I'm Rickey Bevington host of All Things Considered on Georgia Public
Broadcasting. This is GPB's web series, "What You Need
To Know Coronavirus." Joining me is a
survivor of COVID -19, Chip Burger. He's here to share his story.
Chip Burger, thank you so much for joining me. You're welcome.
How are you feeling right now? I feel, I feel feel great.
All my symptoms from COVID -19 have resolved and
my stamina is getting back up into the 90's, so i'm feeling i'm feeling very good.
We're so glad that you are out of the hospital and you're chatting with me and
thank you for sharing your experience with others.
Take me back and tell me the first symptoms that you had.
First symptom that I recognized was a dry cough
on Wednesday March 11th, and just sort out a courtesy to my
co-workers, I left work that day and went and worked
remotely the rest of that week. And then also that evening
my wife said you know you're gonna keep me up all night so go- go find another
bedroom to sleep in and- and I did but I you know at that point I
just thought it was like an allergy reaction and nothing serious.
And what was the point at which you realized that
something's a lot worse here than allergies?
Over the course of the next week, probably starting Sunday the 15th,
I started to sort of deteriorate each day and feel worse
to the point where some weird symptoms started to appear. One was loss
of appetite which for me is very strange. The second one was my sense of taste
changed, where everything tasted contaminated sort of like sawdust and
black mold and then I started having a sound in my chest that was sort of a dry
crackly sound. That must have been terrifying. Did you
go to the doctor at that point? It was and that's sort of what prompted
going to the Wellstar Urgent Care in Roswell.
When you got there, what do they say did they say? Did they recognize it right away?
What happened? They recognized the-
pneumonia right away they said- because they told me right away
you got pneumonia they hadn't really even done any of much evaluation. I said well
how do you know that? They said that's that dry crackly sound you're
hearing in your chest. I said oh that's that's what that is, you know mystery
solved. And then they put a device on the end of my
finger that measured my blood oxygenation level
and that's when they started freaking out and said you know that's just
way too low so you can either, we'll call you an ambulance or you can
drive but you're going across the street to the
Wellstar North Fulton Hospital Emergency room.
So you were admitted to the emergency room, was your wife able to come with you?
Unfortunately not, she dropped me off at the emergency room,
the Wellstar Urgent Care called the Wellstar Hospital,
they had somebody waiting there for me and that
that was the last I saw my wife for about nine days.
That must have been really difficult when you realized-
I'm being wheeled into an emergency room and
there's my wife disappearing in the distance.
Talk about your emotions at that point.
It's funny because I was so weak from the pneumonia
that I was- I sort of went into this slow-mo
casual observer mode and even as the staff started to
evaluate me and you know do the my temperature, my blood
pressure, and all that, and then they put the
oxygenation thing on my finger again that's-
I could just see all the concern in their face,
faces and but I still wasn't, I was just so tired I was just saying
you know what I think I'm kind of circling the drain here, I think
I'm going out but I was just so tired it just I wasn't scared or alarmed.
Did you think you were going to die? I did- I did at that point
yeah, and what did the doctor say did they reassure you?
They were they were very professional very efficient and
really what snapped me out of it is- one of the
emergency room doctors said you know this is a very serious condition, we've
got you on oxygen and they have me on a one of those clear
plastic non-rebreather masks, they had the oxygen flowing and he said
if the oxygen doesn't start to alleviate your symptoms
we're going to have to intubate you and put you on a ventilator.
And that's when I got scared because I don't know where I developed a
ventilator fear but that was just scary to me.
So you were never intubated? I was never intubated.
I asked the doctor, I said doc give me a really good chance at this oxygen
and I just focused on breathing as much as my crackly little lungs
would let me breathe and as fast as I could.
So that's what I did and and fortunately they had-
they had it running at like 15 liters a minute which is
fairly ripping and so uh fortunately I got enough oxygen to start
to recover. The doctors and nurses must have been
very worried about you coming in and out how did they help you
manage your symptoms over these nine days?
Well they were very attentive and the hospital had set up
my room for starters to be like a negative pressure room,
so they had taken the windows out, put in this heavy cardboard and set up
blowers in the room that blew air out of the room so that when the door opened
air came into the room instead of blowing the virus out into the halls.
That was one of their safety measures but also they were very meticulous about
their safety protocols and I could see them
because the the windows were in the door- and
I could see them putting on all this personal protective equipment every time
they came in.
Was it really hard not to be able to see your family?
Oh absolutely but what was nice was I had my phone and so I could text and
call. Initially I was so tired that for every
little bit of effort I did it cost me and sleep so
a lot of times I would wake up and I would have my phone still in my hand and
like half a text written and have to kind of pick it back up
again but you know going towards- I went in on
Sunday so going towards Monday and Tuesday it started-
I started feeling a lot better with the oxygen and
starting to recover. There was a point when you're in the hospital when you
realize that you've really got a fight. What did you do to fight? So it
was obvious to me sitting there in the ICU early on that
my life for the foreseeable future was going to really suck,
and so I decided just to embrace that suck and just do whatever
the staff needed me to do to help me get better. So if that meant
you know an early morning blood draw, a lot of time- 5 p.m.
they would come in to do a shot in my stomach to help
thin my blood and so anything that they needed to do I tried to be an
enthusiastic participant in it because that sucky
part is what was going to save me and if anyone-
any of your viewers get into this situation just- you're not there
at a spa, you're not there for a retreat, you're there to get better and so
the quicker you get on the staff's team and embrace that suck, the
quicker you're gonna get better. What was it like to realize
that you were gonna make it? Oh that was and that was probably about the third
day, I knew I was going to make it, I just didn't know how long
I was going to be in the ICU and so that was that was a big relief.
