"What the 7 stages of severe COVID-19 look like on the front line"

[GPV]

Get vaccinated. If you choose not to, here’s what to expect if you are hospitalized for a serious case of COVID-19.

Stage 1. You’ve had debilitating symptoms for a few days, but now it is so hard to breathe that you come to the emergency room. Your oxygen saturation level tells us you need help, a supplemental flow of 1 to 4 liters of oxygen per minute. We admit you and start you on antivirals, steroids, anticoagulants or monoclonal antibodies. You’ll spend several days in the hospital feeling run-down, but if we can wean you off the oxygen, you’ll get discharged. You survive.

Stage 2. It becomes harder and harder for you to breathe. “Like drowning,” many patients describe the feeling. The bronchodilator treatments we give you provide little relief. Your oxygen requirements increase significantly, from 4 liters to 15 liters to 40 liters per minute. Little things, like relieving yourself or sitting up in bed, become too difficult for you to do on your own. Your oxygen saturation rapidly declines when you move about. We transfer you to the intensive care unit.

Stage 3. You’re exhausted from hyperventilating to satisfy your body’s demand for air. We put you on noninvasive, “positive pressure” ventilation — a big, bulky face mask that must be strapped tightly around your face so the machine can efficiently push pressure into your lungs to pop them open so you get enough of the oxygen it delivers.

https://bangordailynews.com/2021/08/29/opinion/contributors/what-the-7-stages-of-severe-covid-19-look-like-on-the-front-line/

[ShazzieB]

1. That was chilling but incredibly informative.

I never knew all that stuff about the different stages. I can't imagine how hard it is to take care of these patients and watch them die, one after another, despite all your best efforts.

[GPV]

4. Yes, it's the best piece I've seen yet on what to expect if you go to the hospital w Covid.

[Fritz Walter]

2. Spoiler alert: Stage 7. It's over!

Stage 7: After several meetings with the palliative care team, your family decides to withdraw care. We extubate you, turning off the breathing machinery. We set up a final FaceTime call with your loved ones. As we work in your room, we hear crying and loving goodbyes. We cry, too, and we hold your hand until your last natural breath.

This should be required reading for all anti-vaxers and anti-maskers!

[Klaralven]

8. A "do not resuscitate order" allows you to skip stages 4, 5, and 6.

[GPV]

21. Good to know, thanks.

[central scrutinizer]

26. I added "do not intubate"

To my advanced directive. Pump me full of morphine, wheel me out of the way, let me go.

[GPV]

33. I'm thinking about it

[central scrutinizer]

34. After my wife died (March 2017)

I’ve realized how many loose ends remain for the family. I’m trying to declutter and sell my house while I’m still lucid and pass all the assets on to our daughter. Then walk off into bear country wearing a bacon bathrobe.

[GPV]

39. I ought to do that for my kids. I have my stuff plus my parents!

[AwakeAtLast]

36. That's what happened to my uncle

Thankfully.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Without modern medical treatments, stage 2 would be death for 50 percent of people hitting it

They didn't have positive pressure ventilators in 1919. Or even oxygen flow, stage 1, although it had been used in some experimental treatments by then. It wasn't until 1909 that rubber tubing was invented and not until the 1920s that oxygen tents came in use. Masks were developed for use after that.

[Farmer-Rick]

13. Stage 2 almost killed Trump

We know he had this problem. "the machine can efficiently push pressure into your lungs to pop them open so you get enough of the oxygen it delivers."

Imagine your lungs so sticky that they can't open up for you to breath. I hope Trump enjoyed the Covid-19. I think he has lingering medical problems from it because he always looks swollen and puffy eyed anymore. Prosecutors better hurry and put him in jail before he dies.

[GPV]

24. Almost killed him? I know he was in bad shape, but as bad as that?

[Farmer-Rick]

31. Yeah, he was one step away from intubation.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/02/11/covid-trump-was-sicker-from-coronavirus-than-first-said.html

He was on oxygen. He almost died if not for all the experimental drugs he was given. He got aborted fetal stem cell developed antibody treatments. Lucky he was president when he caught Covid-19.

[GPV]

32. Whoa!

[Dan]

35. He was truly blessed, that I was not his doctor.

Cause I would have gave him bleach and stuck a LED light up his ass., prayed for him and let God do the rest.

[GPV]

38. I imagine a lot of people feel that way

[GPV]

23. Good point. When people compare Covid to flu in the old days, they rarely consider

the medical advances made.

