Paula Galinsky
08/01/2020 - 7:10
- Clarín.com
- Society
-We are going to connect you to a respirator
-Do you have to sleep me?
- yes
- For how long?
- We don't know, one or two days
Natali Levy (32) closed her eyes 13 weeks pregnant and undiagnosed . Within a few hours, they confirmed to her family that her swab had tested positive. Had coronavirusand severe lung damage. The forecast was bleak. Her mother, Liliana, heard the doctors say that there was not much to do.
"I still haven't managed to process everything that happened to me." The one who talks to Clarín now is Natali, who finally came out of the induced coma, not after 24 or 48 hours. He woke up 21 days later . "I had my arms tied to the stretcher, the first thing I asked was to be released to touch my belly and feel my baby, " recalls the woman who was hospitalized for 45 days.
Natali with her husband Marcelo. The pregnant young woman was infected with coronavirus and was in a coma for 21 days. They will be parents in October. (Photo: Juano Tesone)
A year with the best and the worst
Her 2020 had started with great news: finally, after several failed treatments, she was pregnant . But not in Argentina. She had traveled to Israel for assisted fertilization. The choice of the place had to do with positive experiences of friendly couples. As a bonus, she knew that she would be accompanied since part of her family lives in that country.
“The idea was to spend the first quarter there. My husband, Marcelo, was going to travel to meet me and we had a small vacation, with a celebration included by the baby on the way, ”says Natali, who is an Orthodox Jew.
But he could not do anything he had planned. Suddenly, he found that she was pregnant, 12,000 kilometers from her home and her son's father and in quarantine.
“Because of the pandemic, Marcelo could not enter Israel and I did not know whether to get on a plane and cross the ocean while pregnant and at risk of getting coronavirus. You couldn't go through Europe. It was necessary to stop in São Paulo and, by that time, Brazil was already considered a dangerous area , ”he says.
The world was beginning to close and one day he received the ultimatum from the Argentine consulate in Israel: "You have this week to return, then the flights are cut," they warned him. She did not want to gestate and give birth far away. They discussed it with her husband and she took passage.
"I took all precautions. I used chinstrap, glasses, alcohol gel, disinfecting wipes. I thought that, being young, nothing serious was going to happen to me. I did not know that the medications I had taken to get pregnant could affect my defenses and complicate the situation, "she adds.
Pregnancy, fever and Brazil
On Tuesday, March 24, he landed at the Ezeiza airport without symptoms. But the joy of the reunion was short-lived. That Friday night he started to feel bad . “My body ached, a lot. I couldn't keep sitting, ”she says.
He lay down and his temperature rose. He called 107. "Until you are over 38 we cannot do anything," they told him. He made a medical video consultation through his prepaid: they told him to take paracetamol. With the antipyretic, he could not stop the evolution of the picture and reached 38 degrees.
"I live two blocks from the Argentine Institute of Diagnosis and Treatment (IADT) so I waited a few hours and decided to approach the guard," he says.
He said "pregnancy, fever and Brazil" and ended up in a box . "From now on you are isolated," they informed her from the outside through an intercom. She could not say goodbye to her husband.
Natali with her husband Marcelo and her mother Liliana. The pregnant young woman was infected with coronavirus and was in a coma for 21 days. (Photo: Juano Tesone)
Thereafter, the protocol was activated. They did the swabbing, they drew blood, they analyzed his urine and they auscultated it to check his lung capacity. The professionals visited her with an apron, a chinstrap, a plastic mask and gloves.
"The sample was sent to Malbrán. Back then, the results were taking a long time. I was hospitalized for eight days without a diagnosis, ”she continues.
He speaks with his hands free , the conversation is also heard by Marcelo and Liliana who, every so often, add details. They are also there to contain it. Remembering is still very difficult for her.
The fever rose and fell. He lost strength to the point that he needed help to turn over in bed . He had a dry cough and was barely able to make sounds. "I was short of breath," he says.
The following Saturday they gave him oxygen. On Sunday morning a doctor came to see her. “ A hissing sound is heard when you breathe . You have pneumonia ”, he confirmed.
After a while, more specialists returned with news: “We are going to move you to therapy, it is only so that you are more controlled until they give you the result. The room is similar. "
Therapy was Intensive Therapy. And the bedroom was a fish bowl full of new cables, lights, and noises .
They took her in a wheelchair. As she walked down the hall, she could see what was happening in other glassed-in rooms. "They were older people, connected, asleep" ,bill.
