Rachel
"I was going downhill quickly and plasma turned me around."
CROFTON, MD: After four days in the hospital, a doctor came into my room and asked “How are you feeling?” Despite a cocktail of treatments including Rocephin and Azithromycin IVs, Remdesivir, Cipro, Methylprednisolone, Tylenol, Zofran, Albuterol and Symbicort, I still wasn’t getting any better.
I couldn't talk really because I didn't have the oxygen so I whispered, “I'm not good. I feel the same as when I walked in.” I continued to explain to him that I’m a single mom and it was my son’s 16th birthday. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Don’t worry. We are going to take care of you and get you better soon.” He thought I would be a good candidate for plasma. I had to ask him, “What are you talking about? Transfusion?”
He explained to me that through a Mayo Clinic trial people who have recovered from the virus and have antibodies that my body didn't have to fight the virus off have donated their plasma. He said they seemed to be having relatively good luck with it. He just had to submit my case to see if they would approve that I was a good case to be a recipient of it.
Then they started asking me, “Have you ever been on a ventilator before?”
I said, “No and I don't plan on it.” I thought if I went on the vent I would die. Knowing they were talking about a ventilator and their following questions made me understand just how sick I was.
“Well, if the plasma doesn't work, who is your medical power of attorney? Plasma is our last attempt. If the plasma doesn't work….”
I interrupted her, “No, we're going to have this plasma work. I am not going on a ventilator.”
I had to sign a lot of papers that day. They asked me more scary questions like, “Do you need to Facetime any relatives?” From watching the news, I knew I was not in a good situation.
That day I felt like I was on my deathbed. I had a come to Jesus and prayed, “God, this is in your hands. I’m doing everything. I’m listening to the doctors. Please let this plasma work.”
They put more medicines and fluids in the IV and cranked up my nasal oxygen. Then, at nine o'clock the next evening, a nurse connected a bag of yellow fluid to my IV.
Tuesday, June 2nd, the doctors came in and asked, “How do you feel?” I was disappointed because I thought the plasma would magically make me feel better like when you take a Tylenol, but I didn’t feel any different.
However, by about mid-afternoon on Wednesday, June 3rd, I felt like I had gotten over that hump. I didn't feel like I was dying is the best way I can describe it.
Later, when I looked at my lab work in my chart, I could see my numbers started looking worse and worse. They were crashing. Everything was skewed to abnormal levels. I was going downhill and I was going downhill quickly. After getting the plasma, two days later, everything aligned back up to normal levels.
The doctor explained that once I got the plasma transfusion, my body identified the antibodies that it needs to have and started recreating those antibodies.
I firmly believe that's what got me alive. I felt that in my body. I believe that my body then kind of understood what it needed to do to fight this virus and to live.
It took a couple more days to wean me off the oxygen all together. But, by that Sunday, June 7th, they cleared me to go home.
The first thing I did was take my son for a ride in the car because at that point he had been locked in the house for days alone.
Coming home everybody warned me that simple things were going to be tough. You hear people say that stuff and you don't understand it until you really try to do it. I took a shower for the first time in 10 or 11 days. I washed my hair and then my body started shaking. I was worn out from just that. The first time I walked up the stairs it felt like I ran a marathon. My son laughed at me because I was so out of breath when I talked he thought I sounded like Forrest Gump.
When you're a single mom, you’re not just sick alone as a single person. You’ve got all the other responsibilities that you want to do for your kid. You want to fix dinner. You usually clean up afterwards. The fact that I couldn't put dishes away, I couldn't make a meal without trying to gasp for breath in-between talking. That was when I realized I was still not where I needed to be. I was out of the hospital, but I was not in any way well.
I still have long term symptoms, but I was pretty sick and the plasma is what turned it around.
TREATMENT: Tylenol, motrin, nebulizer, Remdesivir, plasma, rocephin and azithromycin iV, methylprednisolone, Cipro, zolfran, Albuterol and Symbicort
We are not scientists or doctors and do not propose that we know more than them. We are simply sharing the story of one individual's experience with plasma. This may not be everyone’s experience and we are not promising it is a guaranteed cure.