Lower Mainland resident Cathy Gibbs wasnѻýt feeling well, but she didnѻýt think it was anything too serious.
Sheѻýd recently been to dinner at the house of a neighbour who was part of her ѻýbubbleѻý ѻý a limited number of people she didnѻýt have to be socially distant with during the current coronavirus pandemic.
ѻýAll of a sudden, after dinner, she [the neighbour] got unwell,ѻý Gibbs described.
Shortly after that, the neighbour phoned Gibbs.
ѻýShe said she had been exposed to COVID and now I had, too,ѻý Gibbs recalled.
ѻýWe were responsible and it still got us.ѻý
The Langley City woman decided to self-isolate at home.
She developed a persistent cough.
READ ALSO:
ѻýI just kept getting sicker and sicker,ѻý Gibbs recalled, but she didnѻýt think it was too serious.
But her daughter, Tammy, could hear the difference in her motherѻýs voice when they spoke on the phone.
Tammy, who lives in Edmonton, phoned the local ambulance service.
ѻýSomeoneѻýs got to check on my mom,ѻý Tammy said.
When Tammy explained her mom wasnѻýt in Edmonton, but in B.C., the Alberta paramedics connected with their B.C. counterparts, and an ambulance team arrived at Gibbѻýs door to check her health.
ѻýThatѻýs when I found out I have pneumonia [caused by COVID-19],ѻý Gibbs recalled.
ѻýI just didnѻýt realize I was as sick as I was.ѻý
A nurse at hospital later told Gibbs she was lucky that her daughter called when she did.
After about a day and a half at Langley Memorial Hospital, Gibbs was transferred to Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH).
Gibbs recalls the paramedics applying defibrillator pads to her chest for the trip, in case she suffered a heart attack en route, and how they drove with sirens on the whole way.
ѻýThey werenѻýt taking any chances, thatѻýs for sure,ѻý Gibbs commented.
She is full of praise for the paramedics and medical staff at both hospitals.
ѻýI canѻýt say enough.ѻý
READ ALSO:
At 72, Gibbs was enjoying an active retirement after several years as Langley MLA Mary Polakѻýs constituency assistant, as well as Polakѻýs predecessor, Lynn Stephens.
On the one-year anniversary of her retirement, on Monday, Aug. 31, Gibbs was at SMH, hooked up to oxygen and a blood pressure monitor, and several other medical devices ѻý unable to get out of bed without assistance.
To help her lungs recover, ѻýI have to lay on my stomach for two hours a day,ѻý she told the Langley Advance Times during a telephone interview from her ICU room at SMH. Sheѻýs one of the 10 in B.C. who top doc Dr. Bonnie Henry has listed in ICU with COVID this week.
Gibbs isnѻýt sure when she will be coming home.
ѻýI think itѻýs too early to say.ѻý
She said medical staff seemed happy with her progress to date.
ѻýIѻým actually doing pretty well,ѻý Gibbs said. ѻýI can actually sit up in a chair. My energy is coming back and the COVID ѻýfogѻý has lifted.ѻý
Gibbsѻý advice to people who doubt the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic; ѻýit is realѻý and even in a small bubble, it is possible to be exposed.
She posted a message online to say she hopes young people are getting the message.
ѻýI know that this virus has affected your life, itѻýs affected everyone,ѻý her Facebook posting read.
ѻýYou can be grateful that you wonѻýt get as sick as I did, if you get it. I know you are young and you want to live you life, I get that. I am old, but that doesnѻýt mean that I want to die, do YOU get that?ѻý
Since she posted to Facebook about her trip to the ICU, dozens of people have flooded her page with messages backing her fight to recover.
ѻýI am so overwhelmed with the show of support I canѻýt even find the words,ѻý Gibbs posted.
ѻýThank you hardly seems enough, but thatѻýs what I have. Thank you and love you all.ѻý
dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter