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A healthy and strong young doctor-in-training who has climbed Kilimanjaro warned young people not to take the dangers of Covid-19 lightly, after he ended up in intensive care fighting for his life due to post-Covid syndrome. .
Dr Owen O’Flynn (23) from Bantry, Co Cork was this year’s youngest intern at Cork University Hospital (CUH). Non-smoker who hardly drinks, his passion is hiking and the great outdoors.
Dr O’Flynn says that he did everything necessary and appropriate to protect himself and others, wearing all his personal protective equipment and keeping an eye on hygiene, but it is understood that he developed Covid-19 in March.
He did not show any of the symptoms on the list at the time, he did not have a fever or he did not feel ill. Remember that his sense of smell and taste were a bit off, but this was not a known symptom at the time.
In May, O’Flynn fell ill and had to take time off from work. He was sick at home from work and his swabs for Covid-19 were negative.
Hospitalization
His condition worsened and he was transferred to CUH where he ended up in intensive care for a week starting May 5 with extremely serious heart problems.
Fortunately, they never put him on a ventilator or life support machine.
Dr. O’Flynn says his girlfriend and parents were shocked by how suddenly and completely his condition deteriorated.
I never thought I would be so sick. Two weeks earlier I could have run a 5K without any discomfort.
He was afraid of losing his life despite the efforts of his colleagues to help him.
“I never thought I would be this sick. Two weeks earlier I could have run a 5K without any discomfort. It was very difficult for me and my family. Almost every household in Bantry was doing a novena just for me. The support really helped.
“I didn’t know if I was going to get sicker or if I would have to be intubated. My biggest fear was dying.
“I had seen Covid patients die. She had seen cancer patients die. I have befriended patients who had to go to hospice. I have been exposed to death for the past five years. It is not alien to me.
“Luckily I started to improve. He was very well-minded. They transferred me to the living room. He was still sick, but he knew he was out of danger. “
Dr O’Flynn said that, thankfully, he has suffered no lasting harm from his post-Covid episode.
He remembers walking a hundred feet into the hospital at one point to have an echocardiogram. He admits that he was “erased” for two hours for the effort.
Dr. O’Flynn spent five weeks recuperating over the summer in Bantry before returning to work. He says he has appreciated his family and friends more since his hospitalization and his battle for life.
Young people
He warns young people that they are not invincible: “I got sick very quickly. I am very lucky to be as good as I am today. Colleges will be back in the next two or three weeks. I want everyone to know This is a marathon, not a sprint .
“A person with Covid can go from being well to an acute discomfort in half an hour and need four doctors to have their opinion on their case.”
Dr. O’Flynn says he was the youngest doctor in the hospital when he got sick. Despite his youth and good health, the virus wreaked havoc on his body.
“It really amazed me. We’ll never know how I got it. I could have gotten it in the community. I could have gotten it at work. Neither is more likely than the other. I was always in full PPE.”
He has started to walk and is slowly returning to normal. He is spending time with his girlfriend and family, but keeps his contacts low: “Outside of work, my only contacts are my girlfriend and my roommate, who is another doctor. I urge people to stay the course, to keep their small circle I already know what you are doing. Stay alert. “
Dr. O’Flynn is a speaker at the National Covid Scientific and Research Meeting, a virtual conference for medical professionals and the public on managing critically ill patients with Covid-19. The conference takes place on September 5.
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