A Kentucky nurse says her bout with the coronavirus was so bad it made her feel like her “bones were breaking,” according to a report.
Meghan Harpole, a 43-year-old assistant nurse manager, said she came down in late March with a series of excruciating symptoms that made her question whether she would beat the virus, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said.
Her cough was so intense that it made her throw up, and for days, she also experienced high fevers, diarrhea and at one point was choking on her own phlegm, the outlet reported.
“My body hurt so bad, it felt like my bones were breaking,” Harpole told the paper.
Her health took an even worse turn when she noticed her oxygen dropped on a pulse monitor to 87%.
“All of a sudden, I started seeing the patients I take care of and the patients on the news,” she said. “They go in and get intubated. Oh my God, this is it. I may not make it. I may be on a ventilator. I may not be able to see my son for weeks.”
She went to the emergency room, where X-rays showed that she had developed pneumonia in her lung, the outlet said.
But she was afraid to stay since her son was home alone and showing signs of the virus, the newspaper reported.
Doctors agreed to let her go home with oxygen, breathing treatments and antibiotics, she said.
Harpole hasn’t been cleared yet of the virus, but she says she appears now to be on the mend, the newspaper reported.
The nurse, however, said she still fears the possible long-term effects from the virus.
“Am I going to have problems breathing?” she told the Courier-Journal. “Am I going to have a low immune system? No one knows enough about the virus to know the long-term effects of what this has done to me.”