[Tadpole Raisin]

5. Wow! If you're not so stubborn you're willing to read that then shrug your shoulders and say

It won’t happen to you, well you deserve to actually experience it. As I and others have said on this board, if you’ve ever experienced not being able to breathe for even a tiny amount of time you never forget it and never want to feel that way again EVER!

Great post!

[ouija]

6. I like the guy who said

If you refuse the vaccine then don’t go to the hospital and ride it out at home.

[alterfurz]

19. "Being unvaccinated at this point is like running with the bulls in Spain...

...if you get a horn up your ass--that's on you." -- Wanda Sykes

[GPV]

41. The stubbornness is hard to fathom

[overleft]

7. Every stubborn person not getting the vaccine needs to read this article.

[GPV]

43. I agree

[catbyte]

9. Well, that was horrifying. It is also why I still mask up, wash my hands, and social distance even

though I've been fully vaccinated since March. It sounds like it's one of the worst ways to die. I can't imagine what is going through the heads of those willfully ignorant idiots who refuse to take any measures to mitigate this horrific disease.

[SheltieLover]

10. Well said, Cat!

Same here - fuly vaxed since March & eager to get booster shot when I'm eligible!

[catbyte]

11. Thanks, SheltieLover. It's like they're a whole different species or something.

I don't know if it's fear, arrogance, or ignorance--probably a combination of all three. What really angers me is they bloviate about how Covid is "no worse than a cold or flu" yet when they catch it, they expect world-class medical care. It's infuriating and so unfair to overworked medical professionals. I still say they should all be forced to print this out and carry it with them always:



Have a great, safe Sunday, my friend!

[SheltieLover]

12. They should not be allowed to break pur healthcare system!

And, if it were me, I have that tattooed on every one of their foreheads!

It's beyond belief what these anti-vax maskholes have done & continue to do!

Stay safe, Cat! 😷

[Pachamama]

16. +100000

Completely Agree

[SheltieLover]

17. ...

[XanaDUer2]

29. me too

this virus is a wild card and I want to avoid it

[Alice Kramden]

14. The medical workers are truly heroes

But it takes a terrible toll

[Pachamama]

15. A must read for all those trying to decide whether to vaccinate and mask up...

[Blue Owl]

22. You said it...

If something like this doesn't make them come to their senses -- then nothing will.

[rainin]

18. I wonder why I never hear about special air mattresses to keep nurses from having to turn patients?

Do they exist? If not, why? I have a compression device for my lymphedema that wraps around the body while a compressor forces air through the wrap in a rhythmic motion. I would think a mattress could be designed to rhythmically inflate and deflate small cells to allow for blood circulation.

Seeing videos of these nurses turning 'limp' patients is heartbreaking. Does such a mattress exist? I wonder why.

[Wingus Dingus]

20. They have mattresses that do inflate from side to side to aid turning

and hospital beds that also turn from side to side. It just depends on the facility and what's available. But nurses still have to roll patients to check their backsides, change bedding and pads, relieve pressure points, wash, etc.

[dalton99a]

25. Kick

[Vinca]

27. That should be required reading for the anti-vaxxers.

[MustLoveBeagles]

28. K&R

[LiberatedUSA]

30. That is terrifying. N/t

[Skittles]

37. it boggles my mind that ANYONE wold gamble with this

fucking iNSANE

[Larissa]

40. Here's another article on the same subject

It, too, has got me thinking hard about the living will issue. Every man and woman in this country should read these articles.

What it's Like to Die from Covid-19

https://www.vox.com/2021/2/20/22280817/covid-19-deaths-us-nursing-home-icu-ventilator

[A HERETIC I AM]

42. As a COPD patient, I've gotten to stage 3 several times

But luckily was never intubated.

It’s horrible. And scary as hell.

35 years averaging a pack a day did a hell of a number on my lungs and I started having severe COPD episodes about 9 years ago. I had to call an ambulance on myself 4 times and averaged a severe episode requiring hospitalization every 6 months. I took myself to the ER numerous times.

My last episode in April of 2018 was the worst and I thought I had truly screwed the pooch. I was usually out in 3 or 4 days but that one kept me in for 7. I did think I was going to die for a time.

It felt like a screw style hose clamp was around my lungs, and every few hours another turn or two was made, tightening the clamp.

I haven’t had a cigarette since that spring 3 years ago (April 13, to be exact) and have not had an episode since, except I had one very mild episode a year ago March which scared the shit out of me because that’s just when COVID 19 was gaining it’s foothold in the US.

So I can relate. You’re basically drowning in your own secretions. It’s terrifying.

I’m good though. 2nd Pfizer shot was in late April and I’m fine.

But I would not wish a severe respiratory illness on anyone.