What’s Been So Maddening (and Humbling) About Covid-19
It’s the same virus…but it acts so differently in every patient
I had a father and son in my ICU, both very sick with Covid-19. The father was in his 70s. His son was in his 30s. The father was not as healthy as his son. The father survived and was discharged from the hospital. His son, however, died.
Before them, I had multiple members of one family in my ICU who were also sick with Covid-19. The outbreak started in the patriarch, a man in his 70s. He gave it to his wife. His sons — who cared for their parents— caught the virus and got sick themselves. They gave it to their families. It was such a tragedy.
The parents both died. Of the multiple children who got sick, some recovered after several days in the hospital. Others, however, got very, very sick, and had to be transferred to another hospital for a heart-lung machine (ECMO). They ultimately survived, but with significant disability. One is still on ECMO as I write this.
This is what has been so maddening about Covid-19. It is the same virus, but it causes vastly different diseases in every person it afflicts. Sure, some people have underlying conditions — like high blood pressure, heart disease, and (especially) diabetes — that can cause the disease to be worse in that…
