Dr Catherine Rose

With the accumulation of data and knowledge about epidemic outbreaks of COVID-19 diseases, such as acute respiratory syndromes of SARS and MERS, scientists are trying to establish patterns associated with the strong differences in the degree of damage that the current virus COVID-19, causing the disease SARS-CoV-2, causes different to people.

Most confirmed cases of a new coronavirus infection occurred with symptoms of a common cold, sometimes turning into mild pneumonia, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported in mid-February. But 14% of the confirmed cases were severe, accompanied by severe pneumonia and shortness of breath. Another 5% of patients developed respiratory failure, septic shock, and multiple organ failure, and these critical cases were life threatening.

A fatal outcome occurred in 2.3% of confirmed cases. In search of the root causes of this variation, healthcare experts came to the following preliminary conclusion: in the most severe forms, SARS-CoV-2 occurs in the elderly and sick people. According to the latest Chinese data, an analysis of about 45,000 case histories indicates a high likelihood of developing severe forms of the disease in people with chronic diseases and the elderly.

There are less than 1% of healthy people who died from a new COVID-19, while among people with cardiovascular diseases the mortality rate was 10.5%, that is, every tenth infected person in this category. The probability of death for patients with diabetes is estimated at 7.3%, about 6% of deaths is an indicator for patients with chronic respiratory disease, hypertension or cancer. The highest risk of dying – 14.8% – is exposed to patients 80 years and older. Fatal outcomes occur in all age groups, except for children under nine years of age, and, generally speaking, “there are relatively few such outcomes among children,” quoted The Scientist Tedros Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization.

The marked increase in the severity of the disease in older groups of patients distinguishes a new wave of coronavirus infection from other viral outbreaks, especially from the 1918 influenza epidemic, the “Spanish Woman”, in which the highest mortality was observed in children and young people from 20 to 40 years old.

Correlation of blood type with coronavirus severity confirmed

Blood type can play a key role in how severe the disease caused by a new type of coronavirus is. This conclusion was made by scientists from China, the USA and Iran, who conducted independent research. Carriers of blood group A (II) have the highest risk of severe disease due to infection with coronavirus, while the lowest risk of severe disease is with carriers of group O (I).

Virologist, doctor of medical sciences Anatoly Alstein in an interview said that in this regard, on the part of doctors for owners of the second blood group should be strengthened control over the course of the disease.

“There is a connection between the blood type and the severity of the disease, there are a number of scientific publications proving that people with the second blood group often have diseases, they are more severe. And if such a pattern is established, more careful monitoring of the patient’s condition is necessary. But, unfortunately, we do not have a medicine that would help with a growing disease. But it is possible to alleviate the course of the disease by infusion of saline. The second blood group should be under the special supervision of doctors, ”the virologist said authoritatively.

So far, no group of scientists has given an answer why patients with different blood groups react differently to the disease. The researchers also clarified that the results are preliminary and require further study and confirmation.

Abi Swidergal found her dream job combining love for horses with her degree as an Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA). Abi Sidereal was all about horses when she was a kid.

“I grew up riding and taking lessons and then eventually found up owning four horses, showing their magical creatures. They provided me with a sense of strength and belonging.”

She was so hooked on her love for these animals, that she decided to make them her focus in college.

“Equine operations and horse management — that’s all I really wanted to do. So it was the perfect fit for me at South Suburban.”

Although Abi was well-educated in her field upon graduation, she felt like something was missing, so she looked into becoming an occupational therapy assistant to enhance people’s life skills through therapy techniques. She chose to return to her alma mater to complete this goal.

“I decided on South Suburban because of the quality of the Occupational Therapy Assistant program there. I craved knowledge and was ready to work hard to prove myself and create a truly impressive occupational therapy assistant resume for my further career growth and development as a specialist.”

Abi thought she might find a more meaningful career combining this healthcare profession with her love for horses. She was right.

“I work here at Partners for Progress Therapeutic Riding Center — through Pediatrics in Motion. I’m a certified occupational therapy assistant, and we use horses as our tool to provide our therapy. I see changes in my clients very quickly. They are bonded with the animals, there’s a connection. That can’t really be explained.”

One of Abby’s clients is 15 years old Charlie Sims. He has been involved with Partners for Progress since he was three. Charlie is a very vibrant young man who at the age of three and a half showed signs of developmental delay. We had him diagnosed and sort enough it came back autism — and I heard about this program. So we started him on horses, because he was so engrossed with animals. It seemed to really open him up. Charlie also gets bodywork to help with the alignment, but the horse is going to help teach his brain about moving evenly. And the changes in his posture are amazing when he sits on a horse. Every single year. That Charlie and my daughter Mary who also rides here have been in this program. They have progressed in a positive way, because they are surrounded by people who work so hard and animals who work so hard, and they’ve adopted that into their lives.

