Leah Prestbo treats a number of sufferers a day as a household doctor, and he or she advises them methods to keep protected from the coronavirus in the course of the pandemic.
However when she examined constructive for COVID-19 in April, she turned a affected person herself.
The 38-year-old is a household doctor with Avera Well being — one in all a number of healthcare employees on the frontline of the pandemic who’ve examined constructive for COVID-19.
Her expertise modified her outlook on the virus — it is not simply one thing she’d learn, studied and talked together with her sufferers about now. It is one thing she has a “wholesome respect for.”
“I feel it makes you perceive simply how human and weak all of us are,” she stated about her sickness.
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The pandemic has modified the best way Prestbo and her colleagues work. She’s leveraged expertise, similar to digital visits and different units, to look after her sufferers with out having to see them in particular person. Every morning, she dons a face masks earlier than strolling within the constructing, wipes down her work station and takes a have a look at her schedule to map out the day together with her sufferers.
However even with the adjustments and precautions, Prestbo was uncovered by a coworker in early April. Two weeks later she began to develop chilly or allergy-like signs together with congestion, gentle cough and a headache.
“Within the common world, this could be one thing to take a Tylenol or chilly medication and put on a masks with sufferers, however I might nonetheless come to work,” she stated. “On condition that it was a pandemic, I assumed, ‘Boy, we do not need to danger anybody.”https://www.argusleader.com/”
As a medical skilled, she knew the danger of the virus and instantly was examined and quarantined in her upstairs bed room, separated from her husband and canines. Her check end result got here again constructive on Easter Sunday, and he or she continued to quarantine for the remainder of the CDC-recommended interval.
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Throughout her quarantine, she had some physique aches, however she largely suffered from boredom, she stated. As a physician, she knew what signs to count on, however the data wasn’t useful, because the understanding might result in elevated anxiousness about her situation and signs.
Her expertise was gentle, she stated, and he or she realizes how lucky she was.
“Anytime you do not know one thing could be a time of worry,” Prestbo stated.
Now, she’s capable of take her private expertise and apply it to her sufferers. She is aware of the worry and uncertainty when confronted with the virus, and he or she hopes that whereas the pandemic continues, folks proceed to respect one another by carrying masks and following CDC tips.
“Be respectful and gracious of one another as we transfer by means of this,” she stated. “Assist your fellow man.”
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