DUBAI: He was comatose for 10 days due to Covid-19 and looking back at his harrowing experience, 45-year-old Michael Malayan is now being more careful as he makes his way toward full recovery.
An engineer from Iloilo City, Malayan would these days be seen running up to eight kilometers around his neighborhood every morning in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, a large cosmopolitan area in the southern part of Dubai to regain lost grounds.
“Simula ulit. Pero hangang ngayon, hirap ibalik ang dating pacing,” said Malayan, who had joined marathon competitions in the past.
It all happened in April when Malayan would be gasping for breath, not because he was sprinting but rather the coronavirus had apparently gotten him.
“Nag-agaw buhay ako. Bago ako na-admit, confident pa ako na kaya ko, hanggang nawalan na ako ng malay,” he recalls.
He shared that it all started with a dry cough and slight fever around the second to third week of March.
“Akala ko ordinaryong lagnat lang. Kinakaya ko pa. Hanggang nahihilo na ako,” he said. Dizziness means the body’s oxygen level is going down, which is a sign of coronavirus infection, according to doctors.
Around early April, Malayan said he experienced difficulty breathing and this led him and friends to a hospital, which then referred them to another hospital apparently designated for Covid-19 patients.
The following night on April 5, Malayan was transferred to a specialty hospital “nang hindi ko na namalayan,” he said.
According to reports, Malayan was rushed to the hospital on an ambulance as he was having very low oxygen level, which necessitated that he be immediately sedated, intubated, put on a mechanical ventilator and placed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
A doctor at the hospital, according to a Gulf New report, said Malayan “remained on the mechanical ventilator for 10 days and in coma all through.” He was fed “through a tube going into his stomach.”
“Doon na ako natakot nang magising ako, dahil nalaman ko na tumagal pala ako sa ICU, sedated at intubated,” said Malayan, mechanical engineer and a graduate of Western Institute of Technology in Iloilo.
“Kahit hanggang ngayon kaunting ubo lang at medyo masamang pakiramdam natatakot na agad ako. Salamat sa Diyos at walang positive sa mga pamilya ko,” he added.
Malayan was finally taken off the mechanical ventilation on April 16 and, following two negative Covid-19 tests, was discharged on April 26, which was followed by a 14-day quarantine at a hotel.
Picking up the pieces
But the life-and-death struggle did not end there.
Being bedridden for almost a month from April 5 to 26, Malayan’s muscles have become very weak.
“Matagal pa akong naka-recover mula sa ‘pagkatulog,’” said Malayan. “Mabuti mababait at maasikaso mga staff ng ospital. Bago ako lumabas, naglalakad na ako sa kwarto ko, at advice din ng mga doctor at mga staff,” said Malayan, who now is working from home.
Soon as he could muster the strength, Malayan was back into running in June, looking back at the distance he has made and the harrowing experience he has had.
“Minsan nakakaramdam pa rin ng black-out at panghihina ng katawan, pero ang puso ay dapat i-maintain,” he said.
His advice: “Follow protocols,” among them social distancing and the proper wearing of face masks.
“Ingat pa rin sa mga mataong lugar. At Kung na-admit na (sa ospital), huwag panghinaan ng loob. Regular na communication sa pamilya, kaibigan at katrabaho, na alam mong nagdadasal sila para sa iyo. Sumunod sa mga sinasabi ng Hospital staff. At magdasal, iyan ang pinaka-epiktibong gamot,” said Malayan.
Malayan, whose wife and two sons are in Iloilo, is staying in Dubai with his brother and sister. He arrived in Dubai back in February of 2018 and works at a construction consultancy firm.
The Daily Bread 