Doctor from Arizona Shares his Shocking Coronavirus Recovery Story

The 46- years old doctor, Karl Viddal , from Arizona state caught coronavirus but shocked the world with his shocking coronavirus recovery. He was reportedly in a critical condition but this doctor with no previous illness or medical history has made through the deadly coronavirus and has recently shared his coronavirus recovery story.

The doctor said that his condition was so severe that his physicians were sure, he is going to die. However, his condition was miraculously improved when he was put on an exclusive life support system which is neither common nor available commonly. The doctors, somehow experimented and as a result, he was recovered. This thing explains that healthcare workers are doing everything from typical methods to innovative new plans to treat coronavirus patients.

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The doctor initially reported with symptoms that looked like flu. He reportedly came back to the US from an international trip in March, after which his condition starts to worsen. This is unique because in most of the people, the symptoms of coronavirus look more like of sore throat and not flu.

Within a few days, his condition became really bad especially when his breathing was disturbed. Eventually, he was admitted to a hospital on March 22^nd. He was hospitalized at Dignity Health Mercy Gilbert Medical Center for 55 days in total, from which, he spent 28 days in a coma and 34 days on a ventilator system fighting for his life. His symptoms were so adverse that he developed acute pneumonia which made his condition even worse.

The doctors used a unique treatment plan on Viddal. They used extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to save his life. It is a special type of ventilator which reduces the work of the heart and lungs, says the American Thoracic Society.

This ventilator is connected to the veins and arteries of a person in his neck, chest, or leg through the plastic tubes. Once this connection is maintained, the blood starts to flow into this ECMO ventilator machine, which manually adds oxygen into the blood and gets rids of the carbon dioxide. Later on, it puts this blood back to the patient’s body.

This special machine is used on someone who is at high risk of organ failure i.e. kidney fail, internal bleeding, heart failure, etc. using this ECMO ventilator somehow relieves the visceral organs as their function is taken up by the machine. These organs can relax while the ventilator regulates the blood flow.

The ECMO machine works differently than a normal ventilator machine. Extracorporeal Life Support Organization says that ECMO is smart and particular but it is only available in a few hospitals. Viddal is only the 32^nd person within the entire U.S and 2^nd person in Arizona state who has been put on this machine for treating coronavirus confirms his hospital.

But many experts believe that using the ECMO machine is not the ultimate treatment for the coronavirus infection however, it improves the symptoms in chronic cases. Yet the unavailability of this machine makes it a rare machine to aid in treating coronavirus patients.

The coronavirus recovery using this specialized machine is significantly higher. Within North America, a total number of 192 patients were put on this ECMO machine and 99 of these people (nearly 51%) were able to beat coronavirus, confirm the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization.

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Viddal was not just put on ECMO but many other treatments were also tried on him by his doctors. However, it was ECMO that saved his life. Once he was off the ventilator, he reeved the rehab therapy like all other coronavirus patients who recovered from this deadly disease. Last Friday, he was finally fully recovered and discharged from the hospital and returned back to his family. He says that it is very hard to comprehend the whole of this experience. This virus almost got me killed but him but he is glad that doctors have saved his life.

Viddal’s coronavirus recovery story is a motivation for all others who are scared of this virus and the possible outcomes if they caught this virus. ECMA machine might not be readily available but it is surely helpful in coronavirus treatment.