It has gaps. She says she hardly remembers the one before she was intubated. She knows that they made her a chest plate, which she had been avoiding for fear that it would affect her baby. The next thing that comes to mind was that talk in which they told him to put her to sleep and connect her to a respirator.
"The idea was not to force the lungs. I asked about my son. They assured that everything would be fine ”, he adds.
He sent a message to Marcelo telling him what they had told him. "I am afraid," he wrote. Passover, the Jewish Passover, a feast that symbolizes freedom and is celebrated as a family, was not far away. Both isolated and alone wanted each other Jag Sameach .
A long dream and the messages of "doctor Martín"
"He behaved like a brother, a friend, a father," says Liliana about "Doctor Martín" by Martín Baratelli, coordinator of IADT Intensive Care.
It is that, due to the coronavirus, visiting Natali was not an option and when she was unconscious, he became the only interlocutor .
They talked for hours on the phone. He explained, Liliana and Marcelo cried, asked, asked questions. Please ask her to do everything to get her out of the coma.
Martín Baratelli, IADT Intensive Therapy coordinator and Natali's doctor. (Photo: Juano Tesone)
They also sent audios for Natali. Martin approached the woman's room and while checking his evolution, gave play to these messages of love with familiar voices for her.
"We were without sleep, without eating, with an impressive impotence and nervous breakdowns. It was terrible not to be able to go see her, " says her mother. It was not enough, we wanted him to get up. "
Since Natali went into a pharmacological coma, life for Marcelo was no longer calculated in days or hours. Medical parts became the new measure of time .
Some days it received two parts and others were done at 5 pm and had no news. For him, the days without news until the afternoon were good: “He felt that the bad communicated quickly . If they didn't say anything it was because, at least, it hadn't gotten worse. ”
It was a slide of emotions. One Monday they intubated him, between Wednesday and Thursday he improved. The following Monday the fever rose, then he was stable but again complicated. "He fell back on the lung," they told him. Marcelo answered the phone trembling. One Sunday it got even worse. And then it started to improve.
According to her doctor, it is not clear what saved her: they used low-dose corticosteroids and adapted the treatment so that it did not affect her baby. They did fetal monitoring and ultrasounds almost daily. On the 21st they decided to lower his sedation to see how he would react.
Breathe again
He opened his eyes and found that he had a huge tube in his throat. In front of her, there was a man of both celestial. It was Martín.
“ You were here 21 days . You have a respirator on. Let's see how you evolve. With this button you can call the nurse. There are cameras, if you need something we will know, you are not alone, "she said. Natali closed her eyes.
When he opened them again, he noticed that there were more people of both in the room. They asked her if she was ready. She didn't understand: "Ready for what?"
They were going to extubate her. Ensures that this feeling of suffocation is not forgotten anymore. “ The heat in my head and feeling like I was dying . Then came a deep breath like when you get out of the water after a long time, "he says. And Martín again on stage: "Don't try to talk, your baby is fine ."
“During the days in a coma I dreamed a lot. Rather, I had horrible nightmares . It was always me who was very serious, there were no problems with my baby, ”she says.
Recognizing herself in that new body was strange. He was impressed by his belly, he was much bigger and bruised from the daily injections he received to treat his thrombophilia picture.
"What is your name? How old are you? What year are we in? And what month? " The last question could not be answered.
"For me there was72 hours have passed. And since the tube was removed, each nap was one day. I asked if I could go and they explained to me that no, that I had just been extubated. She slept half an hour and consulted the same thing again. Another half hour and the same, "he shares.
In one of those awakenings, Martín proposed to make a video for his family. She agreed and was shown thumbs up. The message came with confirmation that the baby was also fine and that the new swab had tested negative. A few blocks away, Liliana and Marcelo did not stop crying, this time with joy.
Natali with her doctor, Martín Baratelli, during hospitalization.
He was unable to leave the clinic overnight. And during the recovery Natali says that her baby was filled with uncles, by her doctor and the nurses, who had been accompanying her while she slept but who, after getting up, were her great support.
The farewell to the IADT will remain forever in his memory: "I was moved and Martín began to cry with me," he recalls. And he says that the only thing missing that day was hugging.
“I can't wait for the pandemic to end to go back to the clinic to say hi. Also to the nurses, ”says Natali, who with the help of a kinesiologist is now recovering from the aftermath that remained after being in a coma for so long.
The plan today is to get well, enjoy the last months of pregnancy and prepare for the arrival of the long-awaited baby, not only for them but also for the professionals who gave everything to see her healthy and mom.
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