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65-year-old survives year-long battle with Covid-19
Doctors at multiple hospitals in Uttar Pradesh and the US consulted virtually told the family she would not survive for more than a few days
NEW DELHI: When Usha Gulati, 65, finally gained consciousness in May last year after battling Covid-19 complications, she whispered to her son Karan: “I am hungry”. The words came as a huge relief to the family but the road to recovery was still a long one. Eleven months after contracting the infection, Usha, who is still dependent on oxygen support, is now finally able to walk at her home.
Gulati, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Khurja, contracted Covid-19 in April last year along with her husband who later passed away. After nearly 10 days of illness, Gulati’s condition worsened and she was admitted to a local hospital and put on oxygen support. “Her condition worsened and there was a time when even after being on full oxygen support, her blood oxygen levels would only be in the range of 50-55. On good days, her oxygen level would rise to 80, which itself is too low,” said Karan.
Karan said doctors at multiple hospitals in Uttar Pradesh and five they consulted in the US over video-conferencing told the family she would not survive for more than a few days. “Maybe Yamraj was kind to us and gave us some more time with her,” he said.
Gulati’s doctor, Viny Kantroo, consultant (respiratory, critical care, and sleep medicine), Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, said post the second Covid-19 wave, there was a major spike in the number of patients presenting severe and post-Covid complications. She added they included extreme fatigue, thrombo-embolic phenomenon including myocardial infarction, stroke, myocarditis, mucormycosis, secondary infections, Gullain Barre Syndrome, and chronic lung infections.
“In this case, the patient had features of diffuse alveolar damage and Gullain Barre syndrome, both a recipe for disaster as breathing not only involves normal lung but also normal muscle function. She had a diseased lung as well as diseased muscle, and the recovery here takes months to years. In the interim, we have to save patients from secondary infections and complications of such a long haul,” Kantroo said.
Gulati’s family called the recovery miraculous. After shifting to the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in June and spending over three months in critical care, she was discharged but on the condition that an ICU will be set up at her home under the close watch of the doctors.
“She was discharged on artificial respiratory support and oxygen from the hospital in August 2021, after spending three months in the hospital. Usually, by three-four months, people were getting off these support systems but here we had to create another ICU and support system at her home as she was extremely homesick,” Kantroo said.
From being confined to bed and completely dependent on oxygen support, Gulati has come a long way now. “She is able to walk around the house and her oxygen support, now just two litres daily, needs to be cranked up only during physical exercises,” said Kantroo.
