A physician has shared a video of what a coronavirus cough can sound like in a child after her four-year-old son was hospitalized last month despite the family going into quarantine before Colorado ordered lockdowns.
Anna Zimmerman posted a clip of little boy Lincoln hooked up to tubes and having difficulty breathing on his fifth day in a medical facility and revealed the heartbreak of watching him in pain.
She wrote on her blog it was heartbreaking hearing him say: ‘Mama, this isn’t worth it. Mama, when is this going to stop? Mama, I don’t feel so good. Mama, it is no use. Mama, I’m not gonna go home.’
Lincoln has since recovered but Zimmerman warned parents to take COVID-19 seriously.
Anna Zimmerman posted a clip of little boy Lincoln who had difficulty breathing earlier this month on his fifth day in a Colorado medical facility
He first started sneezing March 21 and by March 30 he was needing more and more support and oxygen and was admitted to the hospital, his mother writes on her blog
‘As a physician, I followed the outbreak of COVID-19 in China and Italy closely. Although no state or federal mandate was in place, we pulled our kids out of Jiujitsu and swimming lessons early, because we believed this virus was dangerous before many people started to take it seriously,’ the mother explained on Mighty Littles.
‘The kids continued to go to preschool and kindergarten, and their last day at school was March 12th.’
The state of Colorado closed schools from March 16.
Zimmerman said her children never went on a playdate and she wouldn’t even let them go across the street to talk to their neighborhood friends.
‘We adopted the stay-at-home recommendations early and stuck to them. We did everything right’ she writes in the blog.
However on March 21 Lincoln began showing signs of coronavirus.
‘Lincoln sneezed a few times, I thought it was allergies. The following day he got a stuffy nose and slight cough. He didn’t have a fever and I wasn’t super worried, I assumed he picked up a little cold,’ she explained.
‘On March 27th, he got a fever – a high fever to 104.5. He looked miserable and pathetic. I started to worry. We saw the pediatrician first thing in the morning on March 28th, got a diagnosis of pneumonia after a viral illness (totally reasonable) and we did oral antibiotics and oxygen at home for the next 48 hours.’
Zimmerman said Lincoln had moments where he looked ‘totally fine’, and other moments where he looked sick.
By March 30 he was needing more and more support and oxygen and was admitted to the hospital, his mother writes.
But she still wasn’t convinced he had coronavirus as after March 12 only Zimmerman and her husband left the property. He went to Costco once and she went to Target once.
‘I knew walking into the hospital that we would be there for a few days – I thought three, maybe four. I knew that he would be placed on a ‘COVID rule out’ – where they treat him as if he has it until the testing comes back negative,’ the physician wrote online. ‘And, because I am familiar with hospital policies on COVID, I knew that I would not be able to leave his room until his testing was negative.’
From needing 2 liters of oxygen from his first day in medical care to requiring 9 liters by the following night, Zimmerman became increasingly anxious and described watching her son in pain as ‘agony’.
‘He was working so hard to breathe – using all of the muscles in his chest, abdomen, and neck to help him breathe,’ Zimmerman wrote. ‘The medical terms used to describe respiratory distress – seesaw breathing, nasal flaring, grunting, retracting, tachypneic – he had them all.’
Zimmerman said even though his labs and X- Ray didn’t look like coronavirus, the doctor confirmed on his second night in hospital that he had COVID-19.
The mother cried at hearing the news and didn’t understand how the child got ill despite the family being so careful.
‘His timeline didn’t fit. His labs didn’t fit. His X-ray didn’t fit. We took all the precautions,’ she explained.
‘I did everything right. I was supposed to keep my family safe and I failed.’
Zimmerman was also worried the rest of her family could get sick and found it difficult being apart from them while she isolated in the hospital room with Lincoln.
She struggled not being able to have contact with him and watching him refuse to eat due to loss of appetite.
He was on as much as 9 liters of oxygen a day at one point and he would tell her: ‘Mama, this isn’t worth it. Mama, I’m not gonna go home’
Zimmerman wrote: ‘The medical terms used to describe respiratory distress – seesaw breathing, nasal flaring, grunting, retracting, tachypneic – he had them’
‘He will cough up slime, and look totally air hungry. His saturations will drop and his heart rate will spike,’ Zimmerman shared in her blog
‘I can’t even bribe him to eat chocolate pudding or chocolate milk or chocolate ice cream — and this is my kid who asks me first thing in the morning ‘Mama, are you hiding chocolate from me?’ nearly every morning,’ she joked on the blog.
By the time she shared the video of his dry cough, Lincoln had been in hospital five days on April 4 and was beginning to eat small amounts. His oxygen had been brought down to 4 liters but he still had ‘the WORST cough ever’.
‘He will cough up slime, and look totally air hungry. His saturations will drop and his heart rate will spike,’ Zimmerman shared.
She described him as sleeping 16 hours a day with 30-minute bursts of being upbeat.
She added about her isolation: ‘Did I mention I don’t have a shower???’
Zimmerman said friends and neighbors have dropped off food and body wipes.
As she encouraged others to reach out to those who may be in need, the mother said Lincoln was doing much better by day 6 in hospital. He was off IV fluids and on just 1 liter of oxygen.
‘No one blamed or shamed us for our son testing positive,’ she said about the support. ‘I hope that this sense of community will persist after we move back towards our daily lives after COVID.
‘Please stay safe. Please stay healthy. Please take this virus seriously – it is no joke.’
‘Starting to see my little boy again’: Lincoln is pictured on day five in hospital this month