“Indi kita madulaan sang paglaum. Indi magbulag sa Ginoo. Ang Ginoo ang the best doctor. Bisan ano kabudlay, puede ikaw pa-ayuhon kag sia lang ang makahatag sang miraclE.”
Antonio Gelvero of Guimbal, Iloilo, Panay‘s first COVID survivor
Sitting comfortably at home next to his wife, one might find it hard to believe Antonio Gelvero of Guimbal, Iloilo had looked at death in the eye.
The 66-year-old has a steel to his voice. He was terse in his words, no flair and only turning soft when talking about his harrowing battle against a traitorous nemesis – the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
EARLY COVID DAYS
For Antonio, the memory of the day when he started to feel sick was still vivid.
It as by the second week of March last year, he said, when “I started to notice chills and muscle pain.”
The following day, when he languished in bed and struggled to draw deep breaths, Antonio knew he needed to go to the hospital.
On March 13, Antonio was admitted to the Rep. Pedro G. Trono Memorial District Hospital in Guimbal.
He thought he would be there for just a couple of days, take some medicine and he’d be back home.
Estelita, Antonio’s wife, also thought her husband only had flu but the lay minister at the St. Nicholas of Tolintine Parish Church had grown so weak he could barely walk from his bed to the bathroom.
By then, healthcare workers at the district hospital were only getting familiar of the foreign illness. They were suspicious of the elderly’s symptoms yet nothing prepared them to perform medical procedures to determine if their patient was indeed infected.
This forced doctors to transfer Antonio to The Medical City Iloilo in Molo, Iloilo City.
There, Antonio settled into a patient room and rested for a couple days. Soon, though, he was transferred to another room. He wasn’t sure why. This was the last thing he really remembered.
PANAY’S 1ST COVID PATIENT
The next days and dark nights saw the father of three lying in a bed in the intensive care unit (ICU).
Antonio spiralled quickly. Little did he know that something vicious was ravaging his frail lungs.
Four days after his admission, the elderly went on a medically-induced coma; a ventilator was doing the work his lungs no longer could. His chances of survival were plummeting.
On March 23, Antonio was tested positive for coronavirus disease. He became the first resident in Panay Island infected with the viral disease. He was also the first to get intubated, the most serious intervention for coronavirus patients.
For more than a week Antonio was unconscious at the ICU. Doctors and nurses in layers of protective gear periodically checked on him. They were stumped while scouring medical texts for treatments.
Estelita, who could only watch her husband deteriorate, was also admitted in the same hospital after suffering an asthma attack. She was tested for possible coronavirus infection but she turned out negative.
As part of the contract tracing, the couple’s house helper also had her specimens examined. She was positive but asymptomatic and was told to go on a strict home quarantine.
GOD’S GRACE
Antonio considered March 25 a miraculous day. He was on the verge of losing his battle against the coronavirus when something strange happened.
“May nurse nga nagling-ling sa akon room. Didto nakita ya ako nga nagakatulog lang, pero iya na-notice nga waay na ang tubo nga ginatakod sa akon,” Gelvero told Panay News.
The nurse told him: “Tatay grabe gid ang pangamuyo nila sa simo, no. Tingala gid kami nga nahukas ang tubo pero indi sa dughan mo nagtupa. Nga-a ari sa sabak mo haw. Kon waay sang nagkuha sadto, paano makalab-ot sa sabak mo. Sin-o makakuha sadto kay ang imo kamot puro nahigot.”
For Estelita, a catechist, it was God’s divine interception that saved her husband from a near-death situation.
“Hambal sang mga doctors, once kuhaon ang tubo either nga mag-straight na lang ang monitor nga patay ka na kag kon buhi ka pa ma-struggle ka kay nagahagap ka sang hangin. Nagapati gid ako nga miracle ang natabo sa bana ko,” Estelita said.
Prayer was the only refuge of the Gevero family, including the couple’s three children all working abroad.
“Sang time nga naga-struggle si Jesus Christ naga-struggle man ako pero sang nagkayab sia gin-upod ya man ako, gindala ya man ako,” Antonio said.
ROAD TO RECOVERY
As March ended, Antonio started to improve but doctors grappling to treat him didn’t know why.
At 66, Antonio was immunocompromised. One told Estelita her husband, at one point, only had a 15-percent chance of survival and that he’d likely won’t last that long.
They believed the ventilator saved his life by giving his lungs time to recover. They also consulted with an infectious disease expert and adjusted his medications.
Whatever the reason, Antonio woke up in early April with a tracheotomy tube helping him breathe.
At first, he couldn’t walk. He could barely scribble and couldn’t speak.
Initial rehabilitation started quickly. A week later, he took his repeat coronavirus tests – all came back negative.
On April 12, Antonio saw himself eased into a wheelchair and hollered across the hospital hall – ending a total stay of nearly 30 days in the ICU. The lay minister ambled through a group of applauding hospital staff as the first resident of Panay who beat the deadly respiratory disease.
STRENGTHENED FAITH
Antonio couldn’t thank more all the persons who helped him get through the toughest days of his life. Looking back at his harrowing ordeal made Antonio further fortified his faith in God whom, he said, gave him another chance to savor the greatest gift of life – her wife and three children.
“Indi kita madulaan sang paglaum. Indi magbulag sa Ginoo. Ang Ginoo ang the best doctor. Bisan ano kabudlay, puede ikaw pa-ayuhon kag sia lang ang makahatag sang miracle,” Antonio said./PN
