The patient spent nearly 10 days in the intensive care unit of the hospital. (Representative image, source: Getty Images)
He was having trouble breathing, he kept coughing, and he was tense and nervous when he was admitted to the Aundh Civil Hospital on April 22. But when the 41-year-old man was found to have recovered from coronavirus disease and discharged from the hospital on Saturday, he spent quite some time smiling, interacting and profusely thanking doctors, nurses and hospital staff.
“I don’t know how to say thank you… you pulled me back from the brink of death,” the man told the medical staff, who cheered for him.
When he had arrived at the hospital in April, he not only had Covid-19 and pneumonia, he also had high blood pressure, making him a high-risk patient.
“He arrived at the hospital on April 22 with symptoms of cough and breathlessness. His first coronavirus test was negative. But we suspected he had the disease as he had symptoms… so, we conducted another test on him which turned out to be positive,” said Dr Sharmila Gaikwad, one of the doctors who treated the patient and remained in constant touch with him, counselling and encouraging him to fight the disease.
The patient spent nearly 10 days in the intensive care unit of the hospital. Though he was not on ventilator, he remained on oxygen. “He was quite frightened in the initial days, but he coped well later on and started recovering slowly…,” said Dr Gaikwad.
The patient was given hydrochloroquine (HCQ), antibiotics, zinc, Vitamin C and low molecular weight Heparin. “He had fever for a couple of days… but he didn’t have symptoms such as shivering or vomiting…. we gave him HCQ for five days,” said the doctor.
Dr Gaikwad said the 41-year-old man was the second Covid-19 patient to recover from a serious condition in the past few days at Aundh Civil Hospital. “A few days ago, another patient recovered from pneumonia and was discharged,” she said.
Dr Gaikwad said the patient was extremely happy when he left the hospital.
“This case shows that recovery is possible, even for patients with co-morbid conditions.. the patient should be ready to fight it out and not be gripped by fear of coronavirus,” said a doctor.