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It was the last day of February. Outside the farm in Enebakk, the snow had started to disappear. Kjell-Olav Bjerknes (45) felt a tingling in his stomach.
He immediately jumped on the plane with his friends against even greater amounts of snow, in the ski paradise of St. Anton in Austria.
He and his group of friends go on a skiing vacation every two years. This year, they felt a bit unsure whether to leave, as the corona virus had started to spread around the world. But in Europe, only Italy was red and there were no travel restrictions for Austria, so the group of friends got on the plane.
The mountains, trails and conditions were as optimal as they had dreamed of. Kjell-Olav felt that he was really alive as he ran down the slopes.
KIDS TRIP: Life smiled on Kjell-Olav Bjerknes when he raced down the St. Anton slopes the first week of March. Photo: Private
But after a few days, everything changed. When they had been in the legendary ski metropolis for five days, Kjell-Olav began to feel bad.
– I got so sick that I had to seek refuge in the hotel room. I stayed there for two days, until we had to fly home again, Bjerknes tells TV 2.
The test was denied
Even then, Kjell-Olav suspected that he might be infected with covid-19.
When he got home to Enebakk, he called the municipality immediately, because he wanted to get tested. But since Austria was not a red country, it was denied a test.
Two days later, he still had a test to do. And the test was positive.
But Kjell-Olav was sent home again, and the following days only got worse and worse. Therefore, he isolated himself in a separate part of the house, so as not to be in contact with his wife and two children.
After being sick at home for a week, the wife could no longer see that her husband was suffering so much. He called the emergency room, when Kjell-Olav was immediately picked up by an ambulance and taken directly to solitary confinement at Ahus.
But the virus so devastated his body that his organs were on the verge of collapsing.
ACUTE: To date, more than 250 COVID-19 patients have been admitted to intensive care units in Norwegian hospitals. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB
– I remember it like it was yesterday when the bike dock came into my room and said they would put me on a respirator. At that stage, I had started to become indifferent to everything and everyone, says Kjell-Olav.
The struggle
After nine days in an artificial coma on a ventilator, his values finally began to improve. He was slowly but surely awakened. But he was far from himself again.
– I couldn’t get out of bed. I had to learn to walk again. When, after three days, I struggled to walk the ten feet to the bathroom, I was completely excited, he says.
RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS: Kjell-Olav had significant respiratory problems and therefore needed an oxygen supply. Photo: Private
From being a 45-year-old man in good shape, who trained 3-5 times a week, it was hard to feel like the body wasn’t listening.
But he took one day at a time and was determined on one thing: he would go back to his normal life.
Happiness
After a week of isolation in Ahus’s infection room, he was transported home in an isolation car. Kjell-Olav had received counseling at the hospital on how to get back to training.
– At the time, he was intoxicated from having returned home and survived, says Kjell-Olav.
During the first few weeks, things got better and better. He finally managed to walk from one end of the living room to the other, without having to gasp for air.
But suddenly the progression stalled and got worse again.
– He was desperate and could not understand that he should not receive more help to come back to life. It should have been mandatory rehab for seriously ill patients like me, says Kjell-Olav, shaking his head.
After many questions, he was finally referred to rehab at LHL Hospital in Gardermoen.
In early June, he had to seek rehab, and only then did he realize that he was far from alone to struggle with so many after-effects after the virus ravaged his body.
– Disappointing follow-up
TRAINING: During rehabilitation at LHL Hospital, all training was monitored and controlled by professionals. Photo: Private
During four weeks at the LHL Hospital, he received good follow-up and guidance to train with physical therapists.
Bjerknes says that almost all of the around 50 corona patients he has spoken to who have been in rehab had found the treatment offer themselves.
– It is disappointing that rehab is not put into a system. Here they spend several million to save my life in the intensive care unit, but then we have to figure out for ourselves how to get back on our feet. From a socio-economic point of view, it is much more profitable to pursue a career in rehab to get people back to work than to let them go on sick leave and perhaps never return to working life, says the 45-year-old man. years.
In October, he returned for the first time as an online compensation project manager for Elvia, but only one day a week; he couldn’t do more. Now he is awake two days a week.
– All I dream of is going back to work full time and living a normal life again. But I’ve realized that it takes time, he says.
– Randomly who gets help
Kristin Hofsø leads the national study of intensive care and tendon disorders after covid-19. She sees that Kjell-Olav’s story, sadly, is not unique.
“Unfortunately, it is a coincidence who gets rehab and what rehab patients get,” says Hofsø.
His project group has been in contact with around 190 corona-infected Norwegians, all of whom have been admitted to intensive care units.
They are now working to summarize the information so that the authorities and the health service draw important lessons now that we are on our way to the second wave of the pandemic.
He fears that the rehabilitation of patients with the most serious late injuries has not been started.
– The authorities have slept an hour.
Last week, Hofsø had a presentation to the Norwegian Health Directorate that he wanted professional advice because they are working on a national plan for the rehabilitation of coronary patients.
FEAR: Kristin Hofsø leads the national study for late-onset ailments after COVID-19 and fears that the authorities do not have a follow-up and rehabilitation plan for these patients. Photo: Ketil Blom Haugstulen
– Now that we are in the second wave of the pandemic, it is a big problem that the health authorities have not already made a plan for the rehabilitation of these patients, says the project director.
She believes that the authorities have slept for an hour and should have started this work as early as March / April, when we had a flood of intensive care patients in Norwegian hospitals.
– Very little has been done in relation to the contingency plan on how we will deal with the second wave. We have very good health peaks in Norway, but I don’t think they take into account how important competition is in monitoring coronary patients, says Hofsø.
– Absolutely crazy
It refers to the difference in the follow-up that a person receives if the person in question ends up in a traffic accident or suffers significant late injuries after COVID-19.
– Each corona patient receiving intensive care costs between 30,000 and 50,000 crowns every day, and only covers personnel and equipment. And then we send patients straight home after the hospital stay, where they have to fight their own battle to get rehab. However, if you end up in a car accident, you have lifted the golden weight to get back on your feet, because then you will automatically be sent to rehab. It’s crazy, says the project manager.
Neither the Minister of Health and Care Services, Bent Høie, nor the Director of Health, Bjørn Guldvog, have responded to TV 2’s question about why we do not have a comprehensive plan for the follow-up and rehabilitation of patients with covid-19 that have undergone intensive care.
More studies
Although Kjell-Olav has struggled to rehab, he is forever grateful for what the health service has done for him.
His way of giving back to society is to participate in various studies for patients who have been affected by covid-19. These are studies that, among other things, will discover how the coronavirus affects the heart, lungs and nervous system.
HOME OFFICE: At the kitchen table, Kjell-Olav gets to work a bit, but hopes to get rid of all the aftermath and be able to go back to work full time. Photo: Frode Sunde / TV 2
– I want to contribute to the health service and research on what this virus does to people. After all, they are the ones who saved me so that I can sit here with my wife and two children today.
