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Co-workers, drama and miracle: they were on the verge of dying and the plasma saved them

2020-06-01T15:29:09.659Z


José Iturbe and Carlos Arapa were interned almost at the same time, in the same place. They were in serious condition, but improved upon receiving antibodies from recovered patients.


Javier Firpo

05/31/2020 - 16:20

  • Clarín.com
  • Society

They are from Grand Bourg, they work in construction, they live close to each other and they were interned in intensive care at the same time. Both infected with Covid-19. The two were closer to leaving than staying , said by themselves. José Iturbe (43) and Carlos Arapa (40) are unknown companions of a misfortune and known companions of a miracle.

Iturbe, who has two children and is a bricklayer,  still can't believe he is alive to tell the tale. He was discharged on May 24 after being hospitalized for 16 days, "in a situation of absolute gravity." Arapa also works as a bricklayer and lives with her brothers. "I did not imagine that this virus could be so hunchback, now I pray for my old man, who is fighting it."

Iturbe and Arapa are two of several  patients with Covid-19 who received blood plasma from people already recovered from the disease to generate the necessary antibodies to help them fight the infection. "It is  a medical procedure carried out for the first time in the province of Buenos Aires in the context of a pandemic," reported medical and municipal sources.

The procedure was performed at the Federico Abete Trauma Hospital in the town of Malvinas Argentinas. "The introduction of blood plasma from a patient recovered from coronavirus is one more tool that we doctors have to fight the disease , it is one more chance that the patient has, it is a kind of vaccine that we can give him with the antibodies that another recovered patient generated "Dolores Ouviña, doctor and health secretary of the municipality, told Clarín, days ago, who maintained that" the plasmas are concentrated in the Hemotherapy Institute. "

Jose Iturbe (43), between life and death. "I was resigned that it would be a one way road, it was difficult to break free, when I remember my state I cannot believe that I am now standing, talking."

A resident of Grand Bourg, José Iturbe talks to Clarín and travels at noon on Friday, May 8, "when I started to feel strange, it seemed like a flu condition, my body ached, I was listless, weak , but that day I had to do paperwork and I went out the same. When I got home I threw myself on the bed and a couple of hours later I was flying with a fever , I was 40 degrees. "

Iturbe started to get short of air and Graciela, one of the sisters with whom she lives called 107, "Within half an hour the ambulance arrived, they took me to the Trauma Hospital, they did the swabbing, they took out plates and they noticed that my Lungs were complicated . I was admitted on a Friday, on Sunday they gave me a positive result and at night I was in intensive care. It was rampant, "he graphs.

He remembers how he felt and admits that "I was resigned that it would be a one-way road, it was difficult to break free . I was always lucid and saw the excitement around me, I was able to capture the concern of the doctors. I was also aware of my seriousness , it was very difficult for me to breathe, I wanted to talk a little and I drowned , my chest hurt a lot. All the images of my life, the faces of my 16-year-old children, came to me, "says Iturbe, the protagonist of his own movie. terror.

José Iturbe, along with another patient, Martín González, when he was close to medical discharge. Behind, in red, is Carlos Arapa, in an image "marked by fate", they coincide.

He had a mask that gave him oxygen and a cannula in his nose. Her delicate state was on the way to intubation . "But the doctors, who are really heroes, told me that before they intubated me they were going to give me intravenous plasma from other recovered patients . I told them to do what they thought was necessary."

The man who became a widow two years ago says that on the weekend of May 16 and 17 "I shared therapy with other people who were on the road . They gave me an opportunity, I'm not a believer, but I think the one above did something for me. " The miracle was beginning to take shape. " Within 48 hours of getting plasma, I started to feel better, the virus seemed to recede , the lungs regained air capacity, and progress was steady."

Coronavirus in Malvinas Argentinas: patients improved after being injected with plasma.

When asked where he thinks he was infected, Iturbe does not hesitate between two options . "On April 27 I went to do a retirement process at the bank where they pay my mother, who is in the center of Grand Bourg and there were many people. And on May 5 I went to another bank to collect the AUH and also, I did a very long tail. I am convinced that if it was not in one it was in the other. "

Although just a week ago, she was discharged and returned home, " I don't really have a real discharge , I should have two swabs this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, because according to the last one I had last week, I'm still positive In other words, although I am much better, I cannot claim victory. "

Single, childless, raised in the Salta town of Payogasta, Carlos Arapa is convinced that "I caught the bug through my father, Julio (59), with whom we shared a plate of food. The old man had a flu, he didn't seem nothing complicated, but finally he was infected. He is still fighting it, boarding school, but on the way to recovery. "

Carlos Arapa: "I was very low, the fever and the lack of oxygen had hit me so badly that I no longer had the strength to get ahead."

Arapa's course is at least striking. On Saturday, May 2, he felt a few lines of fever and "I started to crawl, mentally feeling that I was sick , I don't know. The fever did not subside, I went to sleep, I woke up in the middle of the night soaked. I could get the covid out of my head, I took a shower and I went early to the hospital on Sunday. "

Arapa explained his symptoms to the doctors, who reviewed him, did tests, a swab and medicated him to lower his fever. He was feeling better and returned home. "I left the hospital convinced that I had a flu-like state." 48 hours passed and he was notified by the hospital that he had tested positive.

"As I live alone, I told them I would stay home, isolated." But with the passing of days,  the clinical picture was complicated by a lot of cough and shortness of breath. " At 9 am on Monday the 11th the ambulance was at the door of my house. I felt like I was dying."

He returned to the hospital where he had been the week before, "but now the situation was serious, although I thought I had pneumonia. I felt lacking in oxygen and after a plaque they took, my lungs were in very bad condition. They told me that It was complicated and the next day I was transferred to intensive care. "

I remember the symptoms I had and Arapa's soul is squeezed. "It is a dreadful state, I do not wish it on my worst enemy. I was without strength, almost delivered, until one of the doctors asked me for permission to do a plasma treatment on a recovered patient . Obviously I said yes. , and luckily my body did not reject it. "

An expression of relief followed by a smile Arapa transmits when he says that " the recovery was very fast, I remember that the next day I was stronger , with greater respiratory capacity, in fact the oxygen applied to me through the nose felt I did not need it. And so a few days passed, they sent me to a common room and on the 22nd they released me. I was getting back to being, I wanted to move, walk, I couldn't stand being in bed . "

José and Carlos began to become friends via WhatsApp. They both know what happened and how they passed it , that's why they promised a reunion with other "two compas of misadventures", they say smiling. "We already have the meeting for a barbecue ready." They are both very grateful "to the doctors and nurses at Abete Hospital, and also to the plasma donors."

"Although we know that plasma was used to neutralize the virus, for us it was like a miracle cure, it was like a remedy to alleviate our terrible discomfort . We know that we are not definitively cured, we are waiting to make new swabs to give us the blessed 'negative', but we can live quite similar to how we did before, "they agree.

GS

Source: clarin

All life articles on 2020-06-01

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