Gerry
Gerry spent 23 days in ICU in April and May 2020. He suffered delirium, pneumonia and various other medical complications. The episode changed his outlook on life. His recovery has been difficult but steady. Interviewed for the study in February 2021.
Gerry lives in Scotland with his wife and three children (aged 10, 15 and 19 at the time of admission). He worked in risk analysis prior to admission and has gone to do so from home four months after discharge.
More about me...
Gerry developed a cough in January 2020, which initially went away. When it came back in April he got in touch with the NHS testing centre, who did not allow him to get tested, but told him to self-isolate. Gerry feels that it would have been better to have somebody on the line who does not read off a script, so that they would have handled his situation better. But he did self-isolate. Meanwhile, his temperature was going up, the cough persisted, and he was fatigued. His mother had passed away the week before, and he was not able to attend her funeral as he was so unwell. He then experienced shortness of breath, which he describes as a drowning sensation. Looking back, Gerry thinks his wife and children must have had Covid too, but they were never tested either, so he cannot be sure. His wife still struggles with brain fog and tiredness at the time of the interview.
When Gerry continued feeling worse, his wife called an ambulance and with oxygen levels around 65-70 Gerry was taken straight into A&E, where they decided to put him straight into ICU. He called his wife before being intubated. He was asked to sign forms, but he was not able to understand what they were for. He remembers asking the clinical staff to do what they could.
Gerry has few memories from the first 10 days in ICU. He suffered hallucinations and had dreams he describes as ‘weird’: he dreamt he was in Wuhan, China (where the virus was first reported) or in a computer game. He does recall being turned (‘proned’). Hearing sounds from IC still brings back memories of what he has been through.
When he regained consciousness, he recalls that many nurses came up to him saying they had been so worried about him. At one point they had told his wife that they did not have much hope for him. But he pulled through. He later learned that he had had a pneumonia due to Covid, a chest infection, E-Coli, and more. He was admitted before there were any treatments for Covid-19, so, when he asked his consultant whether he had been given anything, the latter said they had nothing to give him. The oxygen had helped the blood flow and his immune system “probably kicked in at some point”.
At the time, he could not write properly or recall numbers – so he had to ask for help to be able to call his family. He communicated his desire to call his wife via communication cards. His family – when they first spoke to him – were relieved he came out of the coma, as they had just been told he was so unwell. Gerry also remembers crying a lot after waking up, when reading the messages from friends and family.
On the ward, the staff played music for Gerry. He found it difficult to keep track of time.
Removing the tubes was the worst experience, Gerry remembers. He found it difficult to breathe and other tubes had to be put straight back in. When he asked for a Coca Cola he got one, and that was “like the best feeling in the world”. Gerry did not lose his speech as, fortunately, he had not required a tube to be inserted into his neck (‘tracheostomy’). Gerry spent two more days in ICU, during which he was shaved and washed. He recalls the staff were very nice. However, he still had the delirium, which continued until after his discharge to the ward.
Gerry had a high temperature on the ward. He was worried about having to go back to ICU, unsure how he would cope with it if he had to go through it all again. (Gerry was scheduled to get the vaccine on the day after the interview, which he hoped would allay this fear). Whilst Gerry was ready and determined to go home, the staff kept him in hospital for a bit longer for his temperature had started rising. He had help from physiotherapists to help him walk.
He was eventually discharged. Gerry received a call from the GP and a blood test, and a visit from a physiotherapist, who concluded that Gerry had recovered his strength enough to climb the stairs by himself. Fatigue is one of the problems that most stands out to Gerry. He walked with a walking stick for the first couple of weeks. The other was the constant pain from the many needles/IV lines, which took more than 8 months to get better. The initial months at home were tiring. He felt depleted, and his body felt painful and achy. The fatigue has remained. Gerry has some scarring in his lungs, but nothing that he would have to return to hospital for. His sense of taste came back after a couple of months.
Gerry feels lucky that he survived, when so many others did not. He tries not to look back too much. Gerry went back to work in August 2020, and he can work from home. The experience has changed his outlook on life, he says: He is more concerned about his wife and children than he was before, and he wants to spend time with them, traveling around Scotland. At the time of the interview, he was looking forward to taking the family’s new puppy out for walks.
Gerry had a cough and a temperature and experienced shortness of breath.
Gerry had a cough and a temperature and experienced shortness of breath.
