Dad Damaged lungs after covid pneumonia

[lbohorquez]

Hello I was hoping to find someone with a recovery story in the state my dad is right now. He tested positive Jan 9, Hospitalized Jan 17, Ventilator Jan 25. That is about 1.5 Mo. As of today my dad is still on the Vent 100%. They say he has fibrosis and pneumonia. He is no longer covid positive, but this virus left his lungs damaged. All his other organs are working. But this week he began to get worst. His lungs have no improvement but his hemoglobin dropped and his oxygen saturation is in the 70s. They say he cannot do the trach bc he is on the vent 100%. My dad is still hanging in there and all we can do is pray at this point. I hope someone out there has had similar story and were able to survive.

[LeopardGecko]

I don't have experience of your exact situation but when my husband caught covid I was told he only had 20% of his lungs working and the outcome didn't look good. They couldn't ventilate him as he was too weak from his time he had already had in hospital (he had not long been off the ventilator following a previous illness) so he was relying in the CPAP machine. He made a recovery and is now home and doing well.

Hopefully someone with a more similar experience will be able to offer some help but I didn't want to leave you without some sort of answer x

[lbohorquez in reply to LeopardGecko]

What a remarkable story. I am so happy to hear your husband is doing well. May god bless your and your family.

[LeopardGecko in reply to lbohorquez]

Thank you. I hope you have some positive news soon x

[TB07]

This sounds very very similar to my dad. Last week he was at the same exact place. Not getting to the 80s on oxygen saturation. He had a transfusion of packed red blood cells

To help with hemoglobin. They also noticed his wbc count was high and found a bacterial infection in his lung from the ventilator and after doing blood cultures. Once they got him on the right antibiotics he has made a huge improvement. Still On 100% oxygen, but off lung paralytic, Off inhaled nitric and staying in low 90s for saturation.

[lbohorquez in reply to TB07]

Hi ! My dad also got a pack of blood to help with the hemo. They told me he dropped on Sunday to the 60s and had to bag him. Today he reached 90 in his saturation. I hope both our fathers continue to battle this and get better. This is a crazy time and times of desperation. I pray for your fathers full recovery .

[TB07 in reply to lbohorquez]

Has he had any infections that they know of?

[lbohorquez in reply to TB07]

Hi !! No infections that i know of but this morning they informed me his left lung collapsed and they had to enter a chest tube. we got to see him from the door

i checked with the hospital and his saturation went up to 81. we are all praying none stop. he is hanging in there and fighting. and yes hoping he turns around anything can happen thank you!

[TB07 in reply to lbohorquez]

Praying for him to turn it around-it can happen!

[Xyluh in reply to TB07]

My significant other is suffering from blood loss of an unknown source and had to get a third chest tube in place. His critical care doctor said he only has a few hours left. His nurses inform us left and right of current progress and answer any questions but it's been so up and down and after that last message from the critical care doctor, I don't want to give in to false security. He's been receiving blood product transfusions and recently put on dialysis because suddenly his kidneys weren't working anymore. I don't know what to do anymore.

[lbohorquez in reply to Xyluh]

Oh lord i am so sorry. Yes it is up and down . It is a roller coaster for sure. You are in my prayers

[lbohorquez in reply to Xyluh]

my dads left lung collapsed this morning and its been a day full of tears and prayers. all we can do as family is to pray for them and hospital staff to be guided .

[Cowboy1]

I am so sorry to hear that. After reading your post our stories are not too similar but I do know the past 3 days my father has been intubated and the Drs seem really great at trialing his oxygen and peep levels to see how he responds and how his bp and heart rate do. The propofol seemed to make him not work so hard on his own, I noticed a change from yesterday to today with the removal of it which made him not be totally sedated. He was a bit more uncomfortable (hard for me to see) but he was responding more. My dad has pnuemonia and aspirated in a pap machine which as he gets less sedated he is able to cough more although it does not sound or look like a cough but they suction things out while he coughs. I hope for the best for you