Bear with me, this post has potential to be kinda long.
Everybody in my household got Covid (I didn't get tested, but I'm sure I got it too). I put up with the symptoms for a week and a half until they became unbearable: coughing, fever, hot flashes, major headaches, feeling like I was drowning because of low oxygen (down to 82 on the oximeter), vomiting, can't sleep, can't eat, hacking up a small amount of blood. My wife and I decided that it was time to get some medical help yesterday (Halloween Sunday). I called urgent care, and they wouldn't take us, told us to go to the ER. Great, big copay incoming.
We get to the hospital, Covid patients have to go through a different entrance. I will say that while they seemed to be staffed well enough and not OMG OVERWHELMED like the media would like us to believe, in the 45 minutes I waited to be brought back, the ratio was 1 to 1 for Covid and for regular ER visitors, so maybe there is some truth to the stress on the healthcare system.
I got my room, told the check in nurse, the floor nurse, and the ER doctor my symptoms. The ER doctor was clearly pissed when I told him I wasn't vaccinated and was just generally an ass during the 5 minutes he saw me. He suggested monoclonal antibody via IV, said it was experimental and not FDA approved, I asked about side effects and he said basically none. I hadn't heard of this treatment, but how it was described is that it helps protect cells that aren't infected from getting infected and stop Covid from spreading further.
Long story short, I did the monoclonal antibody IV. 6 hours after being in the hospital, freezing because they only gave me one tiny ass blanket, uncomfortable because some dickhead unplugged the bed with it like halfway inclined, they checked on me probably 3 times in those 6 hours. I had to wait an hour after asking to get some tylenol. The next shift came on near the end and the nurse actually gave a fuck and took care of me after that. BUT here's the thing, I didn't feel any better. After 6 hours in the hospital with symptoms that I feel would be pretty easy to control, I still felt just as bad as when I came in. They all told me that there's no other treatments that they can do except rest and let it pass "because Covid."
So they're basically saying a hospital in a major city in the US (one of the cities with highly rated healthcare systems at that) can't treat a headache? You know, a headache that is probably caused by low oxygen. They can't give me some pills to help with nausea and mucus thinners? IV fluids? What a fucking joke the whole thing was. Then they give me a $2000 invoice (which is fucking wrong anyway, I know my ER copay is only $200, but we all know hospital billing is a scam). I feel like they're doing this shit on purpose and refusing to do anything to help make it pass faster or help with symptoms.
Anyway, my mom that lives with us got Covid at the same time as us. She got the vaccine and was better in 2 days, even though she's being an asshole and sandbagging so she doesn't have to do anything around the house. This has been the only time I have considered getting the clot shot, because if I never have to be this sick again I will be very happy. The fact that she had very mild symptoms and was done in 2 days gave me first hand insight that the shot might actually do something. And inb4 "glowie post" "shill" "larp" etc, check my post history, I've been against the shot since this shit began.
Thanks man. I thought as much. I was in the same boat as far as being skeptical that Covid actually existed beyond just being a bad flu, but this experience has been eye opening. The last week and a half has sucked but I'm really hoping I'm at the tail end of it now. The whole hospital experience this time has also been eye opening, I just wish they would've tried harder to do SOMETHING to make me feel even a smidge better right away, but it really felt like they were purposely refusing to. I've only ever had to go to the ER for kidney stones before, and my experience those times, I'm usually brought back immediately, given an IV immediately and pumped full of morphine and the nurses have always been super attentive. Thanks for the info, I was thinking now between the monoclonal antibodies and already being infected and recovering that it may be moot to get any shots, just wasn't sure.