Wait a minute, scientists in Japan were testing chemicals on it; to the next she said: “‘I am an American and I have the right to eat a cheeseburger and drink Coca-Cola,'” she recalled, adding: “I don’t even like cheeseburgers.”
Along with this agitated hyperactive delirium, he experienced internalized hypoactive delirium. In a recovery room after leaving ICU, she stared for 10-20 seconds when asked basic questions, Dr. Hageman said, adding, “Nothing was being processed at all.”
Ms. Victory managed to take a picture of herself with nasal oxygen tubes and a scar on her forehead, post it on Facebook, and write “I am alive” in Vietnamese so that her parents in Vietnam knew she had survived. But another day, she called her husband, Wess Victory, 15 or 20 times, and said repeatedly, “I give you two hours to pick me up.”
“It was heartbreaking,” said Victory, who patiently told her that she could not yet be released. “For four or five days, she still couldn’t remember what year it was, who the president was.”
Finally, he said, “something clicked.”
Now, to help him overcome the consequences of the experience, he started taking an antidepressant prescribed by his doctor and recently saw a psychologist.
“People think that when the patient recovers and leaves the hospital, everything will be fine, it’s over,” Victory said. “I am concerned if the virus did not kill me back then, would that have affected my body enough to kill me now?”
Dabrali Jiménez contributed reports,
