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Confirmed but Still Undiagnosed with Coronavirus

by Andrew Tuttle
06/04/21
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Author’s Note: In light of the emails released implicating Dr. Tony Faux-ci, I am retelling my wife’s experience with contracting coronavirus in March 2020. This is the second of three posts.

Part 1: Undiagnosed With Coronavirus
Part 3: Finally! A Postive Coronavirus Test

We now know my wife has coronavirus yet still without a positive test result.

How do we know?

As she continued a steady decline through the weekend, struggling to eat and simply sleeping all day, I received a text on Monday (March 23) from my sister-in-law suggesting my wife may have pneumonia. I had wondered if pneumonia might set in even after the week’s prior x-ray showing clear lungs. So I looked up the symptoms of pneumonia:

Symptoms of Pneumonia

• High fever, up to 105 F


• Coughing up greenish, yellow, or bloody mucus


• Chills that make you shake


• Feeling like you can’t catch your breath, especially when you move around a lot


• Feeling very tired


• Loss of appetite


• Sharp or stabbing chest pain (you might feel it more when you cough or take a deep breath)


• Sweating a lot


• Fast breathing and heartbeat


• Lips and fingernails turning blue


• Confusion (in older people

Check. Check. Check. Check. She didn’t have all of these symptoms as noted on WebMD.com but she had plenty so I said, “We’re going to the ER.”

Why the ER? Because urgent care said they can’t do anymore and her regular doctor stated they are not seeing sick patients. (It’s the first recording you hear when calling.) Anyone with flu like symptoms, if urgent care cannot treat, get sent to ER.

We arrived. A sign outside said “Line Starts Here.” Holy moly. Three nurses were at the front ready for battle. Thankfully the coronavirus rush had not happened yet (and hopefully will not happen) but we got inside pretty quickly despite the preparations for a Disneyland type line.

Before we even stepped inside, a nurse took our temperatures. Well, wouldn’t you know it, for the first time in nine days my wife’s fever was gone. Thankfully, our thermometer at home was on the fritz because had we known prior to leaving that her temperature was normal I would have assumed she was on the mend and stayed put.

She got admitted after an initial assessment and we were off in our first experience in the Emergency Room. Honestly, it’s a bit upsetting.

The trip to Italy continued to make people pause and the multiple nurses and lone ER doctor who handled us were decked out in all sorts of gear. In the five hours we spent in the ER we waited probably 90 percent of the time. It did not seem busy and an extraordinary number of what I can only assume were doctors and nurses were mostly sitting in a large open office area filled with computers. But every ER room appeared occupied with a patient. In some respects the time went by surprisingly quick.

At any rate, they took another chest  x-ray and blood work. Turns out she has the start of pneumonia in the left lung. The D-Dimer blood test (suggested because of all her travels) showed reason for a possible lung clot. So, she had a CAT scan which ruled out the clot but confirmed, for the most part, positive for coronavirus or Covid-19.

Why?

Covid-19 Pneumonia - Shards of Glass

Pneumonia caused from the coronavirus looks like shards of glass when viewed digitally, a far different visual look from regular pneumonia. My wife has shards of glass in her lungs. The medical personnel pretty much stopped calling her a patient with coronavirus symptoms and referred to her as a coronavirus patient.

Please understand something as the media play fear factor. Unless she gets an actual Covid-19 test, my wife will never be considered a coronavirus patient nor will she be counted among the infected. Thus one reason why you see such a high death rate percentage. Why do I say this? Because the ER nurse told me.

Treatment included IV antibiotics, a prescription for a second antibiotic and she was to start taking the un-used azithromycin we got for our trip to Rwanda which happens to be the same antibiotic touted as a fighter against coronavirus when used with the anti-malaria drug. And yes we asked about getting the anti-malaria drug that remains ALL OVER THE NEWS and showing lots of positive results.  Again she got rejected because of the FDA. How are all these other people getting prescriptions?

That totals four (4) medical personnel ( I say personnel because at least one was a physician’s assistant) who rejected our request to try the anti-malaria drug and cited the FDA as well as something along the lines of  “it may or may not work” and “it’s not tested” or some such nonsense. Basically the use of the anti-malaria drug chloroquine to treat coronavirus was soundly rejected. Regardless, I sure hope politics did not play a part here and a hatred for anything and all things Donald Trump. The governor of New York is passing them out like candy so get a grip and help us. Even the ER nurse was a bit surprised our request was turned down.

The ER doctor wanted to admit my wife to the hospital (or at least make it an option) and even apologized several times. His hands were tied. He said she was the healthiest person he’d seen all day but since her breathing was normal and all her vitals were normal she was not eligible. But, being admitted was also the only way to get an official coronavirus test. We also learned the state of Oregon allowed just 80 tests a day – for the entire state.

I’m glad she was not admitted. I didn’t think she needed to stay overnight and that would simply add to the psychological drama of being admitted to the hospital. Plus, I can only imagine the pending financial bomb coming from this visit so spending a needless night in the hospital might crush the savings account.

We march on with a mostly definitive coronavirus diagnosis. Yesterday, it felt like she was turning a corner with her appetite and even less fatigue. Today though feels a bit regressed considering all the antibiotics causing havoc with her stomach.

Let me say this: If the coronavirus bites it bites hard and long.

And, I remain thus far without Covid-19 symptoms.