“Fit” Sydney mum details battle with COVID Virus: “This virus is hell”
A Sydney woman diagnosed with COVID has shared her hellish battle in a series of heartbreaking posts.
Melissa Green knew something was very, very wrong when she was admitted to hospital on 19 July after her oxygen levels dropped.
She described that she and her partner Dion were both “fit and healthy” when they were struck down with the virus.
Eventually, it also infected their three-year-old daughter Lola.
Melissa told 7NEWS.com.au that she and her family had been “shocked” to receive positive results for COVID, after taking all the necessary precautions.
She said in a detailed post that her family were “all OK”, aside from Dion who lost his sense of smell and taste.
However just a day later, Melissa reported that fingertip oxygen monitors showed her oxygen level was “lower than it should be” and her heart rate higher than normal.
“Nothing to worry about, just body aches, chills and headaches,” the mum wrote at the time.
“Dion is just feeling really fatigued like he has run a marathon but just been in bed. We will get through this,” she said.
Sadly just 48 hours later, the mum explained her partner was rushed to the hospital when he began to suffer from “severe chest pains” and had “difficulty breathing”.
“He is one of the strongest and fittest people I know so this has been a total shock,” Melissa wrote on July 18.
Dion was able to return home a day later, but Melissa’s oxygen levels were plummeting and she was taken to Emergency.
Sharing a devastating image of herself in a hospital bed on July 20, Melissa urged people to “take this seriously.”
“Vaccinate or not it’s everyone’s choice. But if you think our hospital system can deal with the virus by opening up, you have another thing coming,” Melissa wrote.
“This variant is attacking the young, old, fit and healthy as well as those with health issues. Please take this seriously.”
Melissa reported the next day she was still in hospital and facing her “hardest day yet”.
“I’ve been fighting temps of 40C all day. I am still on oxygen and tomorrow I will start on tocilizumab and remdesivir and hopefully that will give me some relief,” she said.
“I found out today that there are another 14 people here in the hospital and a good few in ICU.
“Dion is still at home with Lola managing on his asthma plan but severely fatigued and short of breath but doing a great job taking care of our baby.
“Hopefully tomorrow is a better day. One thing about this virus is you are up and down but when you hit the deck it’s worse than the time before.
“The nurse tells me the next few days could be even harder.”
Melissa came to Facebook the next day to share that her symptoms were on the up, noting that while she no longer had as much pain, she’d “lost control of things no one would wish to experience”.
“This virus has torn me apart,” she wrote.
“I am away from my baby and my partner all alone in a fishbowl of a room trying to fight to get back home to the two people I love with all my heart.
“All I want is to get home and hold my baby tight.
“Fingers crossed I’m on the way up.”
On July 23 Melissa told family and friends in another post how she was likely to remain in hospital for another five days.
“That’s another five days of no hugs with my baby, no hugs with my partner.
“I cried and cried today all alone in a room fighting the hardest fight.
“They tried to get me up and walking and I lasted 40 seconds before I collapsed on the bed - this is insane!
“For someone who plays numerous games or netball and umpires weekly and now I can’t even walk for 40 seconds. What has this virus done to me? How long will I take to recover? Who knows?
“I know everyone is doing it tough but trust me this place is the toughest both mentally and physically. Stay home everyone and stay safe.”
On July 24, Melissa revealed it was her “hardest day yet”.
“I woke this morning with the lowest levels of oxygen I have had since being here and had to fight with the doctors to leave me on the ward as I didn’t want to go to ICU,” she wrote.
“At least where I am I have a window to the outside world.”
Melissa said watching the Sydney lockdown protests left her “saddened”.
“I believe in freedom and people’s rights but ... those out protesting have cost us all more time under lockdown so you only have yourselves to blame,” she wrote.
After a week in hospital, Melissa admitted her heart was “breaking”.
“This virus is hell,” she wrote.
“It separates people from loved ones, rips your health apart and challenges you mentally.
“Can people not see how contagious it is? Seriously, stay home so we can all see an end in sight.”
Melissa told Facebook after eight days in hospital, she was finally home.
“Recovering slowly, but I’ll get there,” she said.
“Stay home and stay safe.”
Images: Supplied