Five months in the hospital, five months at home

I was admitted to an ER room on January 1, 2021. I was released from a rehab hospital room on May 27, 2021. I spent five months in the hospital under a doctor’s care.

On the day I was released:

I could not walk without a walker.

I required supplemental oxygen to breathe.

I passed out in a wheelchair when I tried to go without it.

I had a WoundVac attached to me to aid in the healing of two pressure sores and required a visiting nurse to clean and dress the wounds.

I required assistance to bathe and to go to the bathroom.

I have three drinking glasses that are unusually heavy; I could not lift them.

I weighed 156 pounds, 62 pounds less than when I went into the hospital.

In five months, my recovery from Covid-19 has been remarkable. I have healed faster than most expected (yet slower than I desired.) Today:

I can play a guitar.

I can walk to Starbucks and back – 2.4 miles.

I can breathe southern California air – usually pretty clean.

My pressure sores have fully closed, but there is still some soreness associated with them.

I can bathe myself.

I can lift about 20 pounds with little effort. My manual dexterity has returned.

I weigh 168 and wear pants four inches smaller around the waist than in 2020.

My eyes are bigger than my stomach. I have a great appetite.

Yet to accomplish:

My singing voice is different and not very good. I’m working on the tone.

I cannot stand for long periods of time.

It is difficult to take a full breath without a dull pain on my left side. Physical therapy helps.

My ankles and top of my feet remain numb. Walking helps, but I still require a cane when walking on uneven surfaces.

At times, I am light-headed and get dizzy when moving too fast.

I cannot drive.

I sincerely thank you for your prayers. I am alive because of your prayers. Today, Mary read this verse in her morning devotions.

[W]e were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.

(1 Corinthians 1:8-11 NASB)