Immune-compromised cope with COVID-19 risks
Photo courtesy of Jessica Duck
Alyssa Duck, 9, of Donora, has chronic kidney disease and is at high risk should she contract COVID-19. During her quarantine, she is coloring pictures to mail to seniors in nursing homes.
Photo courtesy of Jessica Duck
Alyssa Duck and her brother Landyn made a banner to cheer up the neighborhood.
Photo courtesy of Jessica Duck
While Jessica Duck and her family were self-quarantined, a kind stranger from Facebook brought them a new thermometer after theirs broke.
Jessica Duck’s biggest concerns for COVID-19 are not that she got laid off, has to stay inside for weeks or whether she’ll have enough toilet paper.
The Donora woman is worried most for her 9-year-old daughter Alyssa, who has chronic kidney disease and is at very high risk should she contract the virus. She was born with only one kidney, and it’s not fully functioning.
“The people who say, ‘It’s only an illness,’ well that ‘only’ is my everything,” Duck said. “I’ve seen what can happen when she gets sick, and I’m not willing to see that again.”
Young Alyssa isn’t alone. For many people in the community, the threat of contracting coronavirus is greater than the flu-like symptoms that often accompany it. People with bodies already fighting disease or with compromised immune systems are at a much greater risk of developing severe or life-threatening symptoms should they contract COVID-19.
Dr. Thomas Corkery, chief medical officer at Canonsburg Hospital, said that population includes elderly patients, because “as you get older, your immune system doesn’t work as well.” He also said folks on dialysis or cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments could be at high risk, as well as organ transplant patients, or anyone with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease.
“Any viral illness tends to affect high-risk populations,” Corkery said. “That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen to them, but they could have a higher risk.”
That’s why people have been asked to stay home, remain as isolated as possible, and be more vigilant with hand washing, he said.
“We’re trying to prevent this from being a major epidemic, but we don’t know where this is going to go. We just haven’t had much experience with this virus,” Corkery said. “We’re all doing this to try to protect the people who are at higher risk should they contract it.”
He said that since the virus is “droplet,” not airborne, it’s transmitted by contact. Thus, the fewer people who are in stores or businesses touching things and spreading germs, the more slowly it will spread.
“Some people may have it without any symptoms, but if they’re out and about, they could be spreading it to other people who may be a high-risk patient who could get into more severe symptoms and respiratory complications,” Corkery said.
Those types of complications could be life-threatening for someone like Alyssa. For three years, she’s been getting treatment at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She had just returned home from seeing her specialist there on March 1 when, four days later, Alyssa developed a cough.
“Her chest was hurting, but she didn’t have difficulty breathing,” Duck said.
On March 8, Duck received a phone call from the hospital in Philadelphia, informing her that a doctor who was in the building the same time they were had tested positive for COVID-19.
“There was no testing at the time,” Duck said. “Doctors didn’t even suggest it.”
Duck pulled her daughter and 12-year-old son Landyn out of school. Alyssa’s cough didn’t seem to turn into anything major, Duck said, but she’s been keeping a log of all of their temperatures, which she’s taking twice a day.
They’ve been isolated inside since March 10, after Duck went out and bought enough supplies and groceries, including plenty of Alyssa’s favorites – macaroni shells and cheese and sloppy joes.
Alyssa was supposed to have blood work done this week, but as long as she’s doing well, doctors suggested postponing to avoid any exposures.
“She’s more safe inside than she is outside,” Duck said. “Prior to everything going crazy, we were already inside. Even if people aren’t afraid of the repercussions of the illness, they should be afraid of the repercussions for the people they could carry it to. They’re not understanding this really hurts people.”
Duck also wants to maintain her own health, as she was scheduled to become a living kidney donor. Though she’s not a match for Alyssa, she wanted to donate in her daughter’s honor. The procedure was postponed, however, because it was considered an elective surgery, Duck said.
In Greene County, Morgan Yoney, of Spraggs, knows all about the precautions a transplant patient must take during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 25-year-old was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as a baby, and in the last 10 years, has had four organ transplants, including a liver, a kidney and two double-lung transplants.
“My doctors told me that I need to self-quarantine because my immune system is compromised because of my transplants,” Yoney said in an interview last week. “I’ve been in the house for five days.”
Yoney said it’s imperative that people abide by social distancing guidelines and do their part to not spread germs. People who don’t are being “irresponsible,” she said.
“It’s frustrating because I’m doing everything I can to protect myself,” she said. “If people could live a day in the life of a chronically ill person, they would understand more why we’re all frustrated with them for not doing what they can. It’s not about them getting sick, but everyone else around them.”
Triss Rowe, of Franklin Township, said that at 60, she’s had some health issues, including two hip replacements. Her left hip replacement was done in January, and she spent nearly two months recovering at Rolling Meadows Nursing Home. While she was there, Rowe said she got the flu, a cold and a sinus infection.
“I have arthritis and kidney problems, and I’m concerned because my immune system is down,” Rowe said. “They’d probably have to admit me because it would be hard for me to fight that virus.”
Rowe said she’s staying inside, washing her hands “all the time” and covering her face to try to avoid catching anything, especially COVID-19.
“They wouldn’t be doing all these precautionary things if they didn’t think it was serious, especially for older people,” she said, talking about state restrictions and guidelines. “I’m actually scared of this, and every day you see another case.”
The key to staying healthy during COVID-19 or influenza season is hand hygiene, Corkery said. For folks who have developed symptoms, stay home, unless the symptoms are severe and require hospital care, he said. Like the flu, there isn’t a treatment for COVID-19, he said, only “supportive care,” such as hydrating, resting, isolating and treating symptoms.
“If you’re not in the high-risk category, stay home,” Corkery said. “You don’t need to be tested because it’s not therapy. The testing is limited, and we want to save the tests for people who really need it. They’re meant for folks who are showing more severe disease progression, with signs like shortness of breath.”
Corkery said that while people should be taking precautions, that doesn’t mean panic-buying truckloads of toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
“When stuff like this goes on, people feel helpless,” he said. “It’s scary, and everyone’s afraid of the unknown. Try not to panic.”
That’s exactly what Alyssa and her family are determined to do. Though quarantined, they get up at the same time each day, get dressed, do their hair and stay productive.
Alyssa has been coloring pictures and mailing them to seniors in nursing homes in the Mon Valley. With the pictures, she’s leaving “thank you” notes for the nurses.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Duck said. “But I think the goal is just to do better every single day. There’s someone out there who has it worse than us.”
She’s maintaining an optimism despite being laid off from her restaurant job last week.
“I worked full time and took care of my daughter, and now it’s just really scary,” she said. “I can’t even go out there to look for a job. Hopefully, I’ll have a job to go to when I return.”
The community has also shown support for each other, Duck said. When her thermometer broke, she reached out for help on Facebook. A kind stranger dropped off a new thermometer on Duck’s door step so she wouldn’t have to break her quarantine.
“We’ve had a lot of people reach out,” she said. “We have a great sense of community here in Donora. Our children look to us and our reaction in times like this, and their reaction will mirror ours. The more parents are able to stay calm and keep a routine, the better off our children will be.”