7/14
I’m still at the Stanford hospital trying to fight off the infection and inflammation in my lungs. I can’t take full breaths and it’s painful to breathe.
I have a lot of nausea so I’ve been sleeping a lot to get through it, but even that’s hard because I will wake up choking, gasping for air.
The biggest problem right now is that the antibiotics aren’t working, and my white blood count isn’t improving. We are trying a third type of antibiotic and it’s making me feel even more sick. However, we are at the point that I need to take it and hope I can get through the reactions because there aren’t really other options.
I’m hoping that I turn around soon. If you don’t know, COVID19 is at a surge right now and beds in the ER and hospital are overwhelmed. That could also impact how long I’m able to stay in my room.
7/15 AM
So far, the third antibiotic that they are trying seems to be working and my blood counts are finally responding. It has been a struggle to find a medicine that can control the pain of trying to breathe which has complicated things. The more painful my lungs are, the more I cough and struggle to breathe, the more inflamed my lungs become.
The doctors would like to keep me longer to ensure I’m stabilized, especially because I live alone, but the short term stay hospital bed I’m currently in is now needed for a COVID19 patient.
The only options are to be sent home with antibiotics and no pain reliever since the only ones I can take are through an IV, or to see if my insurance will approve a long stay ICU hospital room.
I’m told it’s much more expensive and my expected out of pocket contribution would also increase. Or I might get stuck with the bill altogether if my insurance rejects the claim.
It sucks to have to make life and potentially deadly decisions based on ability to pay, while in mind-impairing pain. I can’t image the tremendously terrifying decisions people without insurance have had to make during this pandemic.
7/15 4:30 PM
So my numbers aren’t actually good. The main markers to measure infection in the body are 155% higher than they should be and this market number is up from yesterday.
I was able to walk around a bit, but I still get extremely winded.
I was told that they are going to keep me another night, but they need the bed that I’m in. I’m going to be transferred to a longer term-room and that means a more expensive kind of hospital stay. I’m not sure how much my insurance will cover and how much my out of pocket will be. I’m stressed out and overwhelmed by the amount of debt that has followed having covid—and I have good insurance. I can’t even imagine what someone without insurance would do.
Please keep praying that they will find an antibiotic that is successful at treating the infection and that my lungs heal quickly. Thank you to everyone that has sent me encouraging messages and has contributed and/or shared the go fund me page to help assist me in this time. I appreciate the support and the very real, tangible help.
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