A Kamloops family affected by COVID-19 thinks the worst of it may be over in their household.
Keith Elliott, a carpenter with the the Nicola-Similkameen School District in Merritt, went home from work on March 12 when he was feeling sick.
His symptoms got worse and more than a week later, after testing positive for the virus, he was put in intensive care at Royal Inland Hospital.
“The day that they phoned and said it was positive, it was a bit of a shock. I was like really? I couldn’t think of how I would’ve got it. Obviously it’s very contagious, but I’m a pretty healthy guy. So it was a bit of a shock, and then it was a bit scary for sure.”
The 48-year-old says he had no previous or underlying health problems, and says he could feel the pain in his lungs.
“It was explained to me, they were sort of scarring up I guess. And then the lungs were trying to heal themselves. The scar tissue wouldn’t let oxygen into my body, so I was oxygen-deprived, is what it was.”
But, after several days in the ICU, he’s now been home since Saturday.
He says there was applause from hospital staff when he was leaving, as the first person to recover at RIH with COVID-19 from intensive care.
“Truthfully, I’m showing very little signs now. I’ve got a bit of residual lung pain. I’m tired for sure still, my body’s been fighting for quite some time. So I think that’s normal. But I think I’ve got it beat, truthfully.”
But, Elliott’s wife Dana, a pharmacy technician at RIH, also now has COVID-19. He says she has had more mild symptoms, for more than a week now.
He says they have been trying to keep their distance from their two teenage sons, Lane and Ryder.
“For me, I was in the hospital for quite a while so I certainly had a chance to miss them. But even at home, we sort of miss them,” Elliott says.
“Because they spend so much time just in their rooms. We’re trying to social distance within the house which is somewhat impossible, but we’re doing our very best to. My wife’s been cleaning any common surfaces. Any time we touch a fridge or a handle, we’re trying to wipe it… My wife and I will be sitting in the living room and we’ll be texting our kids, for conversation.
“They’ve been sort of surviving on cereal and breakfast burritos, and microwave lasagnas, that kind of thing,” Elliott says with a laugh.
He also touched on the societal awareness today of COVID-19 compared to March 12, when he began getting symptoms.
“That’s it, I had no idea. You heard about it in other countries, it was certainly big in China. It was obviously on the news at the time, when I did get it. But I didn’t really think it was in the area. I knew there was a couple of cases on the coast, and it seemed very slight, the chances that I would get it.
“I hadn’t been anywhere that there was confirmed cases, but there doesn’t need to be confirmed cases, there can be unconfirmed cases anywhere. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but we certainly do now.”
(Photo: Facebook)
