The COVID-19 Test Result: Update on Mom

Our family argues a lot. Dad’s a physician. My two siblings and I are also doctors. Naturally we all have strong opinions. One of those arguments was whether or not Mom has COVID-19. Personally, I thought there was a good possibility. She had developed cough and fatigue and desaturations on pulse oximetry. In the hospital she developed a fever. Her CT Chest suggested COVID-19. She developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring intubation.

On the hand, my sister thought it was nearly impossible. Mom had been self-quarantining for the last one month. She just wasn’t around anyone. Furthermore, initial testing was negative for COVID-19. While those with COVID-19 typically have a protracted course, Mom had such a turnaround that impressed even the medical staff.

If you told me on Monday, when Mom was at her worst, that the doctors would be talking about removing her breathing tube 48 hours later because of clinical improvement, I would not have believed you. Her numbers were indicative of a patient on the verge of losing life. Lactate was 12 and pH 7.0. Troponin was over 200 suggestive of a heart attack. Her chest x-ray was almost whited out on both lungs. She was in multi-system organ failure.

Then I sent out a call for prayer through my blog and she seemed to improve in a matter of hours. Her lactate normalized to 2, her troponin trended down below 100 and her chest x-ray improved by 50%. The doctor tells me that Mom just “needed a little bit of support.” But I know it was in fact prayer providing overwhelming support to turn back the tide.

Though the nasopharyngeal swab for COVID-19 was negative twice, the doctors still had a high suspicion for it. Unfortunately there are multiple stories of the nasopharyngeal swab showing negative but the fluid from deep in the lung obtained by bronchoscopy (BAL) showing positive for COVID-19.

In Houston we usually stay at my Auntie Connie’s place. The entire household including my sister was exposed to Mom only 5 days ago. The CDC recommends a 14-day quarantine for individuals exposed to persons with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 or whose symptoms are consistent with COVID-19.

When we pulled into Houston, Dad wanted to go straight to Auntie Connie’s. I resisted. We went back and forth. Dad was certain it wasn’t COVID-19. I told him we didn’t have definitive results. Finally, Dad gave in. Instead, we went to a hotel to avoid unnecessary exposure until we knew Mom’s final results for COVID-19.

After getting settled in and a couple of hours of sleep, I had a digital meeting. While I was on the phone, Dad left the hotel to “drop something off.” After not returning for a couple hours, I called him to find out where he was. He snuck out to Auntie Connie’s place without telling me. After just a couple hours, the hotel room was driving him crazy.

Though Mom had been improving for the last 48 hours, the definitive COVID-19 test from BAL hadn’t resulted. I had to know before exposing myself to Auntie Connie and my sister. Finally at 3:19 pm I got a call from the nurse. The definitive COVID-19 test from the BAL was NEGATIVE. A load from my shoulders had been lifted. I packed up bags and informed the hotel I was checking out early. Now that it was safe, I wanted to go hug my sister and Auntie Connie.

Today, Mom did well on her spontaneous breathing trial but did not have any “cuff leak” when the cuff around the tube was deflated. Surrounding the breathing tube is an inflatable balloon or cuff that serves to seal off the airway so the ventilator can do its job. If the cuff is deflated, one should be able to detect air leaking around the cuff. Because Mom had no “cuff leak” it suggested an inflamed upper airway making it difficult to re-intubate if required. Overall this seems like a bump in the road and doctors expect this to resolve soon with diuretics.

We met with Mom over FaceTime again and she was able to tolerate 25 minutes of meeting which was better than yesterday’s 10 minutes. Deborah played a song for healing. Zoey, my brother’s 6 year-old daughter, volunteered to play “The B-I-B-L-E” on the piano. I played Sonata No. 1 in G Minor by Bach. Joshua, my 2-year-old son, took out his violin to imitate me. Mom gave a thumbs up.

I cannot say how thankful I am for all of you that have been lifting us up in prayer. If anyone doubts the power of prayer, then remember miracle of what happened to our beloved mother this week.

Again, from the Roquiz family to all of you, Thank you.