After a long 12-hour shift at Greenbrier Valley Medical Center, Taryn Parks, DO went home around 7 p.m. last Wednesday.
Unwinding from a long day treating patients — including those diagnosed with COVID-19, Parks felt fine upon finishing her dinner.
But by 8:30 p.m. that same evening, she broke out into a fever along with other symptoms including congestion, coughing, chills and muscle aches.
Then at 1:30 a.m. Thursday, she had lost her senses of taste and smell.
By Saturday morning she was officially diagnosed with COVID-19.
Parks is now in quarantine, isolated from her friends and family while she battles the virus that has caused a worldwide pandemic.
“Since I became symptomatic, no two days have been alike,” Parks said, describing how symptoms of the virus have been severe one day and then tolerable the next.
Parks has been on the frontlines of the pandemic here in the Greenbrier Valley since the pandemic began back in March. Wearing full PPE gear that includes a full isolation gown, surgical hair cap, an N95 mask with a surgical mask on top, a face shield and gloves.
Parks noted that she doesn’t just wear that outfit in each of her patients rooms, but has one set of protective gear that is specific to each patient’s rooms. Meaning a constant change of protective gear as she makes the rounds between patients.
“The isolation clothing serves to protect our underlying clothing from carrying viral particles, and thus we wear this only in the COVID-19 rooms and not when we are outside of them so as to not bring viral particles to ‘clean’ areas,” Parks said. “We continue to wear the mask and faceshield outside of COVID positive rooms to help protect against the most common spread of this virus, which is through respiratory droplets. Even simple maneuvers such as coughing, laughing, speaking or yelling can cause these particles to travel extensive distances, so shielding is our best effort to reduce our risk of spread.
Despite all her efforts to prevent catching the virus, Parks still managed to test positive.
“I cried when I got that diagnosis,” Parks said. “To be very honest, when I received news that I was confirmed COVID-19, I was devastated. I had been in this fight for months, diligently trying to prevent myself from getting it. My role had always been as the doctor caretaker, and suddenly, having it myself, I needed to drop that role and focus on being a patient and getting well.”
Being a physician gave Parks the benefit of knowing exactly what to look for when it came to her COVID-19 diagnosis, and how to prepare for her treatment. But, she also had the consequence of seeing the devastation of what she could be in store for her, as COVID-19 acts differently among patients.
“Hands down, the most difficult part to accept about the diagnosis was attempting to separate all of the devastation I had been seeing with COVID-19 and knowing that I too could be one of the unlucky ones. As this virus seemingly picks and chooses at random whom it decides to impact harshly, there really was no predicting which side of the line I would fall on,” Parks said.
Parks also found herself in the difficult position of not only worrying about her own future — having seen the least and worst of COVID-19 — but just what her being taken out of the rotation meant for her hospital’s medical staff, where she says they are already experiencing staff shortages.
“We aren’t invincible. We too can get the virus,” Parks said.
Parks said the pandemic has taken a toll on her colleagues and medical professionals across the nation and world.
“I have witnessed some of the most courageous team efforts that I have ever seen. All of the medical community is exhausted. Physically, yes, but most of it is the mental and emotional fatigue to continue to fight even when cases increase, staffing decreases, bed availability decreases, and we are surrounded by those (including our own) who become ill from this virus,” Parks said. “The medical community is not only supporting the sick, but trying to support one another through all of this. Each and every medical professional on the front lines of the pandemic, which include doctors, nurses, CNA’s, respiratory therapists, housekeeping, dietary, maintenance, etc., are all putting their health on the line to keep operations running in this fight. We cannot afford to be anything less than diligent when lives are on the line.
With her diagnosis, Parks is now completely isolated from her friends and family with only her dog, Aero (a jack Russell terrier/chihuahua mix) by her side to care for her and keep her company.
“He has been the best COVID nurse a patient could ask for,” Parks said. “On a good day he knows his place is by my side, so while I have been sick he has tripled his loving efforts to watch over me. While I am unable to interact with others, he ensures that I am never alone.”
Parks stated it’s not a new feeling for her because of her work shifts at the hospital over the past nine months where she would work seven days a week on 12-hour shifts, then isolate for seven-days before returning to work at the hospital. Now with her positive COVID-19 test, Parks will be in quarantine for the next 14 days or possibly longer depending on her symptoms.
Parks stated she experienced her worst day with the virus earlier this week on Tuesday, Dec. 1, experiencing major coughing and respiratory issues. She has been without her sense of taste for seven days now.
“Things just taste…gray,” Parks said. “It’s a bizarre feeling.”
Treating her diagnosis, Parks has been prescribed an antibiotic and steroid to treat her symptoms and an inhaler to keep her lungs cleared.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been one that has been hard to pin down and something Parks has seen first hand here in the Greenbrier Valley. Parks said that the medical community as a whole has yet to understand why the virus causes serious harm in certain populations but barely appears to impact others. The age factor risks that come with a COVID-19 diagnosis also appears to be wildly varied.
“I have seen 80-year-old’s do better with COVID-19 than 35-year-old’s,” Parks said. “I have seen patients that seemed like they would handle the virus without significant insult suddenly take a turn for the worse. When you are fighting an ill-defined opponent with no obvious attack pattern, it is hard to know who may be at risk. It makes it unpredictable and gives people a false sense of security. I have never seen anything like this before.”
Parks also detailed the longstanding effects COVID-19 may have on patients who recover from the virus. Reports across the media landscape detail patients describing breathing issues, heart problems and a prolonged disruption of their senses (taste and smell included) after recovering from the virus.
“There has been too much focus put on the low mortality rate of the virus and not enough on the longstanding effects COVID-19 may have on a patient,” Parks said. “We are unable to predict how lung damage in some may cause harm later down the line or, as we know about other viruses, whether this virus may lay dormant long after the acute phase and resurge at will later. We genuinely don’t know how this virus may reappear in the future, which is why preventing contraction of acute illness is incredibly important.
And being on the frontlines, coughing and shortness of breath are the biggest complications patients come to face with.
“This virus has a propensity to hit the lungs, oftentimes causing pneumonia and inflammation, and typically respiratory decline is what we have been seeing as the most serious consequence,” Parks said. “Suddenly, people who don’t normally require oxygen now not only require it, but are requiring increased amounts of it, sometimes to the point where they are unable to breathe on their own, and we are forced to use mechanical ventilators ‘life support’ to breathe for them.”
Parks, who has lived in West Virginia the last three years but recently made Greenbrier County her permanent home, encourages the community to come together again. Parks has heard about how the community has rallied after devastating floods in recent years and is hoping to see that first hand to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My hope is that this community recognizes the efforts of our healthcare team and is signing up to be a part of this fight with us. From wearing masks, to limiting gatherings, to social distancing, we need everyone’s help more than ever,” Parks said.
And Parks said she and the medical community recognizes that wearing a mask can be awkward and even uncomfortable, and not seeing loved ones is hard, and stressed that these practices are worth it to keep one another safe.
“The hardest thing I have had to do during this pandemic is call families over the phone and discuss that their loved ones are declining, or have passed, from an exposure to a virus that ultimately could have been avoided,” Parks said. “And now, our local healthcare workers are becoming ill themselves. I contracted COVID-19 because I have been caring for COVID-19 patients. The healthcare workers live in your community, we are you. Please help us.”
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