Poll of the Day > My uncle is in a medically induced coma. Possible COVID infection.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Pneumonia in both lungs. Tests aren't back yet on whether it's the coronavirus.

Doctors say he's responding well to medication. He's on a ventilator but they reduced his oxygen percentage (?) which I guess is a good thing and means he's getting enough oxygen on his own. Not exactly sure what's happening because my cousin called me in hysterics. Was hard to follow along.

We're not allowed to visit, which sucks because if this is the end for him I would hate for him to be alone. Guess there's not much we can do about that. I think if things get worse they'll allow his closest family to visit to say goodbye, but I'm probably not in that group. Think it's limited to parents/siblings/spouse/children.

Hoping it's not covid

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That sucks to hear man. Hope he pulls through regardless!

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Sorry man. Corona or not hopefully he has a speedy recovery

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Ooh that's rough. Hope he gets better.

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Far-Queue posted...

He's on a ventilator but they reduced his oxygen percentage (?) which I guess is a good thing and means he's getting enough oxygen on his own.

Yeah, reducing his oxygen is a good thing. They can control the oxygen concentration in the air they pump into his lungs, depending on how much gas exchange he's able to manage. If a lot of the surface area of his lungs is unable to transfer oxygen, they use a higher concentration to help it diffuse faster through the available parts. If they're lowering the concentration, it's because he's exchanging it better than he was, which means he's recovering.

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Thanks everyone. His tests came back positive for "COVID-10" but I think that may have been a typo? I don't want to ask my cousin to clarify because she's under a lot of stress, but I assume she meant "19"

The good news is that they had been treating him as though he was positive for the virus from the get go, so he's been on the medication to treat covid and he's been on the ventilator, and he's responding well to treatment. I guess the nurses let his wife facetime him this morning and he responded to her voice (smiled ). They reduced the ventilator to the lowest setting and he was doing okay but not great so they bumped it back up a bit.

Last update I got was around noon, sounded fairly positive I know most of you don't give a shit but I appreciate being able to vent here a bit.

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Far-Queue posted...

His tests came back positive for "COVID-10"

Don't touch me, Canadian

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Even if we don't know him, we know you. And you're our friend, so it matters to us. We're always here if you need to talk or vent.
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Actually probably not a typo. The disease as in group of symptoms is the name listed not the infection

Remember that covid 19 is actualy named sars-cov-2 and the disease is covid-19. Basically its splitting the hair between aids and hiv. For those who scream sauce https://www.webmd.com/lung/coronavirus

We are only calling the disease covid because china was getting testy and the who named it this so it wouldnt cause prejudice.

So everybody yeah its sars. Its been sars. China said they had a hold but a new version mutated and now the rest of the world has sars 2.0

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In either case hope he getsbetter

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Cool that they let him facetime. Hearing from loved ones can really help

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LinkPizza posted...

Even if we don't know him, we know you. And you're our friend, so it matters to us. We're always here if you need to talk or vent.

thanks Link

And thanks everyone for your kind words

Haven't been posting much because I'm in the middle of moving but my uncle has made significant progress in recovering! He's off the ventilator but still on oxygen. Having some adverse reaction to the fentanyl (they say it's making him cranky and bossy and we're all like "oh, no. That's just his normal attitude ). Still has a fever hovering around 100.

Don't want to put the cart before the horse but he seems to be doing well. Hope things don't take a turn for the worse

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Thanks quig

How's everyone else doing with this whole virus thing? I'm out of work until at least the 7th, but my wife is a nurse so she's right in the thick of it.

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Techincally, I still have work. But not really since Im on call for the this week. Well see about next week. Apparently, they set a curfew back in my hometown. And you can get fined $2,500 or spend a year in jail. So, Im glad Im not there...
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Glad to hear hes doing better

One last update in case anyone is wondering: looks like he's going to fully recover! He's been moved out of the ICU to a regular bed, and currently is only hooked up to an IV - no oxygen or anything :)

He's fully awake and eating solids. Very happy he's not going to be a statistic.

Thanks again everyone who wished him well

By the way, I just realized the topic title is incorrect. He was never in an induced coma, just heavily sedated. Wasn't trying to be dramatic, was going with the information I was given.

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