It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a full year since I was diagnosed with COVID-19 and pneumonia. My blood/oxygen levels were low, so I was sent to Mt Edgecumbe Hospital via Guardian Air. I was there almost a week before being sent home.
I was home for only a day and a half when my wife (who was diagnosed with COVID the same time I was, but her O² saturation was above 90%) received a courtesy call about her condition.
Using a mobile pulse/oxygen device, she checked herself, and she was still above 90. When I checked mine, I was at 84.
The caller suggested that we call the after-hours, on-call provider. After explaining my situation, we eventually met him at the clinic. No more than 15 minutes later, I was being told I was going back to Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital. I was then put on high-flow oxygen set at 30 liters per minute.
During the next few days in Sitka, the oxygen rate went up to 40 liters per minute. The doctor talked to me about options, and I told him simply to do whatever they needed to do to save my life. Once the staff left my room, I decided to take a nap. My next coherent memory is waking up in Anchorage at the Alaska Native Medical Center six weeks later.
I was told by the doctors, nurses, and my wife about everything that happened to me during that time. I was intubated for most of my time there. There were a few times they thought I was going to pass on after my vitals crashed, but then I would pull through.
For six weeks, I was unconscious; most of that time, I was medically induced. Once awake, they had physical and occupational therapists visit me regularly so I could start regaining my strength.
After two weeks, I was accepted at and sent to Alaska Regional Hospital to go through their physical therapy and occupational therapy programs. I was discharged in one week.
My hometown primary care doctor and his nurse informed me that they had been keeping track of how many intubated COVID patients survived after being in a coma beyond a certain length of time. I was in a coma for six weeks. At that length, I was only one of barely more than a handful nationwide that came back.
I want to thank Alaska Native Medical Center, Alaska Regional Hospital, Mt Edgecumbe Hospital, Guardian Air, and my hometown SEARHC clinic (Alicia Roberts Medical Center) with all their doctors, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, flight crews and anyone else that was a part of my care.
I’ve been on a long journey of recovery since I woke up from the coma. It hasn’t been easy by any means, but because of all the care and treatment they all provided, I am alive to take that journey. For that, I will always be grateful. One step at a time, I am regaining my life.
— Roger Brown
Anchorage
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