Althouse: "'The pain is off the charts. Everything hurts, nose, toes and ears... I was like one big ball of pain.'"

March 19, 2020

"'The pain is off the charts. Everything hurts, nose, toes and ears... I was like one big ball of pain.'"

"He said he cried 'like a little girl' when he moved from his bed to a nearby chair.... 'Imagine your lungs turning solid. It’s like suffocating without holding your nose.... Every time I lay down my breathing gets lower and lower. I thought my lungs would fail me. I was screaming for mercy and praying to God.' By the time Harris made it to the hospital, it was taking him an hour to move 50 feet to his bathroom — and he had to stop twice, lie on the ground and catch his breath before reaching the door...."

From "Coronavirus patient on hellish ordeal: ‘I was screaming for mercy and praying to God'" (NY Post).

22 comments:

Darrell said...: Try shingles.; 3/19/20, 6:48 AM
Milo Minderbinder said...: Try 2.5L of gin and (quinine) tonic water daily. Go light on the gin. If you don't drink, 60 tabs of Plaquemine is about $20 at Costco.

http://joannenova.com.au/2020/03/antiviral-drugs-antimalarials-and-anti-hiv-may-be-useful/

https://www.postbulletin.com/life/health/preventing-coronavirus-u-of-m-seeks-volunteers-to-try-anti/article_8136e2da-6967-11ea-ab3e-93f8d5bbf5f0.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8126789/NHS-faces-pressure-trial-counter-anti-malaria-drug-coronavirus-patients.html

While we'd like to test everyone so we know the incidence and fatality rates, that horse may be out of the barn. Perhaps we should test the efficacy of a simple, inexpensive treatment on those who have it now so we can decide how to treat quickly those who get sick next?; 3/19/20, 6:54 AM
gilbar said...: Every time I lay down my breathing gets lower and lower. I thought my lungs would fail me
taking him an hour to move 50 feet to his bathroom — and he had to stop twice, lie on the ground and catch his breath

anyone else see his problem?
if you can't breathe if you lay down, to lie on the ground and catch your breath is contraindicated

Every old person on my father's side of my family ALREADY sleep in chairs; 'cause they can't breathe laying down; 3/19/20, 6:55 AM
AllenS said...: I also noticed that, gilbar. Getting up off of the ground takes a lot of energy, yet...; 3/19/20, 7:01 AM
Fernandinande said...: Where's Richard Lamm when you need him?

anyone else see his problem?

Believing MSM anecdotes?; 3/19/20, 7:08 AM
Mattman26 said...: Plaquemine, Milo? I tried look it up and all I find is a town in Louisiana. (Maybe it’s a scavenger hunt and I need to go there!); 3/19/20, 7:09 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: I think he meant Chloroquine.

I am Laslo.; 3/19/20, 7:12 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Usually when I have a respiratory illness screaming would present a challenge, but don’t take this to mean I’m suggesting there might be an exaggerated sensational story published in Our Fine Media.; 3/19/20, 7:15 AM
Anonymous said...: Many years ago I was in London and got the flu we don't get here in the US. I can't recall which strain it was, but it was severe enough that the (very nice hotel) staff came to check on me every hour to see if they needed to load me into a private ambulance to take me to a private hospital. The NHS did not, at that time, see furriners or people without medical identity cards. (This is not longer the case, I believe.)

In any case this was the worst sickness I ever had. It was MUCH worse than the time I drank unclean water in Anatolia and ended up with the "Turkish Trots" and got dunked in an ice bath while getting almost-frozen IV's in both arms. I recall literally having a conversation with my dead grandmother and screaming at her. IRL she was much too scary for that. Heck, dead, she still intimidated me. I am told I almost died.

The flu I caught in London was much much worse and lasted for three days.

-XC; 3/19/20, 7:27 AM
clint said...: This is the flip side of the hysterical people flooding the ERs and demanding tests because they have a cold -- the people who are actually sick and need medical attention but stay at home trying to deal with it themselves for far too long.

From the article, he had the worst fever he'd ever had -- and only called for medical help five days later after he'd gotten to the point described above.

Don't do that.

(Is it wrong that I've made a game of the Captcha -- trying to get it to accept incorrect selections, like identifying a bush as a car?); 3/19/20, 7:38 AM
Tom T. said...: The guy sounds like a complainer.

;-); 3/19/20, 7:39 AM
Wilbur said...: Tom T., that made me laugh.

When visiting my wife's family in Brazil a few years ago I felt listless and achy on the flight there. I carried on, but it got worse and worse. Finally, when my wife and her son were going to visit someone out of town, I had to beg off and stayed in our hotel. I laid in that hotel bed all day, too tired and achy to get up from the bed. I thought I was going to die, and made my peace with that. Then around three or four in the afternoon, I could feel it leaving my body like an evil spirit, and then felt OK. Very strange stuff.; 3/19/20, 8:06 AM
Dan from Madison said...: "...who owns an auto body shop and typically runs 5 miles every day." Huh. From the photo, he doesn't look like any avid runner I have ever known (and I know more than a few). Most of them don't have neck fat but hey, maybe he took a poor photo.

And did the gentleman have any pre-existing conditions besides the fact that he probably didn't run 5 miles a day? No mention of that in the story.; 3/19/20, 8:12 AM
mockturtle said...: How can you scream for mercy with your lungs solid and you are short of breath? Is this more fake news from the NYT???; 3/19/20, 8:16 AM
mockturtle said...: Plaquenil is one of the proprietary names for hydroxychloroquine.; 3/19/20, 8:18 AM
James K said...: How can you scream for mercy with your lungs solid and you are short of breath?

I read that as a metaphorical scream, not literal. But clearly the guy should have been in a hospital much sooner.

I believe the story, but it's a single anecdote, and missing a lot of information: Is he a smoker, diabetic, etc.? It does seem that the individual reaction to exposure to COVID-19 is very idiosyncratic, so we can get a lot of scary anecdotes that don't add up to data, much less statistics.; 3/19/20, 8:47 AM
rcocean said...: Sounds a little like Pneumonia. I wonder how the 12,000 Americans who died of Ebola felt.; 3/19/20, 8:58 AM
mccullough said...: The Jussie Smollet of The Kung Flu; 3/19/20, 8:59 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: "he doesn't look like any avid runner I have ever known"

He said he runs five miles a day, but he didn't say he runs them fast.; 3/19/20, 10:00 AM
MadisonMan said...: I've stopped reading stories on Wuhan Flu, which is what I call it so The Correctors can come after me.

Anecdotes are silly, and serve only to generate clicks. Pass.; 3/19/20, 11:18 AM
Farmer said...: mockturtle said...
How can you scream for mercy with your lungs solid and you are short of breath?

Thank you!; 3/19/20, 2:06 PM
Anonymous said...: What a load of bullshit.; 3/19/20, 9:12 PM