Around 3 years ago, my partner's (they/them) best friend developed massive pulmonary embolisms following their top surgery. The embolisms are likely gone by now, but have caused permanent scarring and COPD.
Around 18 months ago, they got their second covid shot, and started swelling ridiculously and gained 100 pounds of water weight in the following two weeks.
Their GP is a hack, who disbelieved the details and simply re-triggered their anorexia by recommended dieting and exercise.
In actuality, it was the first sign of heart failure. Which went undiagnosed until, 16 months (and 80 more pounds of swelling) later, they took a fall and their in-home support worker had to call 911 due to an inability to help them up from the ground.
They've been on heavy diuretics to reduce the swelling, and have been shuffling between the hospital and skilled nursing facilities.
Today the skilled nursing facility tested them for covid.. And it was positive.
Which I've been bracing myself for these past couple months, but my partner had been too in-the-weeds with organizing care and medical advocacy to really think about yet...
It's unclear if the facility will be providing them with paxlovid. But it's unclear if their system could even tolerate paxlovid, what with the heart failure and the stress their kidneys are under from diuretics.
What we do know is
- They have severe breathing difficulties to begin with,
- They haven't kept up with vax and boosters, because their last shot triggered heart failure.
- The skilled nursing facility has not immediately transferred them back to the hospital.