The moment a doctor sat holding her hand in the COVID-19 ward while she struggled to inhale her asthma medication will stay with Sarah forever.
The 24-year-old was admitted to Mackay Base Hospital with shortness of breath three days after she was tested for the virus.
“There was one doctor who held my hand to help me calm down when I struggled to get my Ventolin in and breathe. She reassured me I would be okay and that it was okay I was in hospital,” Sarah said.
“Air was going into my lungs but they didn’t seem to fill up. I was confused, had cold sweats and spots in my vision,” she said
Her COVID-19 symptoms started with a tingly feeling in her throat and progressed to a wet cough the next day and then breathlessness.
She tested positive on a Rapid Antigen Test and had her infection confirmed by a PCR test at the Showgrounds drive-through clinic.
“I started to feel more unwell and could feel the mucus on my lungs. I was coughing even when I tried to talk. Given I’m slightly asthmatic I got more and more concerned,” she said.
“There was a moment after I was diagnosed when I was feeling great in the afternoon and thought yes, I’m getting over this, and then next minute I’m feeling like I’m going to die.”
Sarah was admitted to the COVID-19 ward for one night for high doses of asthma medication to open up her airways, saying day three and four of the infection were the hardest.
“I’m feeling a lot better now, but COVID really knocks you about. It’s also so lonely when you are in that room by yourself for hours,” she said.
Sarah said she was shocked to witness the strict PPE and infection prevention regime the staff follow.
“When the nurse comes into your room they have to put fresh PPE on and change when they leave,” she said.
“If they want to eat or drink they have to leave the ward so they are not exposed to the virus in the air.”
She has also been horrified to hear of people being abusive to nurses and other hospital staff.
“They are putting their lives on the line to be in the COVID ward. Yes, it is their job, but they could choose not to be there, but they are,” she said.
Sarah spoke to us from home when she was isolating and still infectious, stopping often in the conversation to cough or catch her breath.
She doesn’t know where she caught the virus but warns everyone is at risk. She is double vaccinated and is waiting to be eligible for her booster dose.
“I’d hate to think how sick I would have been if I wasn’t vaccinated. And if Omicron is what I have, I also hate to think what it would be like to have another strain,” she said.
When asked what she would say to COVID sceptics and people refusing to vaccinate, she pauses to think before saying quietly she struggles with these strong opinions.
Her advice is “take this virus seriously”.
“COVID has messed with my respiratory system and it’s unlike any flu I’ve had before.
“Everyone is arguing instead of focusing on how this illness is affecting the people and how it can devastate people who are immunocompromised and the elderly who have a hard enough time as it is.”
“I have the benefit of being young. This is my body and my experience and I haven’t coped well. Some will, and some won’t. And you won’t know how you will go until you get sick.”
“No matter your stance on COVID or vaccination, remember to not take your aggression out on staff. They are there to help us. It’s not their fault that COVID is rampant, they will help you regardless of your opinion.
“In a world that is dividing, we shouldn’t take out our aggression on the only industry that will help us. This is my own experience, for some people COVID is just like a flu, for others it’s life threatening.”
