Week 1

Friday April 30th: Positive Covid Test

Sunday, May 2nd: Admitted (Day 1)

Day 3- 2L/min oxygen

Day 4- Wednesday, May 5th: "The steroid has really helped me- I have been feeling a lot better; slept good last night and no aches or pains; the hospital infectious diseases dr/specialist came by to visit me last night; we had a very good discussion; am still on oxygen assist, and he told me that I can go home when I can breathe (whether coughing or just at normal resting) at oxygen blood levels of 90 or above - but that needs to be without oxygen assist; so, I need to have my lungs be able to breathe normally at 90 or above and then I can go home; I hope its today, but may not be til tomorrow or Friday..."

"Today has been an active day; my oxygen assist was significantly raised earlier today, as my blood oxygen levels have been dropping since I woke this morning; there's a battle going on in my lungs, with the antibodies trying to kill the viruses, and its causing a fair bit of inflammation in my lungs, which is making it hard for my lungs to breathe at the high levels of 90% or above. and thus they have been feeding me more oxygen; based on this, I also met with two other specialists, including a pulmonary/lung specialist- they have decided to increase my steroid dosage and also give me an IV with monoclonal antibodies; this is supposed to significantly reduce the inflammation in my lungs, and help them get back to normal much more quickly; both the steroids and the IV have very good track records of making a significant positive impact, but are only used at the stage where somebody is using the level of oxygen as I am now using; I will get the IV here in the next hour."

Day 5- Thursday, May 6th: Required 15 L/min oxygen, maintains 91% oxygen while on oxygen assist. Sitting up, not eating, inflammatory markers elevated, steroid use down.

"They initially had me on a double-mask oxygen system today, which provides oxygen at a max of 15 L/min; this wasn't working too well; I was just barely achieving the minimum 90% blood oxygen level, but was having to breathe a lot to get that. It was tiring, it was really noisy, and I never could have slept with it tonight. Their hope was that my breathing would improve today, and I could just get rid of the bag mask, and go back to the single mask; however it wasn't working, so they brought in a next-level of sophisticated oxygen device which uses warm oxygen that is mixed and provides stronger and quieter oxygen flow through similar ventilation prongs that go up your nostrils (16 L+) my pulmonologist recommended this because he was encouraged by the 1/2 reduction in inflammation, and he believes it will be helpful to accelerate the reduction of the remaining inflammation, and to bring my covid sickness to a quicker end; so far this new oxygen assist into my nostrils has been amazing- the flow is very strong and I don't have to strain to breathe at all, and my blood oxygen levels this afternoon have been at 99%. I have felt much more relaxed and good with these; my hope is that I can do this level of oxygen today and tomorrow morning and then move back down to lower levels quickly from there starting tomorrow; my blood vitals and other health vitals all showed well and strong again today, and when the pulmonologist listened to my lungs, they were encouraged by the lack of wheezing and relative low noise of inflammation in my lungs, despite the level of damage/inflammation in there; therefore they are hopeful that my lungs will heal progressively well over the next few days, and allow me to reduce my oxygen needs at the same time; they didn't give me a timeline for the healing and progress, but did say they are hopeful soon, since the monoclonal antibody injection treatment has created the significantly quick/positive result of reducing my inflammation so much since last night's treatment."

Ended day on 60 L 100% power

Day 6- Friday May 7th- 40 L 60% power "Battling some bad hiccups since yesterday, which pound my chest and are very irritating because they also send me into cough mode (can't seem to get a break...); breathing fine - just trying to relax; goal for today is to get off the higher oxygen and down onto lower levels; that will reduce hiccup tendencies, and help my lungs continue to heal and start working more on their own."

"Met with Dr. Kim today and he said that there is good progress: the inflammation on my lungs continues to go down; and at the same time I am also reducing the oxygen assistance from the high levels of a couple days ago; with continued progress, he expects I can get off the higher levels of a couple days ago; with continued progress, he expects I can get to the medium/lower level oxygen starting tomorrow afternoon. From there the goal is to get off the oxygen assistance as soon as possible; here are his scenarios for timing to get out of the hospital: worst-case next Wednesday morning, best case Monday morning.