“When I got sick in March, I felt ‘cured’ after being treated with a mystery substance in a Yale study.
But, six months later I’m still dealing with issues — like double vision and an irregular heartbeat.” 

CLINTON, CONNECTICUT: When I got sick in March, I felt “cured” after being treated with a mystery substance in a Yale study. But, six months later I’m still dealing with issues — like double vision and an irregular heartbeat. 

We left on Valentine's Day for a cruise out of Miami. Half the boat was sick with something. My thought was my wife could have caught it and brought it home. Then the week before I got sick we were at a concert on Saturday night at the club in town. There was a pretty sick guy on the other side of our table. He was coughing in my direction. He could’ve had it. I think probably that concert, but no one knows. It could have been the cruise too. 

After a board meeting, I went to bed on Thursday, March 12th, feeling something was wrong. Friday morning, I woke up with a slight fever. It felt like the flu. I stayed at home. Saturday it got a little worse. Sunday it got a little worse. Monday I called my doctor. She said, “You got to go do the drive-in and get a COVID-19 test.”

Tuesday night suddenly I couldn’t walk up the stairs. I had shortness of breath. My doctor said, “Pack a bag. Go to the ER.” It was a weird experience getting there. When my wife dropped me off, we parked right out in front of the emergency room, and she walked in only I went through the door, and they shut the door in her face.  They said, “No, no. You can't come in.” We forgot to say goodbye. We didn't really think that through. She cried all the way home. Then when she got home she found out she was positive. Fortunately, she didn’t have pneumonia. She only had a little fever and the cough. She quarantined at home while I was in the hospital. 

We forgot to say bye. We didn't really think that through. She cried all the way home.

Needless to say, they had admitted me to the COVID wing at Yale, New Haven Hospital.

I kept my sense of humor up. On day two, my whole team came up on a video monitor in my private room. “Mr. Adkins we've got some news for you.” I'm thinking, This is clearly the ‘you've got COVID’ call.  It's clearly not good news. Nobody's in the room. Nobody wants to see me lash it out. And then they tell me, “We just want you to know you have tested positive.” 

I gave them the old high five and cheered, “Yeah baby!! Whose number one?! Me! Me! COVID! COVID! Yah, I got it!! I’m the man!!” They were all in stitches. It was the funniest thing. I never miss the opportunity for a good laugh. 

By day four, I was really sick. I got really down, but I'm a bit of a Facebook junkie. I started posting my experience and it was kind of cool because friends give me a lot of positive affirmation, which was really good at that point.

Late Saturday night I had a high fever that wasn’t breaking. They didn’t give me anything except Tylenol and a little thimble full of Robitussin. It was brutal. I couldn’t lay down. I was coughing all the time. A doctor said, “Do you want to participate in our study?” and I'm like, “Sign me up. Do you want my little finger? Take my little finger. I don't care! Do whatever you want!” 

A doctor said, “Do you want to participate in our study?” and I'm like, “Sign me up. Do you want my little finger? Take my little finger. I don't care! Do whatever you want!” 

A nurse comes in and hangs a bag on my IV. It took half an hour for that to disappear. The next thing I know, I'm waking up the next morning. I hadn’t slept a whole night since I'd been there. My fever had broken. I felt cured. I felt like, “Wow, what was in the bag?” I found out later that when you’re in a study at Yale, forget about what’s in the bag. You’re not going to find out because they are very secretive. 

I felt cured.

The fever was gone, but the pneumonia was in full swing and my oxygenation level was low. So, they moved me to the ICU at Smilow, a cancer hospital that is part of Yale. It was like going to first-class because the room was really nice — high ceilings, modern, recently built — and all the young nurses were smiling. It felt like an upgrade, so I felt good about it. I spent five days in that ICU fighting off the ventilator. My doctor told me to eat, drink fluids, and breathe through my nose and to stay positive. 

I was able to keep my oxygen levels up and improve, so they kicked me back to the general population. I spent three more days back in the COVID wing. They put me into the room with a couple of sick guys on their way to the ICU. I'm kind of freaking out. I'm reading on the internet that nobody is immune. You’re going to get it again if you get really exposed to it. The doctor said, “Don't worry about it. You're immune to it right now. We know that.” And they were right.

I went home on March 31st 30 pounds lighter, my high school weight again. Needless to say, it didn’t last. I was weak, but healthy. I quarantined for the month of April and tested negative on May 1st. 

Recently I woke up with double vision. It was the weirdest thing. I saw two TV screens — one for each eye. I had to put my hand over one eye to walk around. Luckily, It went away after 20 minutes. I got on the net and everything said to call your doctor, which I did. She told me to head into the ER. I spent the day there, and they didn’t find anything. My eye guy said I was the third man he’s seen recently who has recovered from COVID-19 and had a double vision episode and to go see my heart specialist. After a month on a heart monitor I’m back on a blood thinner as I have been definitely diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (an irregular heartbeat).

Recently I woke up with double vision. It was the weirdest thing. I saw two TV screens — one for each eye. 

It’s October 1st, almost 6 months after I contracted Covid, and I’m still dealing with issues like fatigue and atrial fibrillation. I didn’t have any heart issues in my family history until the Covid. My wife is still fighting fatigue, but she is improving. It seems that “Covid Recovered” just means they need to start looking for how it may have left after effects.

almost 6 months after I contracted Covid, and I’m still dealing with issues

Over 200,000 are dead in the US. I’m still feeling fortunate all things considered. I pretty much felt infallible my whole life. You know, healthy. I had a couple of near-death experiences, but nothing real. This was pretty real. I always thought that I never really had a care in the world. If I died tomorrow, I had a good run. I’m still pretty much on that program, but I'm also trying to slow down a little bit and spend a little more time with family. I've got two grand babies who call me Papa. Tomorrow I get to babysit all day. Can't wait! 

I have always been the optimist, the half-full type guy, so I’m a believer we're going to get better. We’re going to come out of this smarter. But, it's a strange world.

I’m a believer we're going to get better. We’re going to come out of this smarter.