Al

Oct 19

“Compared to MS, my COVID experience is nothing. I've had a cold that was worse. It was just an inconvenience.”

This is part of a series on Grace Heights Health and Rehabilitation — which had over 40 residents and 35 staff members test positive for COVID.

MORGANTON, NC: I got MS back in the mid-’90s. My wife worked in a nursing home and couldn't handle taking care of people at work and taking care of somebody at home. It became too much for her. So, she put me in a nursing home. The MS pretty much controls my life now. There's no cure.

The MS pretty much controls my life now. There's no cure.

In March my stomach was upset so the nursing home sent me to the hospital to figure out what was wrong with me. I don't think they ever figured it out. I don't think they were trying too hard. While I was there the virus started acting up. As soon as I got it, they shipped me up the hill to this facility.

COVID wasn't much of a battle for me. I spent a week sitting on the toilet. I had terrible diarrhea. It just wouldn't stop. As soon as I’d get up out of my chair my bowels would let loose. It was embarrassing. I hated it. So COVID wasn't much except for diarrhea. I don't have any after-effects that I've noticed. Compared to MS, my COVID experience is nothing. I've had a cold that was worse. It was just an inconvenience.

I spent a week sitting on the toilet. I had terrible diarrhea. It just wouldn't stop.

Because of COVID, we all have to stay in our rooms now. But, I can't sit around and do nothing. I’ll go crazy just sitting in my room. So, when I get a chance I’ll sneak out. I like to visit people going up and down the hall and talk to people. The ladies love it. Some of them don't have a family. They don't come and see them so they're tickled by anybody willing to talk to them.

MORE SURVIVORS FROM GRACE HEIGHTS

“Until you've gone through it or saw somebody go through it, you have no idea.”

“Other people my age in this community say it’s fake and that people are trying to make it seem way worse than it actually is. Working as a receptionist at Grace Heights, I saw how many people were dying and that made me take it more seriously.”

“I'm old enough to remember the polio epidemic. I must have been six or seven years old. We had it really bad in Caldwell County and I have relatives who are still paralyzed from it. I was very young, but I do remember schools being closed, which was a big thing.”

“Compared to MS, my COVID experience is nothing. I've had a cold that was worse. It was just an inconvenience.”

“For me, it is a mindset. This is what I'm doing and this is what I signed up for. So, I'm going to continue with it.”

“I had the symptoms, but I didn't have the battle.”

“I wasn't that sick. I just wasn't feeling the best.”

“We've seen a lot of death, more than what I expected. I know people die in this population, but it came so fast and furious. It wasn't what I was expected.”

“One night I laid down and I couldn't get up the next morning. I couldn’t move nothing.”

“There's a very low percentage of facilities that would accept COVID patients from the hospital. At a time like this, I feel like it's our duty as a healthcare provider to provide these people a safe place when others won't and we will continue to.”

MSGrace HeightsSeniorPre-Existing ConditionsNorth CarolinaAuto-Immune Condition

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