Mother tells of son’s traumatic post-Covid experience in ICU
WHEN her teenage son lay ill in an intensive care bed with a post-Covid illness, it was the moment he suddenly asked for Weetabix that Mo Ismail realised he was going to pull through.
The family have spoken about their traumatic experience in the hope of encouraging people who may be reluctant to get the vaccine for themselves and their children, to go for it.
Joud Ismail, 15, tested positive for Covid-19 at the beginning of September.
Ten days later he was considered to have recovered, but at the end of the month he had a high temperature, was vomiting, and had rashes on his body.
Initially the doctors were perplexed, but a blood test showed that something was very wrong because Joud had extremely high levels of inflammation.
A diagnosis was made of Paediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS), and Mrs Ismail said after that diagnosis her son eventually got better.
‘I walked in on one of the evenings and my poor husband was white as a sheet, there were about four or five people in the room, Joud had a fan on him, he was on oxygen, he had lines coming out of everywhere, he had a blood pressure monitor, he was catheterised, there were two ice packs under each arm, and the nurses told us to prepare ourselves for a really rough night. He was really unwell.
‘And actually at 11pm he turned to me and said “mum, can I have some Weetabix?” He hadn’t really eaten all week and that was the first sign that he might be turning a corner. He ate two Weetabix, which was amazing.’
The family were at Joud’s hospital bedside every day from 7am till 11pm. Mrs Ismail tried to sleep in the parents’ room at the PEH, although she was consumed by every parent’s worst nightmare.
‘I would lie on the parents’ bed thinking he’s going to die, he’s going to have a cardiac arrest when I’m not there, he’s going to have toxic shock, they’re going to take him to Southampton.
‘You wait for the phone to ring, it’s absolutely hideous, so you don’t sleep you just lie there, and if you do sleep a little you wake up, and there’s no way of getting back to sleep again.’
As Joud improved the various lines and wires around him were removed bit by bit and he was discharged from Frossard Ward and allowed back home. His parents still could not relax because suddenly they no longer had the team of medical experts around them, and Mrs Ismail described herself as ‘absolutely terrified’.
As they rebuilt themselves she said her son’s spirit shone through.
‘The paediatrician said he couldn’t do anything for seven days, but he’s amazingly strong and a very driven young man.
‘He said to me “the paediatrician said I couldn’t do anything for a week, so I’m going to school next Thursday”.’
