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SAN BENEDETTO – «It is not easy to take care of the family at home because in addition to the emotional component there is also the isolation factor. No one close to help you. “These are the words of Dr. Ilenia Silvestri, 44, a family doctor in San Benedetto who has treated since COVID-19in addition to herself, her parents with lung and heart diseases, her brother, her pregnant sister-in-law and two elderly grandparents. The first to contract the virus were his brother Cristiano and his sister-in-law Evita, in the eighth month and a half of pregnancy.
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The first sentence
“It was March 10, but the Cpronavirus was not very well known or widespread. They had mild symptoms and we didn’t think it was Covid-19. Then my grandfather Lorenzo, 93 years old, and my grandmother Oliva, 87, also fell ill: at that moment the alarm sounded because the disease was fully manifesting itself. And in a short time my mother María Teresa and my father Vincenzo also contracted the virus ».
The ticket to the hospital
Grandpa Lorenzo had a fever for several days, then pneumonia came and his body could no longer respond to antibiotic therapy. “With the ambulance we took him to the San Benedetto emergency room – the doctor recalls – following the Covid route. But he was very ill and wanted to go home: he was terrified of staying in the hospital. Among other things, he could no longer meet his family. Grandfather Lorenzo repeated to the hospital medical staff that he had someone at home who could treat him, that his niece was a doctor. And in the end Ilenia decided to sign the resignation: the result of the swab – positive for Covid – arrived the day after discharge. At that time, all members of the family, who live in the same house but on different floors, underwent the test. It was March 26 and they all tested positive, but luckily no serious symptoms: just loss of smell and taste with some episodes of tachycardia.
The discovery
Dr. Silvestri in the last swab made for work needs was negative: «When Covid-19 hit my family, I repeated it. A cold shower: I was positive too. At the beginning of this health emergency, the protocols were not yet as well defined as they are today. Being a doctor I had taken basic precautions, such as going to live alone. But when my grandparents got sick, I ran to their aid and got infected. In Monsampolo del Tronto, where we live, we were the first to wear masks ». At this point, Dr. Silvestri took care of all the members of her family who during the period of the illness shared the same house, on different floors in rooms equipped with an oximeter and telephone.
Peer help
During this period, she was also supported by her fellow general practitioners from the San Benedetto district, Ascoli and throughout the Vasta area5. «Thanks to the medical advice of several colleagues for my grandfather, I adopted and followed a therapeutic path, until the first signs of improvement arrived. In particular, the training course that I had followed some time before with the help of ultrasound equipment was of great help to me in managing my grandfather’s illness. Then, on April 16, the first good news after many weeks at the mercy of the Coronavirus: the birth of the granddaughter Eva María.
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© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
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