Joy Bartolome A. Duldulao
OIC Branch Director, PhilRice Isabela
April 27, 2021. San Mateo, Isabela. Covid-19 got me! I got vaxxed earlier. I was probably the first non-senior citizen employee of DA-PhilRice to get the Covid-19 vaccine, together with those with comorbidities. Having been jabbed, what was to be a jubilant event took an ugly turn.
Three days after my vaccination, a fever set in, which progressed for two more days. My sister and a co-worker urged me to get tested. The antigen test at the San Mateo Integrated Community Hospital (SMICH) proved positive. The faces of people I might have infected rushed in my head and stalled office work worried me. I must have carried the virus even before my vaccination.
An IV (intravenous theraphy) was immediately inserted on my hand and the first dose of dexamethasone injected. With my body already in a very confused state and a steroid entering my blood stream, my clear vision turned hazy, and then all white. I and the nurses were shaken. It felt like it was the end.
For three days, I felt the SMICH could manage my infection, until my oxygen saturation levels began to drop. As my family pressed me to move to a bigger facility, staff of PhilRice Isabela and SMICH frantically searched for a medical facility to accept me. Before midnight of May 7, I was admitted at the Adventist Hospital Santiago City (AHSC).
My first three days at the AHSC was a race against time: Covid-19 meds – remdisivir and tocilizumab – were out of stock; I was catheterized (not urinary) so that hemoperfusion sessions for four consecutive nights to rid my bloodstream of cytokines, which complicated my breathing, could be carried out. Each session, a total discomfort, required an expensive cartridge. My chest was heavy, my left temple ached, and the machine emitted strange sounds as blood was being drained out of my body into the machine.
For 19 straight days, my body was awash with antibiotics, antivirals, steroids, bronchodilators, blood thinners, etc. I was poked and punctured all over – arms, shoulders, stomach, fingertips, hands. I was wheeled to the radiology room three times. I lost track of how many times blood was extracted and from which arm was the last. I had tubes inserted in my right thigh. I had to sleep in a prone position and did regular deep breathing exercises so my lung tissues would not become fibrotic (thickened).
I found realizations amid all these experiences. First, never delay decisions and actions. My quick actions and decisions saved me. Second, the importance of health cover. My bill was Php200K-shy to hit 1M. Good thing PhilHealth and the DA-PhilRice HMO covered much of it, but we still had to fork out a third of the bill. My third, but most important realization – there will never be a dearth of good hearts. Much has been said and written about the long recovery of a COVID-19 victim. I have yet to receive my second vaccine dose. I am making adjustments one day at a time with the ever present threat of reinfection and relapse. Yet, while this virus has changed the landscape of my family and work lives, my new lease in life is a rare gift that I should never squander.
