“I have been on room air for three days. Can I go home?” Jeyalakshmi asks her doctors at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH). After spending 40 days in the hospital, including a number of days in the intensive care unit, the 99-year-old, who is on the road to recovery from COVID-19, is eagerly waiting to return home.
“It was surprising that she knew so much about the discharge criteria for COVID-19 patients — managing on room air for three days. A crucial factor that paved the way for her recovery was that she came to the hospital at the right time. She had mild symptoms and was admitted to the hospital on August 29. But three days later, the infection started to progress. But she was already under medical supervision, and, so, was taken care of,” said E. Theranirajan, dean of RGGGH.
Admitted with complaints of fever, nausea and abdominal pain, the nonagenarian’s first chest X-ray showed no findings, though she had tested positive for COVID-19. However, she went on to develop respiratory distress. “Her condition started to worsen. All inflammatory markers were elevated, and we started the required line of management. She required oxygen support, but was not maintaining saturation on a non-rebreathing mask (NRM) and high-flow nasal cannula. In high-flow nasal oxygen (HFNO), we can provide up to 70 litres of oxygen, but she was unable to withstand it. We then moved to Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (C-PAP) therapy and she was on the C-PAP machine for five days,” he said.
A repeat X-ray showed bilateral extensive lung involvement. She was treated with remdesivir, steroids and vitamin supplements.
She started showing signs of stablisation, after which she was sequentially weaned to HFNO and NRM. “Now, we are providing intermittent oxygen supply, especially at night. She is stable, maintaining SPO2 95-96 on room air,” Dr. Theranirajan added.
On Thursday, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan, who was on a visit to RGGGH, met Ms. Jeyalakshmi. She will be discharged in a few days, doctors said. Officials said that so far, 21 persons aged over 90 had been discharged from RGGGH, after treatment for COVID-19.
