Paul Hoium

On December 10 2023, I started feeling a little short of breath and very tired and weak. Since I also have congestive heart failure, I was monitoring these symptoms closely. Things worsened over the next couple of days until the 12th on which date I realized I could barely breathe and so weak I could barely make it to the phone to call for an ambulance.

I remember the firefighters lifting me on to a gurney and into the ambulance and them talking about my O2 level being 79 and that would prove to be the last coherent memory I had until I was brought out of a medically induced coma 6 days later.

Upon arrival at the hospital I was quickly diagnosed with double pneumonia and covid at the same time and also had developed a pulmonary embolism and soon developed sepsis also, which rapidly developed into severe sepsis and ultimately septic shock. (Sepsis and Pneumonia, Sepsis and Covid, Sepsis and Septic Shock)

The decision was made to place me in a medically induced coma and I was intubated and placed on a respirator. Despite all this my condition had deteriorated even more by the following day and my family was called and told I only had a 5% chance of survival. However by some miracle I started improving from that point on. On the 16th I was extubated and brought out of the coma. I had absolutely no idea what had happened or where I was. I had experienced such horrible and vivid hallucinations or visions while in the coma I didnt really know what was reality and what was not.

I was in the hospital for another 10 days and then spent another month in a rehabilitation center relearning things like how to tie my shoes or how to tell time from a non digital clock and many many similar things. It’s been about 7 months now and although I know I have been so fortunate in many ways I am still extremely tired most of the time and have since been diagnosed with PSS and PTSD. The worst things for me are an obsession I now have about dying and the continual flashbacks and hallucinations, and attendant anxiety attacks that make me feel as though I’m right back in December and feel everything I experienced there all over again. And I vividly recall every horrible hallucination I had while in my coma although many doctors say this is impossible. I can tell you it is very real for me. Overall I am just so grateful for surviving and recovering without any MAJOR complications.