And that's when I started transitioning from you know kind of worrying about me
to interacting more with the nurses and the doctors that were coming in and out
because- they were so professional and such a
great team and I wanted to join their team so I did
and I started working with them on- you know trying to reduce the amount of
times they had to come in to see me. So I started working with them on- you
know every time you come in just bring me a couple of big
styrofoam cups of water and I'll be good for four hours.
And you know I got them to teach me if the, if the IV went off and started
beeping you know how do I turn it off so you
don't have to come in here and turn it off, and
things like that so that they could be where they were needed more than with me
because by Tuesday I was getting pretty self-sufficient and just trying to
recover and rest.
So there came a day when you were
let out. What was that like?
So my first sort of release was from the
ICU going to just a regular
medical room that had been set up for COVID-19 patients.
And so Nurse Katie came to get me to move me and she also brought
an assistant with a wheelchair and she asked do you want to
walk to to your new room? And I said I would, I would love to stretch my legs so
we started walking out and as we were
walking out of the ICU one of the key ICU doctors came by and started
talking to us and he said, you know this is, this is a win for us
because we've lost some patients in the ICU
and some you know some have left but they haven't walked out of here
so to have a patient walking out of here is a win and we need to recognize that
and we need to celebrate it and so- so that walk from
the ICU to the medical room was one of the best
of my life. It was just just down the hall and up to an elevator
but it was, it was perfect.
I actually just got chills as you were describing that.
Qere you able to talk to any other COVID -19 patients while you were there?
I was not, I was- we were all very
isolated. I wasn't allowed any visitors even in the medical room and they- they
followed very strict protocols to make sure there's no cross-contamination so
I really you know I started asking if there were other COVID-19 and there
there- there were and a lot of them you know of
course survived but there was a lot at the Wellstar North
Hospital that got better that never actually had to go into the ICU. They
weren't that serious, and were released so they've- they've had
a good record of people surviving. But they have had some
losses, you know they have lost some patience despite their best efforts and
and great skill and and technology.
And so that's part of what I wanted to do too while
I was there was to sort of talk them up and tell them how much I
appreciate what they're doing and how important their work is because-
you know they, they saved my life so I was just totally grateful for them
and just aware that they were going
through a lot of tough, tough things themselves.
What do you want to say to the doctors and nurses who saved your life?
Well to the doctors, nurses, physicians assistants at
Wellstar North Fulton hospital I'd say thank you for saving my life,
and I really appreciate everything you're doing
and then more generally to all the sort of front line people that
are dealing with COVID-19 patients, to the police officers and
firefighters, EMT's, social workers and of course the- you
know the urgent care medical staff, ER, ICU,
medical professionals, just thank you so much for what you're doing and I would
encourage your listeners- your viewers to
please reach out to anyone they know-
that's responding to the COVID-19 epidemic because you know they're
putting themselves in danger to help other people and if
that's not the definition of a hero I don't know what it is, and so
you know reach out to them see if- if they need help
because they're dealing with all the craziness, we are too, with kids at
home and trying to get groceries and all that
on top of dealing with a deadly virus-
and very sick and dying patients. So we need to really express our
appreciation for them. And I understand that you are still
separated physically from your wife inside the
house just for a couple more days to keep her safe.
Cruelly, when I left the doctor said I was still contagious
okay so I am on a self-quarantine sort of double secret probation and so-
yeah I have three rooms in the house that I operate in and Heidi has the rest
and then on a beautiful day like this here in atlanta I can go outside
and if I do go into a common area I have to wear masks and gloves and
I spend as little time as possible in outside my realm here in the house so-
so it has been difficult- and you know really since
March 11th to now we haven't really spent a whole lot of time but that may
have helped her not not get it as well so it's probably a-
long term it's beneficial, short term selfish to me I really miss her.
Well what do you plan to do with your wife when you guys can get back together again?
I don't know if we can change talk about that on-
no i'm just kidding, no just you know initially for me I-
I kind of want to give back as much as I can and raise
awareness about- at least what my experience was COVID -19
was and how to maybe avoid it or if you get
it, kind of what to expect. But also I just- I just want my normal life back.
I had a great life, very active and really like my
jobs and my life with Heidi, so
just trying to get back and rebuild that life once all this craziness ends.
And what advice do you have for people who are worried about coronavirus and COVID -19?
Well I think it's smart for them to be worried but not
not panicky, you know just follow the the protocols and the guidance from the
CDC and other officials- but stay a little bit scared
but don't be- You know I survived it, I got a really
good dose of it and I survived. So you know it's not the end of the world
if you get it and try to take some of my lessons learned and
really work with your staff if you do get it but
you know try to stay in that little happy medium between
you know panic and complacency, and just just be aware of your
surroundings and and your health- and washing your hands.
Well Chip Burger, congratulations on your recovery and thank you so much.
Thank you for having me on.