Charlie’s parents not only credit him with the success he’s earned through hard work but employees like Abi whose dedication to her craft helped their son excel with everyday life skills through the therapy she provides.

Charlie sweeps, he cleans, he helps wash the horses — it has transcended into the home life. I’ve explained to him: Charlie, you know, you can’t just ride a horse and then walk out the door. You need to help. That horse and you need to help the people. That help you — and so that’s the same thing at home.

“Charlie has a phenomenal family. It makes me feel humbled. That these families allow me to work with their children.”

If it wasn’t for people like Abi and these incredible horses, you would never be able to see what accomplishment some of these incredible kids can make in the world. She has a beautiful gift of being able to help with the sensory issues but also the physical issues and that’s a very hard thing to do. Her horse experience, I think has been, you know, a blessing for this place. Because she understands the horse and the way it moves. So she’s able to tap into that experience and use it in her therapy, and as a parent, I love seeing that.

“My degree from South Suburban in Occupational Therapy Assistant got me to where I am.  I couldn’t do my job without that degree, licensure and forehanded help I got from professional resume writers near me. And having my equine operations to back it up and work in this setting is a perfect match. If. You want to help people and you want to make a difference in people’s lives it’s a great field to be in.”

Repost of Boston Children’s Hospital Thriving Blog Article (now misplaced in the internet) – from 2012

In college I had three majors, and eventually went on to earn a PhD and MBA. But my biggest life lessons came from my MOM degree. When I was pregnant I found out I was having twins. Baby A and Baby B were growing fine until week 29, when suddenly I didn’t feel well and went to the hospital. At that point, the doctors told me that they couldn’t find Baby B’s heartbeat.

I was rushed to Boston for further testing, where it was determined that Baby A was alive, but Baby B had died.

Two months later Baby A, now named Alexis, was born. She weighed just 4 lbs. We were given a few moments to meet her before she was whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for monitoring. We then had a chance to say goodbye to Baby B, who we named Kaitlyn. The hospital provided us with lovely print of Kaitlyn’s footprints that we still cherish today.

We were given time to process our grief, but soon a doctor visited our room with devastating news. “Alexis is going to die within her first month of life,” she said. “You should call your family and friends to meet her; she doesn’t have long.” Then she left.

It was a surreal experience to say the least, but two and a half months later Alexis was still in the NICU. She had a long list of medical problems, but the list was overshadowed by her will to live. She was too sick to do much, but she clearly recognized my touch and responded to her dad’s calming songs. Over time her condition improved and we eventually graduated to home care.

As Alexis grew I became increasingly amazed by how far she had come. But despite all she had accomplished so many people continued to define her by her “wrongness”. After all, at just 1 year old, she was dealing with:

Repost of Boston Children’s Hospital Thriving Blog Article (now misplaced in the internet) – from 2012

In college I had three majors, and eventually went on to earn a PhD and MBA. But my biggest life lessons came from my MOM degree. When I was pregnant I found out I was having twins. Baby A and Baby B were growing fine until week 29, when suddenly I didn’t feel well and went to the hospital. At that point, the doctors told me that they couldn’t find Baby B’s heartbeat.

I was rushed to Boston for further testing, where it was determined that Baby A was alive, but Baby B had died.

Two months later Baby A, now named Alexis, was born. She weighed just 4 lbs. We were given a few moments to meet her before she was whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for monitoring. We then had a chance to say goodbye to Baby B, who we named Kaitlyn. The hospital provided us with lovely print of Kaitlyn’s footprints that we still cherish today.

We were given time to process our grief, but soon a doctor visited our room with devastating news. “Alexis is going to die within her first month of life,” she said. “You should call your family and friends to meet her; she doesn’t have long.” Then she left.

It was a surreal experience to say the least, but two and a half months later Alexis was still in the NICU. She had a long list of medical problems, but the list was overshadowed by her will to live. She was too sick to do much, but she clearly recognized my touch and responded to her dad’s calming songs. Over time her condition improved and we eventually graduated to home care.

