A JOURNEY TO
COVID-19 SURVIVAL

WHY

At the beginning of the year, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to grow overseas, my daily routine remained unaffected. The Pandemic was easy to disregard as it was halfway around the globe, but in this interconnected age, we now know that, nowhere is too far away. However, faster than I could have possibly imagined, the virus began to spread around the world and that distance gradually shortened itself until it ended up in my country, state, county and then my family.

On March 24th at approximately 1am, my Mom placed a panicked call to 911. As a result my Dad was rushed to Greenwich Hospital.  He was exhibiting strong symptoms of Covid-19 i.e. fever, shortness of breath, dry cough, chills, etc. Over the course of his six week journey, he battled through 9 days on a ventilator, 9 days of antibiotic treatment, 4 CT scans, 2 internal bleeding episodes, 1 Renal ultrasound, 6 blood transfusions, a colonoscopy, an upper endoscopy, a second brief intubation, a silent heart attack, and his 80th birthday. No person deserves to go through this, not to mention while isolated from those he wished to see most.

While 41 days is a long time to persevere, especially through so much bad news, I knew I had to take a positive and active role in order to make sure everything possible was done for him in terms of his medical care and comfort.  He devoted his life to me, my Mom and my Sister, and he is a great grandfather, known as Pa, to the grandkids. I owed it to my mother as she was also isolated and exhibiting manageable symptoms at home in isolation. She needed our support to navigate this journey.  I definitely owe a debt of gratitude to the 21 doctors, 55 nurses, 2 social workers, 2 physical therapists and 2 occupational therapists that made my Dad’s recovery possible, without them, he would not be home with us today.

I created this blog, which is a day to day account, not only to honor my father and to keep our friends and loved ones updated on his progress, but as a way to distract myself during this process. It was my way of coping, it helped to quell the pain of constantly worrying about the people who had always shown me love and support.  Growing up and living in Harrison, NY, we always had a sense of protection and invincibility, and when situations that seem so foreign to us like COVID-19 happen to us that imaginary barrier is shattered. This stops us in our tracks and causes us to re-evaluate our lives and find strength in ourselves. This is an inter strength we never knew we had.  Most importantly, as many of us continue to live in isolation, I wanted to create this outlet as a way to connect with our friends and family, and to share a story of hope and triumph during these uncertain times.