Veterans Hospital | I Had Covid-19
Veterans Hospital
I Had Covid-19
There are too many Covid-19 stories that haven’t ended well. To date there have reportedly been approximately 990 thousand deaths in the United States. I’m one old veteran who had a positive outcome. I credit my recovery to the excellent care I received at the Veterans Hospital in Loma Linda, CA.
Because I was far north of 60 years old and had pre-existing conditions, I was in the high percentage group that didn’t usually survive Covid-19. I also didn’t seek medical attention as soon as I should have so I was pushing the odds.
For several days leading up to my Covid-19 diagnosis, I continued to work 8 to 14 hour days. The symptoms were beginning to mount up but I kept on working. Shortness of breath, frequent urination, sweating, increased thirst, coughing, sneezing and body aches. After waking up about 03:00 drenched in sweat, I took a shower and went out to work again. About 4 hours later I was barely able to walk so I decided to go to the Loma Linda VA hospital and get checked.
This old veteran had a feeling that I might not walk out of there soon because it felt like I had pneumonia. I knew what it felt like from a previous occurrence. Not wanting my pickup truck to get scratched or banged up, I parked it near the back of the parking lot. That turned out to be a stupid decision since I had to stop and rest 3 times before getting to the ER entrance.
Once I dragged myself to the temporary triage tent setup at the entrance, I was examined almost immediately. About 30 minutes later I was diagnosed with Covid-19 and Pneumonia. 5 minutes after that, I was in a wheelchair being rolled to a private room in the ICU. Within minutes after reaching my room, I received various medications through an IV and got hooked to more electronic monitors. 5 days later I walked out feeling good. No more symptoms existed and they gave me additional medications to take at home for the next 5 days. I greatly appreciate the care and treatment I received from the staff at the Loma Linda Veterans Hospital.