Unvaccinated Covid-19 patient gets 'second chance in life'
Doctors use heart-lung machine to save critically ill housewife who had put off getting the jab
Madam Lee Sock Lee was fit enough to visit a Swab and Send Home clinic after getting a positive Covid-19 antigen rapid test result on the morning of Sept 13, but suddenly, things took a turn for the worse.
Within the next 24 hours, she was in critical care and fighting for her life.
The 43-year-old housewife, who was slipping in and out of consciousness as she was taken to the emergency room of Ng Teng Fong General Hospital on Sept 13, was on the verge of cardiovascular collapse and would have died, if not for the timely intervention of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (Ecmo) treatment. The Ecmo machine is a life-saving machine that takes over the function of the heart and lungs.
FOOD ALLERGIES
Madam Lee, who is unvaccinated, was putting off vaccination because of previous episodes caused by food allergies but did not have any pre-existing comorbidities. She and her family were waiting for the arrival of Novavax, a protein-based Covid-19 vaccine.
To those still holding off on getting vaccinated, she said yesterday: "This is my second chance in life... If I had died, I would only have my husband to take care of our four children, who are still young. For those who are still hesitating on getting your vaccines, yes, there is a risk of side effects, but please do not delay any further."
Describing her experience as a traumatic one for her family, especially her husband, Madam Lee added: "Vaccination could potentially save your life. You won't have to go through what I went through and what I put my family through."
Her family of six was found to be Covid-19-positive. Thankfully, her children - aged three to 13 - and her husband had only mild symptoms such as fever and headaches.
Her husband is partially vaccinated and her oldest son is fully vaccinated. The rest are unvaccinated and those eligible will be getting their jabs in about three months, based on doctors' advice for recovered Covid-19 patients.
She was transferred to the National University Hospital (NUH) on Sept 14 and put on venoarterial Ecmo, a machine used for catastrophic lung or heart failure. It removes blood from the patient, then removes carbon dioxide from the blood and adds oxygen to it. The machine then pumps the blood back into the patient.
Madam Lee is the first Covid-19 patient here to need Ecmo for heart support, with 95 per cent of patients needing Ecmo for lung support, said Associate Professor Graeme MacLaren, a senior consultant at the department of cardiac thoracic and vascular surgery at the National University Heart Centre, Singapore.
Madam Lee was on Ecmo for four days and given a course of remdesivir and dexamethasone. She was discharged on Oct 6. Her heart managed to recover, but some lingering symptoms and scarring on her heart tissue remain.
Her body was severely deconditioned - a result of being critically ill - and she had to relearn some basic functions.
"I had to undergo speech therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and initially, I had to relearn how to eat, shower, walk, balance and do things like folding clothes.
"I had no idea how critically ill I was when I was hospitalised," said Madam Lee, who will return for a follow-up at NUH's cardiomyopathy clinic next month.
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