that.  So, it wasn’t like we were saying, “No hospital, not ever.”  I fully understand that many people wait too long to get themselves to a hospital.  I established that benchmark early on with my Dr. and I trusted her.  The reason I wanted to avoid the hospital was primarily because about half of the “treatment” Dr. Moore was prescribing me, the hospital would not accommodate according to the Emergency Room doctor who works for one of the hospitals here.  I feel like ALL treatment options should be open and available to ANY sick patient.  Sadly, that is not the case in a hospital setting here, and according to multiple healthcare professionals I’ve spoken directly with, there is enormous pressure to “toe the line” with the hospital’s policies, or face termination.

What we were about to embark on was “hospital care”, but at home.  By this time, my doctor had prescribed an entirely different, and much more aggressive protocol to try and get my inflammation under control.  Prednisone, Ivermectin, Budesinide, Hydroxychloroquine, and many other meds were prescribed to regulate blood pressure and blood sugar, and I began this regimen immediately.  Even Pepcid was in the protocol because it’s an anti-inflammatory histamine blocker.  We were doing all we could to manage my inflammation.  I immediately went to a zero carb, zero sugar diet.  We were shutting down my immune system to control my inflammatory response to COVID.

My family and I were able to keep in direct, constant contact with Dr. Moore through an app she uses in her DPC practice, allowing us to update her multiple times per day, do virtual calls, discuss my status, and ask questions about my care.  My doctor patiently answered questions from my family, and they followed through with a level-of care I would not have received in any hospital.  They were by my side 24/7, checking my vitals, flipping me over into prone positions, body massage, you name it.  They were taking care of me.  I would not have received this level of personal attention in the hospital, and I have no doubt it played into my clinical care, and especially into my mental care.  I knew I had people around me that loved me and were there to help me in any way.  This component is critical, the mental component.  When your oxygen drops into the 60s and you feel like you’re going to pass out, it’s scary.  They prayed for me, they did everything they knew to do to keep me cognizant and awake.  They stayed up all night reading to me and keeping me company.

The first night my sister and mother stayed with us proved to be the scariest and most challenging.  Again, around 4:30 Sunday morning, I was sleeping in the recliner in our living room, and my sister was sleeping on our couch next to me.  She said she heard my breathing change and become very shallow.  After a few minutes, she got concerned so she checked my oxygen level, and it had plummeted into the low 70s again.  My mother had come in as well, and they were trying to get me to wake up.  I was extremely lethargic and on the verge of passing out.  The oxygen kept going even lower, getting down all the way to 67.  My sister and mother were holding me up, pounding my back and chest, trying to get blood to circulate and get my oxygen level up.  This persisted for quite some time, but it took almost two hours for the oxygen level to return to the mid to upper 80s. 

This was my worst episode throughout the entire sickness.  I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. 

Dr. Moore had advised me to go to the Emergency Room the morning of my first severe episode and get a chest x-ray, so I went. The x-ray confirmed Covid pneumonia in my left lung, and my labs showed a very high level of inflammation. At this point, I was on full-time oxygen as well.

The ER doc…..wow…..this is hard.  They did absolutely nothing for me, and the doctor literally just kept telling me how his wife got over COVID pneumonia, but how his colleague didn’t, and died.  He told me that if it was my time to die, then it was my time to die.  He also told me there was no treatment for Covid pneumonia.  Their recommendation was to go to the hospital for admission, where I would have undoubtedly been placed on a ventilator.  I left the ER feeling anxious and kind of second-guessing my treatment plan.

The ER doc had told me that the hospital would not administer much of the meds I was currently taking, including Ivermectin and Budesonide.  He questioned several medications and supplements I was taking and said, “But just do whatever you want”.  I got the sense that he disagreed with Dr. Moore’s treatment protocol.

But Dr. Moore told me to disregard his statements, and reminded me that it is inflammation from COVID that kills people, not COVID itself, and that our plan was to attack my inflammation.

My wife, sister, and mother worked very diligently to keep my meds in order, to make sure I got up and walked several times per day, to take my breathing treatments, stretch, get sunlight.  They monitored my vitals, and made sure I got enough fluids and ate the right food.  I couldn’t have done any of this alone, and please keep in mind, we have an 11-year old still going to school, and a 1-year old at home.  Without the support and help we received from my family, all of this would have been overwhelming for my wife and me.

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I also realize that not everyone has a support system like this in place, and that I am beyond fortunate that I do.  But anyone, anyone who does have family, or friends, or even companies who can come in and do this, make it a part of your plan for if you get really sick with COVID.  Hospitals are dangerous places, and here where I live, there really isn’t any “protocol” to TREAT sick patients once they get bad.  Their solution is the vent, and they do not have the resources to care for patients the way I was cared for.  Certainly not the level of attention I received.

