Post-COVID: 4 months on ventilator recovering at home

Hi @ruchel, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Being in ICU on a ventilator for 4 months must've been really hard, scary and lonely. How is your recovery going? Do you have someone at home with you to support you during your recovery?

It was actually my husband who was in ICU. We have supplementary help and he is getting stronger every day thank G'd. I was just wondering if there was anyone out there who knows of someone who had a similar experience. He is having a lot of trouble with his feet - pins and needles and numbness which is affecting his ability to move ahead with his walking. He is now walking with a walker but lacks the strength and balance to move to a cane

Those pins and needles are a form of neuropathy, and affect up to 1/4 of people who were hospitalized with Covid. Ask whoever is following his rehab if there are any medications they have found helpful.

I am so glad to hear he is progressing, but it has become obvious over the past year that progress after severe Covid is very slow.

Please be sure to celebrate every bit of progress he makes. And be sure to take care f yourself too, what a Long hard journey you two have been on!

Is your husband enrolled in a recovery program?

So far, all we have heard from the medical team is .....time. As we live in Toronto, ON in Canada and the visitation rules were still very strict when he was ready to be discharged from hospital, we decided to forego in patient rehab and come straight home. I hired a private physiotherapist who is excellent and set up my home as a rehab. Bringing him home was the right thing to do. We were able to have our children and grandchildren come and visit regularly which was medecine for him after being unable to see anyone but me for 5 months. Yes, I know that the recovery is a very long process and I try to see the improvement every day.....He had a brutal trip which involved 5 chest tubes that made it very hard for him to be extubate but we did it and he's home now. The only thing he can't do is walk. He can walk with a walker but because of his neuropathy, his strength and balance are compromised. He's working hard and yes.....so am I. I keep looking at the light at the end of the tunnel which was invisible for so many months and is now coming closer. I would love to hear from someone who is in a similar position, but a few months ahead of us.

Hello, seems this post is from 2021, same timing, I was hospitalized for 4.5 months summer 2021. Still recovering.

Would like to share experiences if still interested.