Eddie's battle against Covid19

Eddie is a 46 yr old husband and father of 2 teenage boys.  He was living his life at its fullest before the pandemic started.  He had just landed his dream job when he was infected with Covid at work.   This virus viciously attacked his lungs, he was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia, lung infection and very low oxygen.  His lungs collapsed a few times when he was at the hospital. Since April 19th, Eddie has been to 5 different hospitals.  His family never gave up on him and continued to fight an up-hill battle against covid and the  many symptoms that followed.  On April 19th, Eddie was admitted to Wellington Hospital, due to trouble breathing and at that time tested positive for Covid19.. Eddie was able to breath on his own for 6 days before he eventually was intubated and put on a ventilator.  He could no longer fight the virus and was put in a medical induced coma. Three weeks after being put on the ventilator , he coded, in other words he needed to be resuscitated and brought back to life. A week later Eddie would code again, fortunately the doctors were able to resuscitate him again. It would not be until June 4th, that Eddie was stable enough to be woken up, even then, it took about 8 days for him to fully wake up. Throughout the process, Eddie would have 6 chest tubes inserted in his chest, in order to help his lungs function better and stop air from leaking in his lungs. On June 6th,  Eddie would have the ventilator taken out of his mouth and put into his throat, known as a tracheostomy. On June 25th, Eddie was discharged  to SELECT rehabilitation center.  On July 4th, Eddie was rushed to  JFK hospital due to his lungs collapsing while doing therapy. While at JFK, On July 7th, Eddie would suffer a traumatic Seizure, which would cause his heart to stop, leading to Eddie needing to be resuscitated once again. At this time, doctors at JFK insisted on him being taken to hospice and the family was told that there wasn't anything else to do for him.  After two days, of speaking with the doctors, the family decided to go against all odds and continue the fight against Covid. He was once again sedated and was induced in another coma because his vitals were unstable. As time went on, in  early August, Eddies kidney's began to fail, and the doctors begin to mention hospice again. The family is very grateful to Dr. Myer, a thoracic neurosurgeon from Wellington, who sent Eddie's case to Shand's Hospital in Gainesville for a possible double lung transplant. Dr. Myers was able to find a hospital who would take on a case so difficult like Eddie's  for a double lung transplant. On August 21, 2020, Eddie was airlifted from JFK hospital to Gainesville, which cost $80,000 to begin the process.  He underwent a kidney dialysis for 3 days, multiple chest tubes inserted, lung valves, a tracheostomy, many blood transfusions to name a few. Unfortunately the doctors would find a micro-bacteria disease in his blood refraining him from having the double-lung transplant procedure.  The family was devastated after learning this news.  It was up to Eddie to continue his fight.   After weeks of intense therapy and procedures, Eddie would have the Ventilator removed from his throat on November 2, and put on nasal oxygen. On November 7th, Eddie began the process of learning how to eat, swallow, and talk on his own.  Since then, Eddie finally has had solid food.  He lost close to 100lbs since he was admitted in the hospital.  On November 27th, Eddie was discharged from Select Hospital in Gainesville and was able to go home.  He was in tears when he finally arrived home and was greeted by family and closed friends.  He was in a hospital setting for 223 days fighting for his life. Eddie and his family are very grateful to the many doctors, nurses, cnas, therapist, clergyman and strangers who helped him through this long journey.  Eddie still has a long road to recovery.  Eddie has to go back to Shands Hospital on January 27th to get 5 valves remove from his lungs and follow-up with the infectious disease doctors and pulmonary specialists.   He has many months of therapy as well.  His life has been altered by Covid but is thankful for having a second chance to life.
https://www.wptv.com/coronavirus/lake-worth-man-spends-223-days-in-hospital-with-covid