Emile Mervin was at work on the evening of April 4th, when he realised that something was wrong. “My body began experiencing an unusual indescribable discomfort,” Mervin, a 61-one-year-old US-based Guyanese transit worker and well-known letter writer says.
Mervin, who ended up spending some 14 days in a New York hospital, spoke to Stabroek Weekend in an interview about his experiences with COVID-19, which include his 36-year-old son being declared dead while being treated for the virus before later startling a health official when he woke up.
Mervin is still unclear how he contracted the virus but said a few of his colleagues contracted it from him. He said he has no underlying health conditions. But after he began to feel ill on April 4th, he decided to report sick.
“Prior to that, I was coughing, but I attributed it to walking through some icy rain a few days earlier. After I got home that Saturday night, the discomfort intensified to the point I decided to drive myself to New York Presbyterian Hospital in Flushing, Queens,” he shared.
He left the hospital at around 3 the following morning and even though he requested a COVID-19 test, the doctor told him that while he exhibited symptoms of the virus, the hospital was saving its tests for people with more serious symptoms. Mervin returned to the same hospital the following night and experienced the same routine, with no test being done.
“I felt I was literally sent home to die, as happened to many before me who showed up at hospitals and were sent home where they died,” he said.
It was on April 7th, with the intervention of his co-workers, that an ambulance was arranged to pick him at his house, and he was taken to another hospital, Northwell Long Island Jewish (LIJ) in Queens, where he was promptly tested.
Relief and uncertainty
When he received the positive result, Mervin said, he felt a mixture of relief and uncertainty, because once he knew what was wrong he then had to find out how to survive. But since there was no known cure, “I wasn’t sure whether I would survive”, he added.
When he got the news, Mervin said, he was in bed “and remained there as my breathing became increasingly laborious and uncomfortable”. He said he kept drinking Tylenol to break the persistent fever overnight but by Thursday, April 9th, he could not do it anymore as he was literally struggling to breathe. He called an ambulance and headed back to Northwell LIJ, where he told the doctors and nurses that he was an essential worker employed by New York City Transit.
“I had to highlight my employment credential to see if I could get the best treatment possible. And as God is my witness, that hospital delivered,” Mervin said.
He is not sure of all the medicines and injections he received because the first few days, he said, he was completely out of it as the virus wreaked havoc on his body. “But over time, I realized they were giving me injections three times a day to prevent blood clotting, and they kept drawing my blood to run a variety of tests,” he said, before adding that it was one night while he was struggling to breathe that he blurted out to the nurse in charge that he had had bilateral pneumonia back in 2002 and was hospitalized for one week at Brookdale Hospital, in Brooklyn.
Within hours, hospital staff did an X-ray of his lungs and found sacs of liquid. They immediately placed him on a regime of medication to get rid of the liquid and steroids to start rebuilding his lungs, which had taken the brunt of the virus’ attack to the extent. “I couldn’t stand, let alone walk”.
Mervin was eventually released on April 22nd and was ordered to be self-quarantined at home for 14 days. He was given Xarelto to keep his blood from clotting, Benzotate to reduce bouts of coughing and Medrol Doespak prescription steroids to help rebuild his lungs. “I even went a step farther and resorted to good old Guyanese Nutrophos and Ferrol Compound,” he said.
No one could have visited him while he was in hospital and once released he ensured that the interaction at home was at a safe distance with masks being worn even in the house.
Son tested positive
Mervin’s eldest son, who does not live with him, was tested on Friday, May 5th, at Brookdale Hospital, and received his positive results on Monday, May 11th.
According to the young man’s father, he remained asymptomatic until May 20th, when he came down with 104-degree fever, diarrhoea, vomiting and difficulty breathing. He was rushed by ambulance to Brookdale Hospital shortly before midnight where he was promptly admitted.
His son has an underlying asthmatic condition and Mervin said hope and prayer became the first go-to options.
While his son was being admitted, Mervin said, he sat in his vehicle outside exchanging texts with him. His son told him that nurses hooked him up to a saline drip and gave him an injection to anaesthetize him so they could inert a tube down his throat. He told his father that once he noticed that he was longer texting it meant he was anaesthetized. “When that actually happened, I left for home,” Mervin said.
The next day, around noon, Mervin said, he called the hospital for a status update and was told that his son was discharged.
“Shocked at the response, I started to driving to the hospital when my son called to confirm that he was indeed discharged from the hospital,” the father said.
‘I called you at 3.47’
From the young man’s recollection, Mervin said, he was ‘knocked out’ to allow for the intubation but woke up with a white sheet covering his face.
“Perplexed and scared, his initial instinctive reaction was that he died, so he started crying, only to quickly realize that he can’t be crying if he was dead. So, he pulled the sheet from off his face, did not see the saline drip and no tube in his mouth, sat up in the hospital bed and looked around. He locked eyes with a gentleman sitting at a desk shaking his head from side to side,” Mervin shared.
He later learnt that the man was a doctor on duty and when he asked him what happened the doctor responded, ‘I called you at 3.47!’ Mervin said his son explained that the word ‘called’ was synonymous with ‘pronounced’ or ‘declared’ in conjunction with death. At that time, the clock on the wall read 3.51 am so Mervin asked him if he was declared dead for four minutes, but he said he did not know.
It was only after further discussion, and when he realised that the hospital had thrown out the personal belongings he had taken with him the night before, did Mervin’s son realize he must have been clinically dead for some time prior to the doctor declaring him legally dead at 3.47 am.
“In fact, the doctor told him he was glad he was alive because he was about to call and notify my son’s relatives,” he said.
He said his son had no fever and his breathing was normal. The hospital ran a battery of tests on him and found everything seemed normal. At 5 am, they did a blood test and found antibodies developing, indicating he did have COVID-19.
Mervin said his son is back at his home but still receiving outpatient treatment.
Mervin returned to work on May 8th, but still has problems with his lungs, which the doctors said should be normal by mid-June. Mervin said he will be back in the gym when it reopens shortly.
On a follow-up visit to the hospital, Mervin said, the doctor told his son that he has what is known as Lazarus syndrome or Lazarus gene. This is also known as autoresuscitation after failed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and is said to be the spontaneous return of a normal cardiac rhythm after failed attempts at resuscitation. Its occurrence has been noted in medical literature at least 38 times since 1982.
The medical term got its name from the biblical Lazarus who was raised from the dead by Jesus.
Mervin is appealing to Guyanese to take the virus seriously and ensure they follow the necessary precautions to remain safe as “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” for which there is none for the disease that has been wreaking havoc worldwide.
“Wear the partial face mask recommended. Wash your hands. Avoid large crowds. If you have no underlying health issues, or don’t smoke or drink, your chances of surviving the virus are higher,” Mervin said.
