An overseas Filipino worker in Abu Dhabi has successfully won his fight against the deadly coronavirus after 157 days.
38-year-old administrative professional Theresa Acosta, according to a Gulf News report, was hospitalized on May 31 and like most Covid-19 cases, she was supposed to recover from it in a few weeks.
However, she spent five months at the Burjeel Hospital, battling the virus and its complications.
As told by her, her lungs were affected and it took a very long time to cure it.
“I never expected it [the recovery] to be so long, because I was just feeling breathless. I didn’t even have a fever when I went to the hospital,” Acosta told Gulf News.
According to Dr. Nehad Halawa, an anesthesia speciality and ICU doctor at the Burjeel Hospital, Acosta was admitted with shortness of breath, mild fever, and cough, however, her condition deteriorated fast and had to be transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU).
Meanwhile, Dr. Rania Zein Eldin, a respiratory specialist, added that the Filipino patient was in a state of happy hypoxia, a phenomenon where patients who are not in distress but have low oxygen levels.
Dr. Eldin further added that Acota had a pneumothorax, a phenomenon that occurs when air leaks into the space between one’s lung and chest wall.
Despite putting her on a ventilator, her blood oxygenation levels remained low, and the complications worsened by end of July.
“It was a difficult situation, and as per regular protocols, there wasn’t much we could do. At the suggestion of Dr. Yasser Farraj, intensivist, we put her on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) although this isn’t regular practice,” Dr. Halawa said adding that the strategy has worked.
“In Acosta’s case, 20 to 30 percent of her lungs have also become fibrotic, so she can expect to have a blood oxygen saturation that is lower than usual in the long term. But her body will adapt, and she can look forward to being otherwise healthy, as long as she eats well and undertakes exercise,” Dr. Halawa added.
