Coronavirus thread

[Nephrology]

The hospitals seem to be using it on their most serious patients, which runs contrary to the outpatient prophylactic guidance under the EUA.

This is just a guess, but if thats what they told you, I'd guess they are reserving it for people with more serious at-risk health conditions (cancer, chronic kidney disease, organ transplant, and so on) who are still being managed as outpatients.

Not sure if this service is open to you now, but you could try scheduling an appointment with the general internal medicine outpatient service at whichever hospital supposedly has it in stock. If you can get a telehealth appointment with them they might be able to order the IV infusion.

One important word of caution - depending on your health coverage, the hospital, and a bunch of other factors I am probably ignorant of, there is a very real chance this could be very expensive. you might be able to get an out of pocket cost estimate but how your insurance decides is anyone's guess (will also depend on how the hospital bills it to some degree). Just want to put that out there so you aren't shocked if you end up paying a lot of money for a treatment that may or may not provide you with a noticeable benefit.

[ccmdfd]

Thank you. I hope your mom is improving. My uncle and his wife seem not to be fit to make their own decisions. Yesterday my dad went to town and bought him a pulse oximeter. This morning his oxygen saturation dropped into the low 80s, so they went to the after hours clinic. He has pneumonia in the lower lobes of both lungs and was sent home with some prescriptions. He's 82, overweight, and smoked for years. Home is 20 miles from the hospital and my aunt doesn't drive. He'll be lucky to get to the ER in 45 minutes when the time comes.

I hope they got his O2 sats back up!

[pangloss]

I hope they got his O2 sats back up!

Thank you, but it seems like he might be one of these people that ended up dying and with his last breath claiming that this virus is nothing to worry about. My dad called and asked if he was able to get an oxygen tank to bring home with him, and he agitatedly declared that he didn't asked because he was tired of asking about things. Some people are simply unwilling to be helped. I believe in science and medicine and God. My uncle seems only to believe in God, and I hope it works out for him.

[ccmdfd]

Thank you, but it seems like he might be one of these people that ended up dying and with his last breath claiming that this virus is nothing to worry about. My dad called and asked if he was able to get an oxygen tank to bring home with him, and he agitatedly declared that he didn't asked because he was tired of asking about things. Some people are simply unwilling to be helped. I believe in science and medicine and God. My uncle seems only to believe in God, and I hope it works out for him.

So sorry to hear that.

If he is refusing therapy because he just doesn't believe in it, or just simply doesn't want it that is certainly understandable and allowable.

But if he's really that sick with his saturations are really that low, you have to wonder if he's really in his right mind.

Hoping for the best

[DrkBlue]

This is just a guess, but if thats what they told you, I'd guess they are reserving it for people with more serious at-risk health conditions (cancer, chronic kidney disease, organ transplant, and so on) who are still being managed as outpatients.

Not sure if this service is open to you now, but you could try scheduling an appointment with the general internal medicine outpatient service at whichever hospital supposedly has it in stock. If you can get a telehealth appointment with them they might be able to order the IV infusion.

One important word of caution - depending on your health coverage, the hospital, and a bunch of other factors I am probably ignorant of, there is a very real chance this could be very expensive. you might be able to get an out of pocket cost estimate but how your insurance decides is anyone's guess (will also depend on how the hospital bills it to some degree). Just want to put that out there so you aren't shocked if you end up paying a lot of money for a treatment that may or may not provide you with a noticeable benefit.

Feds have a few no cost locations that are really hit bad - Tucson, Imperial Valley, etc.

[pangloss]

So sorry to hear that.

If he is refusing therapy because he just doesn't believe in it, or just simply doesn't want it that is certainly understandable and allowable.

But if he's really that sick with his saturations are really that low, you have to wonder if he's really in his right mind.

Hoping for the best

He's just being irrationally stubborn. O2 levels bounced back up by the time he got to the clinic this morning, so I don't think it's cognitive impairment (though I have no idea about the kinetics of these effects). At this point, a little cognitive impairment might work in his favor. As far as I can tell, they've ignored the pandemic up to this point. They're still going out to eat regularly, still taking vacations, and they had a big family gathering (his wife's family) on New Years involving people from many different households and no masks in sight, or at least not shown in any of the 77 Facebook pics that were posted.

[karandom]

Sorry to hear that @pangloss.

Unfortunately it looks like my uncle might pass from COVID. He was infected a few weeks back and given his medial history was given monoclonal antibody treatment in the hospital and was able to go home. He encountered breathing issues that worsened and had to be readmitted to the hospital about a week later with pneumonia. He required constant supplemental oxygen and his levels still dropped slowly over time. We just found out last night he was going to need a vent which he decided to decline. It sounds like the outcome wasn't good regardless and he didn't want to die vented. He was started on morphine for end of life comfort care. He is 69 and one of my favorite uncles who loves cars and tech and always shared those passions with me when I was a kid.

[Lex Luthier]

My mom went in to the hospital with a horrific GI bleed on 12/19; she was projectile vomiting clotted blood all over her bed and room. We got her ambulanced off, and the ER staff was unable to ascertain the source of the bleed, but she tested positive for COVID, so they immediately put her on a course of Remdesivir. She was there for 6 days, and sent home - still contagious- for me to take care of. (the day a snowstorm swept through, of course.) Supplemental oxygen from a concentrator machine worked for 4-5 days, 2 liters keeping her sats at >90%. She started to crash after that, and I ended up having to bring the oxygen flow up to 5 L through her nasal cannula to keep the same saturation. After a couple of downright scary episodes with falling and losing consciousness I called the cavalry in, and she went from the ER to to the local COVID-specialty hospital in St Paul. She's been there for 9 days, and after a bunch of ups & downs between oxy masks and high-flow cannula at 45 L/min, is finally back on a regular cannula. "Ground Glass" is present bilaterally on both upper and lower lobes.
She has COPD, emphysema & asthma, heart issues, and a fair bit of arterial damage, including a fully blocked ischemic artery with natural bypasses having grown.

The Occupational Medicine folks did PT a couple days back which both thrashed her spinal nerves (she was supposed to get spinal surgery on 12/14 for rheumatoid arthritis-narrowed spinal column in vertebrae L4 & L5, including fusion) to the point where she needed morphine to bring things down to a dull roar, and then sent her into intermittent delirium, so I get the nightmare of my mom calling me in the middle of the night convinced that the doctors and nurses are trying to kill her and I need to break her out.

These last 4 weeks have stunk on ice.

Thankfully, her GI bleed has not recurred, so for now, it seems like weird COVID voodoo.

[YVK]

These several posts above are heart breaking, hang in there, all of you.

[Mark D]

Sad and grim news from several of our members.

My thoughts are with those who have loved ones fighting this damn virus.