It is not because we are in great shape and in the prime of life that COVID-19 cannot throw us on the ground to the point of being afraid of going through it, warns a man who comes out of ” a four-day hospital stay.
“It’s really not a flu. It’s huge how strong it is, “says Eric Therrien at the end of the phone, breathless simply speaking.
The 40-year-old, who has returned home after being hospitalized for four days, is looking forward to seeing his eight-year-old son again. However, he will have to take his pain patiently, the time to be fully recovered from COVID-19.
“I don’t mind spending three weeks at home. I thought I would die, ”he says.
The Saint-Hubert man believes that he contracted the coronavirus during his last shifts in bars, as a DJ Uppercut.
Normally, he trains in the gym four or five times a week and pays attention to what he eats. That didn’t stop him from being struck down by a high fever on Thursday, March 19, after getting out of a hot bath.
It degrades
“I went under the covers for at least two hours and the cold was not getting through,” he said.
His condition continued to deteriorate despite a prescription for penicillin.
“I got up to 39.6 fever, with dizziness. I really felt like leaving. I was coughing, choking. I was having trouble breathing, “he said.
X-rays taken at Charles-Le Moyne Hospital in Longueuil on March 20 revealed pneumonia with white patches. Then he passed the COVID-19 test. He returned home with medication.
“The battle really started there. When I got home, I didn’t spin well. Heart aches, coughs, trouble breathing ”, he continues.
He describes feeling painful fists in his ribs and 30 to 40 pounds of pressure on his chest.
Confirmation that he had COVID-19 came a few days later while public health called him daily to inquire about his condition.
Afraid to go there
Last Friday, he was afraid to go by and called the ambulance.
“I was at the end of my energy. I was having trouble breathing. I got up and I felt like I was going through the bush, ”he says.
He was hospitalized until Tuesday, a small stream of air passed through his lungs as breath. During his hospital stay, he was receiving Tylenol for fever and a morphine derivative to relieve his lung pain.
His son, with whom he had no contact for two weeks before the symptoms started, was his motivation to get better. Quietly, the fever eventually went down.
” It was really rough, seriously. ”
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