Peter Lederman in Second Bout With COVID-19

He is unfortunately a very high risk individual. This is fall out from his physical condition, an important message for those of you who do not take care of themselves. I'm not sure how NY is handling it but in NH he would have been about 6 weeks ago. 

Hang in there Peter, I'm not hearing of anything that is not manageable yet. Pulmonary emboli are usually not fatal unless they are miss diagnosed. That is how my mother died. She was told she had a cold three separate occasions. 

@lewm , keeping up on it! Several small quips. I have one older woman S/P hospitalization for Covid on supplemental O2 at home. I have seen several large pulmonary emboli resorb completely over the years. These micro emboli should resorb completely. I do not think you can see them on a CXR or even a CT. We know they are there because we see them at autopsy. It is unknown what happens with healing because we do not do posts on living people. Eventually we will know for sure. I am also not convinced that the vaccine gives better immunity than the disease. That would fly in the face of just about every other viral disease we developed vaccines for. Keep in mind the pharmaceutical industry controls the media. What do you think all those wasted dollars on commercials is about.  Young people may actually be better off getting the disease. There are many antigens on the surface of that virus. This is nature's way of training good immune systems for the next sars virus that comes along. Also keep in mind that this disease is extremely minor in most people. People who have gotten both the flu and covid will tell you almost universally that the flu is worse. This is not to belittle the seriousness of this disease in the elderly, seriously obese people, and diabetics. 

One other small point. I have had over 200 patients with Covid and two people expire. I have not had anyone get the disease twice, this is more than likely a delayed response to the initial infection or a miss diagnosis somewhere down the line. The tests we have been using are not the most accurate. Many false positives.

@lewm, of course I knw you are talking about microthrombi. My guess is quite a few people are getting these at a lower rate but have recovered. The cases that expire were worse. Do microthrombi have the same composition as larger thrombi? If they do than they certainly will be resorbed. Until we start posting people who had severe covid but recovered we will not know for sure what happens after.

@bkeske, medical issues have a habit of getting twisted around even in the first person. Sometimes it is the doctors fault. They will frequently give a very shorthand explanation of what is going on and get miss understood. I usually do not get the full story until I get the notes from the hospital. Even then sometimes I remain confused. Hospital care has taken a dive since the recruitment of hospitalists. The job of a hospitalist is to make money for the corporation. In metropolitan areas primary care physicians got locked out of hospitals. The way they did it was in order to get inpatient privileges you had to have at least 20 inpatient cases a year. Very few of us have that many inpatient cases on a yearly basis. Many primary care physicians are happy with this as hospitals can be a PITA.
You make more money with less work staying in your office. The loser is as always the Patient. Medicine has become industrialized and impersonal. It's job is making money and not getting sued. Having been personally involved with "the best" hospitals in Boston on multiple occasions recently. I have had surgery 5 times in the last 2 years and each one was followed by complications, one a serious and iatrogenic osteomyelitis of my left clavicle which required 6 weeks of IV antibiotics and a bone graft from my right hip followed by an ilioinguinal neuropathy and a huge hematoma. I have fully recovered but am left with two steel plates and sixteen screws in my shoulder. 

@bkeske, my only point is that we know there is a problem but we really do not know the state of affairs. All we can do is hope he gets better and that someone notifies the press when he does so we can all stop worrying. Being in a hospital is not a good sign. Getting discharged is a very good sign.

In situations like this it is very hard for people to be deliberate. I do not think that is Peter's style. I also would bet he fully knows about the grape vine going on about this and I suspect he will eventually announce his situation.
As for the etiology of this virus I fully agree with Lewm who is more knowledgeable about this than I am. In nature this virus is likely to mutate one protein at a time and what ever it does is up for grabs. It may well mutate itself out of existence just as well as becoming more virulent. One thing is for certain, once a virus loses it's hosts it is done. It can not replicate without the genetic machinery of it's host. There is always a way to eradicate a virus, you either immunize or knock off the hosts. Smallpox is an example.     

One other comment, this whole mess is a great example of how mythology can quickly form. The conspiracy theories proliferate like wildfire without even any serious evidence of wrong doing. I personally do not think this pandemic was handled well. It was another chicken little story. Millions of people lost their jobs and businesses in the process. The economic damage will take years if not decades to overcome and for people will never be the same again. Nobody interviewed the elderly and asked what they want. Every last one of my cognitively intact elderly nursing home patients said things like "I'm ready to go" or "don't worry about me."  We could have protected the elderly and infirmed without near as much economic damage. 

Good to here you are on the mend Retipper. It is an odd experience to know you have one foot in the grave and one out, to have one foot in the OR in a situation were even in the best of hands the mortality rate is 60 %

 In my experience as a primary care provider the worst reactions to the vaccines are occurring in people who have already had the disease. I have already had over 300 cases in my practice so I think this opinion is a little better than anecdotal.  I suggest that low risk individuals who have had the disease do not get vaccinated. The drive to get as many people vaccinated as possible is highly suspect. Trusting the pharmaceutical industry for advice in this regard is quite frankly, dangerous.

I think it is also fair to mention that there are significant co morbidities in your situation that led to dangerous thrombo-embolic disease. Yes, this disease is very contagious. But, in the vast majority of people it results in a very minor illness.

Best wishes for your continued uneventful recovery. Please don't do it again!