CAPE TOWN- After spending four weeks in a Cape Town intensive care unit (ICU) and two major lung operations, 53-year-old
Deborah Meyer defied the odds and recovered from Covid-19.
Meyer, who is a wife, mother and works as an administrator says that one of the hardest parts of her experience with the disease was not having access to her family.
“I had to remain positive, and refuse to be a statistic of death. I had to trust in God. I would not have made it, if it wasn’t for the prayers of all those from different faiths who prayed for me. At all times in hospital I was aware of God’s presence,” she said.
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Her daughter, husband and son had all tested positive for Covid-19. “I tested negative at first, but knew that I would not be negative for long as we all live in the same house.”
Meyer said that while her first test came back negative she decided to get tested again three days later after she developed a fever of 40 degrees. After testing at Groote Schuur Hospital for the second time, her results came back positive.
The only major symptoms Meyer experienced were severe headaches. “More like someone, hitting nails into my head at intervals,” she explained.
Soon after receiving her results while self-isolating at home, Meyers said that she struggled to breathe and her headaches grew more intense.
“My family then decided to take me to hospital. They tried to get an ambulance but were told that there were no ambulances picking up Covid-19 positive patients. They took me to Kingsbury by car,” she said.
Meyer was in hospital from May 12 until June 12. In ICU she was on a ventilator and had afterwards acquired pneumonia which caused an infection in her lungs.
"My right lung was covered in puss and they had to do an operation to wash out the lung but once they started the operation they discovered that part of my lung had died and was causing more infection so it had to be removed," she explained.
Doctors had to operate a second time on Meyer because blood clots had developed due to the Covid-19 virus. Her infected lung needed to be washed again and another part of her lung had died which also needed to be removed.
After a month in hospital, Meyer was released to go home to a very excited and grateful family.
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