I also want to acknowledge my wife’s family. They helped with our boys and my wife’s uncle was actually the first person I got oxygen from. He had a tank and brought it to me on New Year’s Eve. My father-in-law came and changed a bad battery on my wife’s car even…Also my work family, Kim, Jalane, Melissa, Megan, and Stephanie. They stepped up big time and kept everything at the office running smoothly.

My story is NOT a “how to”.  I am not saying that all people should do what I did, or even that they can.  I simply want to share my belief that Dr. Moore’s treatment protocol, and the care from my family saved my life.  My doctor was willing to do EVERYTHING and ANYTHING, and all of it was based on sound research and good medicine.  She had made a statement to me during all this, “You can’t kill a dead person.”  And she’s right, so why not TRY to fight the virus and inflammation any way possible?  I’m not a doctor nor a virologist, and I’m not here to debate Ivermectin or any other treatment and if it works or not.  I’m here to say that I am so thankful I have a doctor who is willing to do whatever they can for me and a family who is able to physically be there when you need someone.

Invaluable Equipment For At-Home Care

I also want to share a list of medical devices that proved invaluable for us during my care.  If you get severe COVID, you need these items at home: 

Pulse oximeter:  Constant monitoring of my oxygen level was critical and very helpful for my mental state, for my family knowing when to act or do something different, when to role me on to my stomach, etc.  This little device got used more than any other, and is crucial.

Blood pressure device:  Even if you don’t have a history of hypertension, keeping up with vitals is imperative as well.  Many meds and supplements can alter your blood pressure, and it is important to keep a close watch.  My family also kept a vitals journal, where everything was documented every time any measurement was taken from a device.  This establishes a history, and lays out trends over time.  Dr. Moore really appreciated this as we updated her multiple times per day and could recall prior days to track progression.

Thermometer:  Obviously.  Fever is a serious side-effect and can become dangerous.  Keep a good thermometer on hand.

Constant Glucose Monitor:  I used the Freestyle Libre to keep a constant track of my blood sugar during my care.  In addition to heavy steroids messing with blood sugar, I learned that high blood sugar is a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses (like covid) to spread and propagate.  Maintaining constant monitoring of my blood sugar allowed us to tailor my diet, space out medications, and better manage the highs and lows I was experiencing in my blood sugar.  High blood sugar is also about inflammation, and remember, we were suppressing inflammation as much as possible.  I immediately went on a keto diet and eliminated all carbs and sugars.  This helped along with the medications I was taking for blood sugar too.  The Freestyle Libre can be purchased for about $55 cash with a prescription.  They last for 14 days, and you use an app on your smart phone to take blood sugar readings.  It stays on 24/7 and you get unlimited reads from the monitor for 14 days.  Very useful.

Oxygen concentrator:  The single most expensive purchase I made was an Everflo Oxygen Concentrator, a machine that electronically manufactures oxygen.  It cost around $500, but I can tell you, was worth 1000x that much.  It gave me the peace of mind that I would not run out of supplemental oxygen.  I also have sleep apnea, and with a small adapter, I was also able to ensure solid oxygen flow directly into my cpap machine throughout the night.  This kept my oxygen levels safe while I slept, and if I dipped during the day, I could quickly get supplemental oxygen and not hassle with the bulky O2 tanks.

Oxygen tanks:  However, I did have to leave the house for lab work, doctor appointments, etc. so I purchased a couple of portable oxygen tanks that can easily be lifted into a car and used remotely.

Having an oxygen supply is critical.  This is probably what kept me out of the hospital to be honest.  If I didn’t have this oxygen supply, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my levels up above 85-88 and would have been forced into the hospital.

Spirometer:  I used this to exercise my lungs and build strength back.  It is an instrument you inhale/exhale into and measure lung capacity.  Each day I would try to do better than the day before.  It is critical to keep your lungs moving and working, because they get brittle when you don’t exercise them.  They need to remain pliable and flexible as possible. 

Nebulizer:  I was taking 4 breathing treatments of Budesonide and Albuterol daily.  Although these are typically used for upper-respiratory issues, and not deep pneumonia, I could tell a major difference on these treatments.  They helped my breathing, making it easier for me to keep my oxygen levels up. 

My hope is that people will find themselves a great primary care doctor that has a good COVID protocol.  It’s never a bad idea to be prepared.  I also hope that people will learn from my experience and know that there are ways to TREAT severe COVID and keep yourself safe.  Whether it is your family, friends, or a home-health company, have an “at-home” plan for care and treatment.  If you can receive the level of care I did at home, and keep your oxygen levels safe, it’s the best thing.  Not to mention, it helps reduce the stress on our hospitals and medical professionals.

Many people have suffered far greater than I did with COVID, many losing their lives, but I cannot help but wonder how many people have died from COVID related issues who never received the care and treatments I did.  It’s hard to fathom, and it’s hard to accept. 

Thank you to everyone who has reached out, messaged me, prayed for me, supported me. It lifted my spirits and helped me more than you’ll ever know.