So, in January I had a really bad cough, chesty cough started, and it developed, it was, hacking is the only way I would describe it. I got sent home from work, told me just to go away in case anybody else got what we thought. Never heard of Covid at that point. I don’t think many of us had. It seemed to disappear. I was okay for about six weeks and then round about the middle of March I developed the cough again. The cough came back. Gradually. It was just a kind of irritable cough. Then eventually coming into April time I experienced the hacking again, just getting worse and worse. Now, the day I got taken into hospital was the 23rd of April. Up till then I still hadn’t been to a GP. I’d phoned up, spoke to NHS. They wouldn’t test me. They told me just to isolate. At that point I didn’t have a temperature. Probably about maybe two, three days before I got admitted, which would be about 20th of April, I started to really go downhill a wee bit. Started getting hot flushes. My temperature was raised, and luckily, we had a thermometer in the house, and I was seeing my temperatures were going up 37.5, 37.8, still had the really bad cough. Starting to feel quite lethargic, a lot of fatigue.
Prior to that, at night-time I was experiencing the shortness of breath. There’s more kind of like a drowning effect. I could hardly breathe. I think I knew deep down that I had Covid because when I looked at all the information and everything that was available to me, I ticked every box. I was a bit surprised on the 22nd, the day before I was admitted, that they wouldn’t take me down and let me get tested. I found that quite strange. Considering I’d told them I’d had it for over four weeks, this hacking cough, I’ve got a temperature. But they didn’t bother.
Gerry’s wife and son isolated with him when he had symptoms.
Gerry’s wife and son isolated with him when he had symptoms.
Also, if I’ve got Covid my family would have had it. I’m not saying that’s necessarily the case. But my son’s ten, so he’s under that age group where they don’t seem to show any signs. I think there’s the odd child that would. My daughter would have been 15, coming up for 16 at the time. So, I believe they’ve had it, and my wife’s…I think we’ve all had it. But I did ask before that as well, I think I asked about a week before about a test and they told me just isolate, and that’s what they were doing at the time. They were just telling people to self-isolate. That was the reason, oh, don’t go anywhere, just self-isolate. So, I think if they’d been testing at the time… But you also see the other side of it now where they are testing everybody. You’re getting more figures. So, was the uptake in April or March similar to the peaks that we’re getting at the moment? Nobody seems to really know. And that’s where I think they’ve maybe fallen down a wee bit, that they didn’t have enough of these tests. But who knew this was going to happen to us? I don’t think anybody could have forecasted this.
When he was on the ward, Gerry was worried that he would be re-admitted to the ICU. He was not sure he could cope again. Receiving his vaccination later on was a relief.
When he was on the ward, Gerry was worried that he would be re-admitted to the ICU. He was not sure he could cope again. Receiving his vaccination later on was a relief.
I had the high temperature in the ward. They just took blankets off me, gave me loads of water to drink trying to cool me down. Because obviously Scotland’s not very warm, but it can get quite humid at night. I can remember that, but at that point I was worried in case…and I said to the nurse, you’re not going to put me back into the ICU are you? She said, no, no. I was kind of worried.
I said to my friends yesterday I don’t know how I would cope again if it happened to me, if that makes sense. Was that a one off that I managed to survive what had happened to me, and if it happened again would my body be able to cope with that? I don’t know. So probably to get the vaccination tomorrow, if that stops it going that level into ICU, and that’s the way I look at it, then obviously the sooner I get it the better. So, I’ll get that tomorrow, so that’s going to give me a great piece of mind. Obviously when I get my second one a few weeks later I’ll feel so much better, and I think a lot of people will. That’s why there’s such a high uptake and people taking the vaccination, which is great. I think in Scotland Nicola Sturgeon’s done really well. I think she’s got 99.8 per cent of all care homes, which is fantastic. Absolutely amazing what she’s doing. She’s encouraging people. Everybody just wants to go back to normal. We’d all like to get back to normal. So, I would say that kind of sums it up for me, if that makes sense.
Gerry thought his recovery was probably sped up by the stairs in his house and the walks with his dog.
Gerry thought his recovery was probably sped up by the stairs in his house and the walks with his dog.
Initially the first couple of months it was quite tiring. Just the fatigue. Not so much sleeping, but just aches and pains. I’d say the lack of strength was another one. Eventually when the taste left it was fine, I could go back to normal. That probably took a couple of months for the taste to come back. They sent a physio out to me. Physio asked me to do a test. Because we live in a town house with stairs they reckon the stairs have helped because I’ve been up and down. So the stairs have contributed to a good factor and getting my fitness levels back. So when they did all the tests he said, Gerry, I shouldn’t even be here. You’re fine, there’s no issue at all. So there was no problem.
My son plays football quite a lot, so I took him down the park earlier to kick the ball about. I’m trying to be as active as possible. I got myself an Apple Watch, I’ve got my oxygen levels on it, I check my things, I go out and do my walks when I can, and obviously the puppy, on 1 March we can take her outside, and then that’s going to contribute more. So albeit the puppy was for the kids, but it will also be for me to get her out and to get walking, which is good. Sometimes it’s hard to motivate yourself to get out of the house. It’s so easy to sit on your couch and watch Netflix and various other things, but I feel that having the puppy it’ll be better to get out. I’ve got more encouragement.
