I read about you in an article in The New Paper published on 11th Oct 2009. I don't know you but I hope that you are doing fine now.
I was surprised to hear of your plight as, we are in the same boat. We were the first two patients in Singapore to have survived the H1N1 viral pneumonia, with the help of the ECMO machine. I see that you you were hooked on the machine on 11th Aug, 3 days after I was hooked on, on 8th Aug. We both had high fever above 39degC, visited GPs and hospitals in July 2009, but were told to go home, without being screened for H1N1, or prescribed with Tamiflu.
I did not know from whom I got the virus from, do you? I did not go overseas or come in contact with any sick people. I was also in the low risk group and had no previous medical or health history. Before I was ill, I enjoyed long distance running and all kinds of sports and I ate healthily.
Similar to you, i walked into the hospital in early Aug 2009, relatively healthy and thinking that I would be discharged within a few days. But within hours, I was close to dying.
I read with emotions on how you felt during the ECMO treatment. Because I had exactly the same feelings. I was sedated, hallucinating, and cannot differential from what is real and what is not. It felt like my soul left me and came back again. I had strings of nightmares and dreamt that I was held captive in a faraway land by terrorists. It was worst than hell.
I was glad to know that you stayed in SGH for less than a month. I was not so lucky. I had heart failure, followed by multiple organ failures, after which i caught bouts and bouts of pneumonia. I was on ventilator for many months and lost the power to speak, walk or even cough. I also had to go though 7-8 open heart surgery within a period of 2 months.
Everything is over now, thank God. And I was lucky to have survived, and was discharged from NUH after 11 months.
Now, back at home, I suffer from chronic heart failure and cannot engage in physical activities like before. I am doing rehabilitation everyday and hope that one day i will return to one of my favourite love, running.
If you read this, can you pls contact me. I would really love to meet you. Wish you good health for the new year,
God bless you,
Qiaohe
No comments:
Post a Comment