“I am a 23 year old, who maintained a high level of fitness and I ended up in ICU due to Covid-19.” These are the words of a young doctor in Cork who went through a series of serious consequences after being infected with the corona virus.
The 23-year-old, Dr. Owen O’Flynn, who thought he was admitted to a hospital with serious gastroenteritis, said it was too late for him to realise that he had post-Covid syndrome. The doctor from Bantry, Cork, was sharing his story at the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) briefing on Monday.
He shared his experience with the warning that the corona virus can infect people of any age at any time and can have serious consequences. A hospital doctor at University Hospital in Kerry has advised anyone who thinks they can survive the serious effects of the virus to think twice and follow public health advice.
It was in March that Dr. Owen O’Flynn began to lose his sense of smell and taste without any other symptoms. But at the time he was not subject to the Covid test. Both the sense returned a week later, he said.
The doctor said that he started feeling sick a month after working in the Covid ICU for a day. He said it was negative when tested in the community after that.
Symptoms that he was having at the time included stomach pain, temperature spikes, profuse sweating, constant vomiting and diarrhoea as well as a rash on various parts of the body.
“This got to a point where I needed hospital admission for what I thought was a severe gastroenteritis. I was admitted on the Covid pathway in CUH and got another swab which was again negative as I wasn’t actively shedding virus at that time.”
“My heart tracing was showing signs of damage as were my heart enzymes. Two days later my oxygen levels dropped and a chest x-ray revealed a new lesion,” Dr. O’Flynn said.
That’s when the doctors who treated him said he had a new Covid post syndrome that was starting to be reported in Italy. The disease is mostly seen in children. Following this, he was again subjected to Covid test. When the results came, he showed that had a COVID-19 infection around 4-6 weeks prior.
He said his condition began to worsen that evening and his oxygen levels dropped. Based on his condition, the doctors admitted him to the ICU.
“After analysis of my scans the decision was made to lie me on my front, we occasionally do this for Covid-19 patients who are intubated in ICU to improve lung function. If I didn’t improve I would be put into a coma and intubated.”
However, the doctor said it helped stabilize him for a few days after he was admitted to the ICU.
But he said, after a few days his heart rate began to drop by a third. “At that point I had two major system failures as part of the post-Covid syndrome, both an acute respiratory failure and an acute heart failure.”
At that point, he was worried whether he could get out of the ICU or die there.
“I came to accept that if I did, everything would have been done to prevent that from happening.”
ICU doctors were supporting his heart with medication to make sure his blood pressure was maintained.
“Those two or three days were probably my lowest point. I was in constant contact with my girlfriend and my family but I was also receiving a lot of emotional support from the staff and from my friends.
He said that however, after a couple of days, he was slowly recovering. Dr. O’Flynn said he was then discharged from the ICU and allowed to return home a week later. “I was breathless walking around the house.”
He said he was in constant contact with the physios at CUH to keep track of the progress of his health.
“It took six weeks from discharge to regain a sense of normality. Again, the entire time I was terrified because I was in the realm of the unknown. I didn’t know how much function I would regain and to this day I still have reduced levels of fitness.”
The experience of Dr. Owen O’Flynn, a young and healthy man, should be a lesson to all who take the COVID-19 lightly.
“I would urge anyone thinking that they are immune to the more severe effects of this disease to think twice and to follow the public health advice,” he said.