A dad who was taken into hospital before the lockdown to be treated for coronavirus and has only just been discharged says he can barely remember months of his life.
George Clark, 61, spent 56 days in an intensive care unit and had to relearn how to learn to swallow solid foods after being on a tube for so long.
The dad-of-three remembers being taken into hospital on March 21, and then woke up in May with no memory of the time between.
He left ICU on May 19 but still faced weeks of recovery in University Hospital Ayr in South Ayrshire, and lost one-and-a-half stone during the stint.
He is now enjoying being back home with his wife, Fiona, 57, after being discharged on June 9.
George said: “It’s been a real blur, I remember very little.
“I can remember going into the ambulance to hospital.
“Then I woke up, asked what the date was and was told it was May.
“I had no idea what happened, I missed the whole of April.
“When I was taken into hospital it was just before lockdown, I had no clue about anything that was going on outside the hospital.”
He was on a ventilator for most of his time in hospital, and was admitted after he developed a “constant cough” and paramedics noticed his oxygen levels were dropping rapidly.
The design engineer needed dialysis while being treated as his kidneys began to fail.
‘I had no idea what happened, I missed the whole of April.’
George Clark
Since being home in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, his recovery has continued with gruelling physio but his lung function is normal.
George said: “I just have weakness in my limbs now.
“I’m learning to walk again and write, it’s all muscle related.
“I was only awake in ICU for a week, I had a tracheostomy to place a tube in my neck to help me breathe.
“It was so uncomfortable, but it saved my life.
“I can’t thank the doctors and nurses enough – they were brilliant.
“It was incredible the scale of the operation.
“There were nurses, physios, doctors flying round.
“I was told it took eight of them to lift me onto my front, when I was sedated to help my breathing.
“When I woke up the nurses and physios would talk to me, but you could only see their eyes.
“The only one I knew was Gill, because she had that written on top of her visor.”
‘It was brilliant seeing them and I had tears in my eyes even before I got to the corridor, then when I saw them, it was just such an emotional moment.’
George Clark
The prospect of seeing his children, Steven, 22, and Rebecca, 25, as well as his wife of 31 years kept him going.
And he has chatted with his oldest son, Ryan, 27, who lives in New Zealand, using Facetime.
George said: “All I could think at that moment, all I wanted to do was see my family again.
“It was brilliant seeing them and I had tears in my eyes even before I got to the corridor, then when I saw them, it was just such an emotional moment.
“It’s fantastic to just be home, having home cooked meals.”
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