"This institution saved my life"

2024 contacted Covid. In Hospital for 5 months, 3 months in a coma. The doctors did not rate my survival chances and phoned my wife. From coughing, to feeling tired and fatigued and lying on the living room floor to sleep, my wife telephoned for an ambulance. 2 hours later the ambulance arrived and the medics checked me out and realised l was in a very poorly state.

Without any hesitation the doctors at Kings College Hospital put me into an induced coma 3 months of dreaming, claustrophobia, uncomfortable lying in bed.

After 3 months  l wake up confused and thinking l am on holiday by the coast. Then l realise l have tubes in every part of my orifice apart from my ears. I can’t move. I’m thinking l am in some sort of a prison and l am being tortured.

My wife showed up but l don’t know her, even though she tells who she is. I can’t talk, my voice box is broken, must be part of my torture, and this woman who claims to be my wife is part of the plan to extract information and money out of me. My wife leaves and l fall asleep. I wake up and find a nurse is examining me, probably to see if l am fit enough for more torture. She tells me not to worry about my voice box being broken as the doctor will fix it. I smile and proceed to go to sleep. Then l realise that l am sleeping on my front and l can’t move. Definitely being tortured, what’s happening to me. Again l go to sleep and again l wake up.

My so called wife calls by to see how l am doing. She talks about my mother and all the members of my family and friends. Then with tears in her eyes she tells me that she has got bad news. I looked at her and nodded my head to try to tell her l know. She can’t believe that l know that my father has died in Lewisham Hospital.

After a few long weeks of ICU l was transferred to Mary Wray Ward. Still confused. Can’t talk, suspicious of everyone and everything. Mary Wray Ward very busy, noisy, and a cross section of patients with all sorts of problems, symptoms, and anger issues.( l later learnt that some of these patients were far more confused and angry than l was, at least l wasn’t aggressive and violent).

I am now lying on my back which for me is a relief. I gesture at the nurse to come, but she ignores me. When l see the doctor l gesture him to come and he does; l point out showing him the drinking water movement, then he explains that should l drink water l could drown. What a set back! He gives me a pen and paper to write down my thoughts and it came out all gobbledygook. What l tried to write was When Am I Getting Out!

The next day the doctor arrives and tells me he wants to implant a chip into my lower throat so l can start talking. So the next day comes nothing and the next day and the next day. Finally after 10 days the doctor turns up with a chip. Some next day that turned out to be.

The chip goes in but l have to wait at least 24 hours before l can talk and if it doesn’t work he will have to take it out, and start all over again. 24 hours later l start talking to myself, and my new voice seems fine.

The following day the Doctor turns up and l start talking to him, he smiles and we both agree that the small procedure that is my new voice box is a great success. Although l complained once about the food during my time in hospital and there were plenty of other issues that needed changing, which looking from an outsiders point of view changing a broken system seems easy, however THIS INSTITUTION SAVED MY LIFE!

So stop complaining and move on is what l told myself. The real work on my body started 4 months at Kings, the nurses insisted l should sit on the side of the bed. Seems easy enough you think, but not if you have been lying on your back for months. It was to say the least a traumatic experience. 2 nurses had to help me up. I started vomiting.

Although all the tubes were taken out of my body by this time, l couldn’t cope and just plonked myself back to bed. Happy to be lying in my bed forevermore. After about 2 weeks of sitting by the side of my bed and on a comfortable chair my confidence started coming back.

The Transfer to Queen Mary Hospital for some physio therapy was imminent. Queen Mary Hospital was a great place private room, choice of food, and a great team helping me recover. I must say it was not as intense as Kings, nevertheless they played a very important role in getting me better mentally and physically.

Being in Queen Mary Hospital for 3 weeks built my body well enough to be checked out. I was given a potty, zimmerframe, and a wheel chair ride to the exit door, this was probably a goodwill gesture from staff to make sure l exit the building without any mishaps.

After 4 years of having Covid l still suffer with countless issues. Suffice to say every Covid sufferer has different symptoms some worse than others.

In conclusion l would like to thank all the Hospitals that looked after me, and in particular the Covid team to Deborah and Sasha who has helped me in my journey.