As Alexis grew I became increasingly amazed by how far she had come. But despite all she had accomplished so many people continued to define her by her “wrongness”. After all, at just 1 year old, she was dealing with:

• Developmental delay
• Plagiocephaly (a flattened appearance in the head or face)
• Choanal atresia (a blockage of the nasal airway)
• Microphthalmia (an eye abnormality where the eyeball is undersized)
• Congenital dacryostenosis (severely blocked tear duct)
• Cleft palate (malformation of the roof of her mouth)
• Risk of Aspiration (swallowing difficulties from cleft palate and blocked nostril)
• Clasped hand deformity/camptodactyly (abnormally curved hand)
• Upper limb hemihyperplasia (unequal growing of the limbs)
• Peripheral pulmonary stenosis (a narrowing of the arteries)
• Bilateral Stenotic ear canals (A narrowing of the ear canal)
• Cervical spine vertebral body anatomy (fusions in her cervical spine)
• Hydronephrosis (a backup of urine that causes the kidney to swell)

But no matter how daunting this list looks, her father and I see a different list when we look at our daughter:

• Joy
• Love of life
• Happiness in her world
• Exciting and social
• Belly busting laughter

Life with a chronically ill child is not easy. Right now Alexis’ medical records are taller than she is, and the list is growing. But on the bright side, Alexis is growing too. In fact, that was my biggest problem with Alexis’s medical care for so long. I wish more doctors acknowledged the bright side.

As a parent of a sick child, I’m asking medical professionals to think about how their actions impact those they treat, outside of tests and prescriptions. To do that, here are a few things to things to keep in mind:

• Always acknowledge, appreciate and respect the family.
• Please understand why we are so anxious to know a diagnosis. We appreciate your desire to be thorough and “solve”
  our child’s problem, but that solution is often just the beginning for us. We’re anxious to know how our lives will change and to find ways to balance that change with parenting techniques that will make our children’s lives better.
• We need to be partners in the care of our kids. You see them for a few hours every year; we keep them alive for the other 8,755 hours.
• We know that part of being a team means getting bad news. However, you have the power to layer those conversations with as much hope and understanding as possible. Please do your best to exercise that power.

I know this list can be followed because I’ve experienced it firsthand. After years of treatment and following Alexis through one challenging diagnosis after another, one of Alexis’s doctors recently watched her walk out of her sixth annual checkup, hand-in-hand with her dad. The pediatrician was so moved by all Alexis has overcome she started to cry. She told me later that the tears started flowing because she was so proud of Alexis, so proud of us as parents and proud of herself and her staff for helping everyone get this far.

That afternoon we all saw Alexis not as a collection of wrongness, but as a bundle of hope. We knew that six years after her birth, “A” didn’t just stand for Alexis, it stood for Awesome.

9 years ago, I spent some time over the summer asking for medical records.

I wasn’t asking for my own, I was asking for my daughter’s medical record. You see, she had ‘graduated’ from the NICU but had spent time in 2 hospitals within 1 network – and we were already at our 3rd hospital.

Fortunately, I knew to ask. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy. Thankfully 9 years have passed and I don’t remember all of the details – other than I know I had to show up in person at both hospitals. I think I had to pay at one, but I don’t think it was that painful (to the pocketbook). I scanned the pages and created a FYOL document – FYOL = First Year of Life. It’s 4MB and 122 pages.

The reason I’m fortunate is because having the data myself saved my daughter (we can argue if I saved her quality of life or just her life). But most doctors would agree recurrent high blood potassium isn’t an ideal situation. The Story:

So when Alexis was celebrating her 100th day in the hospital and her 1 year birthday at the same time, we were assigned a kidney specialist – but ultrasound didn’t show anything but yet we could leave the hospital for 3 weeks because Alexis had elevated potassium levels. And I thought, hey wait – I have notes from her NICU and ‘step down’ days that show her bloodwork having high potassium too. I had all of Alexis’ paperwork by then, plotted the data and spelled out in an email to the doctors on her team. Sadly they dismissed me. But I referred to Dr Google and had the answer, so I emailed the head of the kidney department and said “My daughter has pseudohypoaldosteronism type II. Who on your staff can see us and confirm the diagnosis and start treating Alexis?” He emailed back even though he was traveling and validated my observations and recommended a doctor on his team

Without being armed with the knowledge of my daughter’s details and being able to share it with her new hospital, we never would have begun easy treatment with extra sodium.

It’s never easy to diagnose pseudohypoaldosteronism type II, and even more impossible without trended data. And when those trends sit as dots in individual hospitals, it will never be a trend. So the diagnosis was done by a Mom – who did have access to all of the data.  But not without hard work to connect the dots. But then again, it’s my own daughter’s life on the line.