short-bike was admitted to the hospital Friday, Jan 1st, for complications with Covid-19.
Sunday morning, Jan 3rd, I heard from Phil's wife with an update to his condition.
Phil is currently in ICU and has been put on a vent to help with his breathing. When he was admitted, he was triaged and taken straight there. Yesterday, some additional tests were run and those results have been forwarded to doctors at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. We are anxiously waiting to hear back from Johns Hopkins - mainly because the doctors here are having problems fighting the two serious conditions Phil has. The pneumonia, which has taken a strong hold is not responding to treatment due to the Coronavirus, and vice-versa. A horrible catch-22, if you will. As far as how Phil is doing and the prognosis going forward, I wish I had better news. Phil is a strong man, stubborn to a fault, but I can see in his eyes that this not not going in the direction we all want. I know it is early days, but I have been a Respiratory Therapist for more than 20 years and as much as I hate to say this, I have seen healthier patients than Phil pass away all too often. So we keep our fingers crossed, pray a lot to whomever or whatever you have faith in, but prepare ourselves for the worse.
Friday, Jan 8th, I receieved another update from Phil's wife:
Right now, Phil's condition has stabilized / borderline improved. He is no longer in ICU but in a private room. He is still on a vent, but not full-time, and the fact that things have not degenerated 'can' be taken as a big positive. He is not out of the woods yet, but we do see some signs of hope here. We heard back from Johns Hopkins and the doctors here are in dialogue with that facility. The pneumonia, which was their primary concern, and the condition that his treatments were focused on, is actually easing. You can visibly see he is breathing a lot easier (less rattly too) and that is not simply due to the vent. Also a different approach to the medications given appear to be helping. He is no longer feverish and he is getting some color back into his skin. He was a ghostly gray for a while :( Whilst it may sound odd, they are not actually treating him for Covid. The opinion is that once the pneumonia has cleared up, the bodies self immunity will start to kick in and that will (should) start the viral ant-body and viral rejection mechanisms. But as you say, the directions and mutations this virus goes through is alarming. So we will wait and see. Phil however, is clearly fighting this thing with everything he has got and that is a huge positive too. You mentioned that your IRC community was wishing to help in some way that was respectful to us and that is very gracious of you and your colleagues. I passed this on to Phil, along with the emails and warm wishes from others. He was visibly moved. Thank you for that. On that not, there are no real concerns about whom you chose share these communications with. Phil trusts you and has no qualms that you would make good choices. There are only a handful of people 'that I know of' that Phil would be so relaxed in approaching such matters and clearly, you are one of them. As for how to help, some of our immediate family have flown in to town and are taking the reigns on daily matters. I do know, however, that Phil is very worried about his business and I know he could use some outside help there. How to go about that I really have no input. I think his main concern is checking the systems for services (I hope I am getting this right) and client connections. I have asked Phil to think about how best he could be helped and when I see him tonight, we should have a better idea of that. In closing, please say a big thank you to Tom Sorensen (zathrus) and James Findley (sixy) for their emails too. Phil said to say short-bike says hello.
Tuesday, Jan 12th, I receieved a new update from Phil's wife:
As for how Phil is doing, well, everyday he is showing signs of recovering. The Pneumonia is now under control and apart from occasional Oxygen Therapy and Breathing Treatments, all things considered, he is doing pretty well. Exactly how the Pneumonia/Covid combination will affect him long-term is still unclear. Pneumonia, particularly with people above a certain age, on it's own can pretty damaging to the lungs. The prognosis for this will be determined by how quickly the condition clears up. There has been discussion of Phil being discharged from hospital fairly soon (within the week), but as someone in the medical industry, I have some concerns about that. Firstly, it would be madness to discharge him too soon due to the unknown variables of the Covid virus. And secondly, you can see that this hospital is 'very' short of beds and I am hoping that is not a factor for that call too. Phil, on the other hand, would gladly be at home right now. He is a remarkable man but a lousy patient :)
Thursday, Jan 14th, I heard from Phil :):
I am sorry it has taken a while to get back to you myself but, well, I'm sure you can imagine how things have been over the past couple of weeks. This 'thing' took me by surprise and frankly kicked me in the ass. Not so much the virus but the pneumonia. The Covid is just the cherry on top ! One day I was simply feeling a bit under the weather, well, in truth, I had not been feeling great for a week or two. I had not noticed the loss of taste but I was getting fatigued quickly. And then - boom. But, honestly, I am doing way better now. Breathing is no longer painful and I am needing way less medications and treatments than I have been getting. My appetite is coming back and I no longer feel like I need to sleep 24hrs a day. I'm restless now and cannot wait to get the hell out of here, which may not be that far away now. Consensus opinion is possibly within the week ahead. I can do that. People are literally dying in here and it is not fun to be around that.
Friday, Jan 15th, Phil's wife sent an awesome update:
Just a quick note to let you know that Phil is being discharged from the hospital tomorrow morning. He will be coming home to recover which means a quarantine until our doctor gives us the OK. I should note that Phil is not completely better but the really risky part, being the Pneumonia, has abated. Now it is just a matter of time, medication and rest for him.
If you would like to pass along your well wishes you can email me at jrd@centosproject.org and I will forward all comments on to his wife. Alternatively please PM me (Bahhumbug on freenode) if you would like to do so in a more anonymous manner.