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A student who thought she was tired after exercising collapsed on the way to the bathroom with coronavirus.
Lucy Patterson, 21, said she thought she was “just tired after a Joe Wicks workout” when she started experiencing symptoms in early April, but ended up spending eight days in the hospital.
Lucy’s blood oxygen levels dropped so low that doctors were within hours of putting her on a respirator at one point, but she was saved thanks to the less invasive continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. ), which forces air into the lungs through a mask.
(Image: Royal Liverpool Hospital)
Lucy, who lived on Smithdown Road in Wavertree, said: “One of my two housemates got the coronavirus and lost her sense of taste and smell, so we had been trying to avoid it a bit.”
“My other roommate and I isolated ourselves for 14 days and thought we were lucky, but on the last day I had a fever.”
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Lucy, originally from Ballymoney in Northern Ireland, stayed home and tried to combat the symptoms, which were complicated by the fact that she contracted an unrelated case of tonsillitis at the same time.
After several days battling fever, Lucy began to feel short of breath.
She said, “I woke up and coughed up some blood. My sister is a doctor, so I sent her a photo and she said it didn’t seem like much. I had been doing a lot of exercise, I had just done a Joe Wicks workout, so I stopped to do that. “
However, as the days passed, Lucy found it increasingly difficult to breathe until she was forced to go to the hospital on April 14.
She said, “I collapsed on the way to the bathroom. That was around 5 am and I was so scared that I lay awake with my phone waiting for the GP to open.”
(Image: Royal Liverpool Hospital)
As expected, Lucy’s GP advised her to go directly to A&E, but due to the high demand for the ambulance service, she was forced to take a taxi.
Lucy says she believed she would only be at the Royal for a short time while testing.
But doctors found that her blood oxygen level was troublingly low at 80%, and her statistics continued to drop even though she was given oxygen through a mask.
Lucy says that as a healthy young woman with no underlying conditions, she felt she thought she had a low risk of becoming seriously ill, but described a conversation with a doctor as terrifying.
She said: “I think it was around 4 in the morning, and the doctor came and took my hand, even though I was in full PPE. She said ‘look, if the next step doesn’t work, we will have to put it in Critical care ‘.
“That would have meant putting on tubes and putting on a respirator. To think about that was absolutely terrifying, he had obviously entered the hospital without thinking it was that bad.”
“That was very scary.
“Explaining how bad I was with my mother over a video call was really difficult. I was very upset and scared. This was probably my lowest point, as it made me wonder when I would speak to her again.”
But thanks to the CPAP machine, which has had positive results in coronavirus patients, Lucy’s condition improved and she was able to return home on April 21.
And remarkably, after just a week, the The zoology student at the University of Liverpool was able to run only a week after leaving the hospital, where she had pneumonia in 50% of her lungs.
Now Lucy wants to express her appreciation for the kindness of the nurses at Royal Liverpool Hospital, who came together to buy their pajamas and sweets.
Lucy said, “I have never been to the hospital before and the staff were so charming and sensible. I want to thank them for making me feel that the situation was not as bad as it could have been.”
“Emily, one of the nurses, cheered me up by surprising me with treats and some new pajamas that the team had bought for me. I was so overwhelmed by this kind gesture.”
“They were all incredible, the attention was excellent, but it was the little things that meant the most.
“Their smiles may have been hidden behind the masks, but I could feel them through everything the nurses and doctors did for me. Thank you all for making a scary situation so much less terrifying and for me to feel again. new”.
Samantha Parker, Ward Manager at 3X at the Royal said: “Everyone is delighted to hear how good Lucy is now that she is not only on her feet but literally back and running.
“We appreciate how uncertain and troubling a time can be for COVID-19 patients. Across the Trust we are working hard not only to treat and care for our patients, but also to support them away from their families and friends. “
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