This is not flu, this is something new, ugly and horrible.

[kpete]

from: John Briglevich FB

Oh boy....
I am a private person. I reluctantly post this.
Yesterday was my first day without fever in 21 days. Last week, my life was in the breech with Covid 19.
102+ fever, horrible body aches and breathing was a struggle .
Heart rate was 95+. My mom, Dr. Rose, saved my life. She came to my house in full PPE kit and did a bunch of tests, got me on meds for lungs and heart.
I couldn’t move.
There is an animalistic fear that is indescribable when you know you could die from this hell. My mom forced me to breathe deep and move around, not let the pneumonia set in. If you stop fighting you will die. Moments of feeling sorry for myself would change to absolute anger, soccer coach speeches went off in my mind, about sacrifice, about what it takes to make your dream come true; I want to live. My worst moment was going into uncontrollable body shakes, rigors, as my 11 yr. old daughter looked on in fear and horror. Her fear was more than I could bear. It has changed me forever.
Finally, by the end of last week I could feel it turning. Two nights I awoke at 3am soaked to the core in a cold sweat. Drenched. I felt I was finally winning the battle. No fever today, body aches are much less, but a nasty cough still persists. I feel the damage in my lungs. My body is full of good antibodies now, the silver lining is, my blood plasma could help someone in dire need. As soon as I recover, I will keep donating blood til they suck me dry.
This is not flu, this is something new, ugly and horrible.
My friends, I love you all ♥️♥️♥️
I know this virus will affect many of us, please talk to me if you need to.

https://www.facebook.com/john.briglevich/posts/4059724747385945
via: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/6/1933680/-My-Personal-MD-Saved-Her-Son-From-Covid-19-Here-is-His-Amazing-Story-and-Her-Advice?utm_campaign=recent

[Dalai_1]

1. So glad you are feeling better....

Thank you for sharing your experience-
It sounds absolutely horrible-
I hope you continue to improve!

[Skraxx]

2. Glad To Hear You're Doing Better BUT Be Careful! Lot's of Folks Start Feeling Better and WHAM!

It kicks back in. I've been hearing that lot's of people are experiencing it in two phases.

[barbtries]

3. a co-worker got it

and said pretty much the same. it was debilitating, 3 weeks after he got sick he was finally feeling better. he made it to a teleconference and coughed all the way through it.

he is happy to be alive. his daughter and wife did not get as sick as he did.

[yaesu]

4. It seems to hit men worse than women & like H1N1, hits the elderly the worse. Its no flu but

like the flu the RNA tells the story, writes its path, it could follow some of the rules but its new & will be seasonal so life as we know is changed forever. Lets hope immunity lasts a season.

[rurallib]

5. Thanks so much for sharing your story

Maybe it will scare someone into taking precautions.

So glad you have (hopefully) recovered.

Maybe your next act will be to save some folks with your blood?

[cwydro]

19. This is from facebook, its not the OP.

[Hekate]

6. Thanks, kpete, for sharing John Briglevich's FB post about his harrowing experience...

Stay well yourself, kpete.

[Frances]

7. Good Luck

So glad you are better
Sounds horrendous

[flibbitygiblets]

13. The first line say "from: John Briglevich FB"

and the last line is a link to that FB post.

It is understandable how many of us are on information overload though, easy to miss that kind of stuff these days.

[tblue37]

27. I never understand, though, why posters don't use the excerpt box for stuff pulled from

elsewhere.

[Warpy]

9. This is in line with the account of a 60 year old man

who caught it on the Diamond Princess. For him, it was two weeks of running fevers and having dry coughing fits the whole time before the fever broke and he started to feel better. That's the disease course 4 out of 5 people will get, some milder, some a little worse.

[roamer65]

24. Sounds damn like what had in January.

Dry coughing fits for 3 weeks. Had to use an old asthma inhaler I hadn’t touched in years. My sister had it but worse. I notice now that I get a bit more winded if I exert myself. I didn’t congest up like the flu. A LOT of sinus drainage.

All the hallmarks of viral pneumonia.

I really think this thing started here in the US in late dec early January.

I really wish I could get an antibody test. If I had it I could give my plasma to help others.

[Warpy]

28. They really need to hurry up that antibody test

I had something weird last month, started 4 days after I'd been out, dry cough, fever but not much of one, and splitting headache. Headache and fever went away in a little over a week, cough has taken a bit longer but is almost gone. I don't know if that was it, but if it was, I don't wonder that people are out spreading it around. The fever would have kept me out of work but it wouldn't have kept me out of the grocery store. This time it did, just in case. My diet is now healthy but getting a little strange. I need to go shopping soon. Knowing whether or not I had a very light case could make the trip considerably less paranoid.

[roamer65]

39. Like my sister.

I wondered when it hit me if I would hafta go to ER. The old inhaler got me through.

I live close to Detroit metro airport. A major Delta hub that had a lot of flights to and from China for the automotive industry.

