Day 3 Update

After the phone call I got yesterday from my COVID-19 positive family member, I was really upset - they sounded really bad, and said it was hard to talk, but they had no energy to text. However, they texted later in the afternoon after their second Remdesivir treatment, which they said went well. They said they were feeling a little better than earlier, but that it was "not a good day."

This morning I was awakened by a call from their spouse. They had texted early in the morning saying they'd had a bad night but were feeling a little better, and were turning off their phone. (That sounded very ominous - why couldn't the phone be left on and just ignored?)

But within a few hours, I got a text from them. They said they had a bad night and had to increase the oxygen they were getting. They were doing better by then, but still on higher oxygen, and talking takes too much energy. "No news today except hang in there and hopefully I start to turn the corner." And the good news was that they were feeling well enough to turn their phone on and send a message, and that every time we hear they haven't been doing well, it's followed by saying that they're doing better now.

This afternoon I got some really encouraging texts from them. (First of all, that they had enough energy to have a relatively lengthy text exchange was good  news!) Their treatment today went well and they were feeling a little better. Their oxygen dropped to the 80s when they took it off to blow their nose, so they're being kept on the high flow oxygen for now, and O2 saturation is 97%. (This part is also encouraging, because some of the bad stories you hear are people who are getting lots of oxygen support but their saturation isn't improving.) The infectious disease doctor saw them today and reassured them they'll be ok but it will take a long time, it's not a 3 day disease. He said if he didn't think they'd be ok he would say so, this isn't something where you beat around the bush, and that made them feel better. It can be months before you feel normal, and they just watch and give oxygen support as needed. The only way to know you're improving is to need less oxygen. The doctor told them previously that this was all typical, so it doesn't sound like he's concerned that this is a particularly bad case or anything.

Today was day 3 of their 5 day Remdesivir treatment. I was reading about the study that was done on it and while it didn't make a huge difference, it did have best results in patients who needed oxygen but weren't on a ventilator (e.g. my family member), shortening recovery time by a few days and lowering the death rate slightly.