[leighbythesea2]

31. Gosh same

Mid January i got sick for 3 weeks. Lost taste and smell. Often wondering "what version of the flu IS this?"

My husband too. He developed bronchitis.

I quarantined HARD core to my bedroom. As my mom lives with me and i couldnt fathom her handling it ok
Never left the house. Too sick.

I wonder about antibody tests all the time!

[roamer65]

40. So do I

Hope u feel better. It took me about 6 weeks to truly shake it.

[leighbythesea2]

43. I do

Your 6 weeks--you must have been so OVER it mentally.

And yes my husband claimed he didnt feel quite over it for another 2 plus weeks.

[roamer65]

44. It was bizarre.

Never had something like it before.

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. I aree with you about viral pneumonia.

When you see the posters being shown of it, it is all respiratory. No mention of the lower body function
problems of what I know about flu.

a most virulent virus, on top of everything else.

[roamer65]

41. Hey dixiegrrl

[dixiegrrrrl]

42. Back atcha. n/t

[obamanut2012]

45. Same exact thing -- mine started January 5

I was sick until at least February 5. I moved the last week in January, and still had a slight fever and a no energy. My doc, who is great, said it wasn't the flu, just a strange virus. His office has my now on a list to be tested ASAP an antibody test is available, because he thinks I may have had it (along with some other patients).

[BigmanPigman]

10. Doctors are saying this isn't like the flu, it is

not even like pneumonia. It IS like very, very bad pneumonia.

[Evolve Dammit]

11. Thanks for posting kpete. And thanks to your mom for helping keep you alive. We need you.

[cwydro]

20. It's a facebook post. Not the OP.

How do people miss this?

[Evolve Dammit]

21. I guess we're just not as tech aware as you are?

[cwydro]

22. Huh?

Simply stating it is not the OP.

[demtenjeep]

23. why does it really matter to you

it is a first hand account and that is what I took from it

[cwydro]

25. Oh good lord.

Never mind.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

26. I miss those

days when DU was smart.

[cwydro]

29. Lol, no kidding.

[flibbitygiblets]

12. Thanks for re-posting this message from John Briglevich's Facebook post

sounds like he might not have made it without help from mom to the rescue.

[homegirl]

15. Be very careful...

My mother's 14 year old brother was a victim of the 1918 flu epidemic. He appeared to have recovered, went out 11/11/1918 to celebrate the Armistice, relapsed and died.

Coddle yourself and take no chances.

[BGBD]

18. That sounds

like a case of bacterial pneumonia, pretty common with bad flu. That's why with a flu they say if your fever goes away for a couple days and comes back you should get to a Dr.

[Kitchari]

16. Thank you for posting this--n/t

[Hortensis]

17. It's new but not that much. We stopped SARS and MERS during Obama's

administration. AND others. What's new is that Republicans let loose the Republican pandemic.

[Nonhlanhla]

32. SARS was during Bush

and there have been only 2 cases of MERS in the US.

Obama's success lies I his handling of H1N1, Ebola, and Zika, and in his setting up of a pandemic preparedness team - the one Trump fired.

[Hortensis]

33. Only 2 cases of MERS." You're right that SARS did not make

it to our shores during the Obama administration because of strict overseas surveillance. I misspoke in saying it got here in that period in spite of our protections.

Btw, Republicans in congress, like Senator Richard Burr, were involved in legislating and funding the very protections and procedures they helped put in place to stop the novel coronavirus wherever the first cases appeared in our nation. In other words, the Republican leadership fully understood the grave threat and knew what to do to contain it.

INSTEAD, congressional Republicans actively delayed and blocked all attempts at action by Democrats for most of three months, while making public appearances claiming it was just a cold and a lie that evil Democrats were using to try to defeat Trump.

This is all proven beyond any question.

[Nonhlanhla]

35. SARS did not exist during the Obama administration

SARS only existed for a few months, and then died out. The disease then died out.

I agree that Obama was great about pandemics, but he had nothing to do with SARS.

[Hortensis]

36. The point is that the Republicans knowingly let SARS-CoV-2

loose in our nation, understanding very well its potential to turn into a pandemic holocaust if they did nothing.

They didn't do NOTHING, though. They assured the nation, for nearly three critical months while it spread far beyond control, that it wasn't serious -- until mounting death counts put an end to that phase.

And now they're hiding while people go after their big-fall guy.

[Nonhlanhla]

37. Yes, I know that

I was merely correcting the statement that Obama dealt with SARS. He did not. It was around in 2003-4.

[Hortensis]

38. Sure. What's IMPORTANT is what the Republicans are doing.

Critically important. Life and death important. Survival of democracy important. It not only can happen here, it IS happening here important.

These people are planning to get away with a pandemic holocaust. Trump did it!

Bullshit.

[appalachiablue]

30. K/R Last nite I posted a version from Daily Kos in DU's Editorials Section:

Glad to see this valuable, amazing account being circulated for visibility!

- MD Saved Her Son From Covid-19; Here Is His Amazing Story And Her Advice (Daily Kos)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016251575