Chula Vista City Councilman Steve Padilla Recounts Battle With COVID-19

Speaker 1: 00:00 About 200 San Diego residents have recovered from COBIT 19 and our next guest is on his way there. After nearly a month long battle with the virus on March 14th Chulavista council members, steepen IA posted this video on his Twitter account. Speaker 2: 00:15 Hi friends. After recently experiencing symptoms, I was diagnosed as being positive for the coven 19 virus, also known as coronavirus. I'm doing very well. I'm feeling well, Speaker 1: 00:27 but days later his condition worsened. He was admitted to an intensive care unit, sedated, put on a ventilator. He's home now and from the hospital recovering. And Steve [inaudible]. Welcome. Thank you for having me. Well, first of all, how are you feeling today? I'm feeling, Speaker 2: 00:42 uh, physically better every day. Uh, emotionally, of course it's been, it's been quite a journey. Speaker 1: 00:48 I'm sorry. Walk us through what happened in the beginning. You were at home feeling well, and at one point we were working on scheduling an interview with you on the show. And next thing we know you're in the ICU. How did you go from being home in quarantine to feeling much, much worse? Speaker 2: 01:03 That's the nature and insidiousness of this virus, right? It's indiscriminant moves very quickly on the young and the old. Uh, and in my case, uh, that's exactly what happened is I rapidly, uh, was moving towards basically respiratory distress is having more and more difficulty breathing, higher spiking fevers and shakes, ended up visiting the emergency room at UCS and a couple of occasions. And before you know, it, I'm being admitted to the hospital and having conversations with my physicians about being intubated so that they could intervene pretty quickly in my case. And I think they're doing so frankly saved my life. Speaker 1: 01:47 So we've read that most people who come down with COBIT and ICC team experienced mild symptoms is the range of symptoms. And then of course, there's folks like you who need help breathing and need a ventilator. You surprised by this range of experiences after having contracted this disease? Speaker 2: 02:03 No, I mean, from what I've seen is, uh, there's a, there's a range of experiences. Yes. Most people who get it do recover. Yes. Uh, but many people do get very sick and, uh, you can be young, you can be old. Uh, you can be from a variety of backgrounds. It's very indiscriminate. And when people get into distress because of this virus, it happens very quickly. Speaker 1: 02:26 And as you say, you believe a, you share the sentiment of a lot of folks who, who were on ventilators and, and believe it really saved your life. Speaker 2: 02:34 Absolutely. What they were telling me, uh, before we got to that point was that what they were seeing in at 19 patients were that when they did get into distress, it happened very rapidly. And I didn't, I think they didn't want to wait, uh, to get to a point where, uh, I was that critical. Uh, and so they intervened a pretty conservative, pretty early way when I was not oxygenating properly. Uh, they moved me to the ICU and talked about putting me on a ventilator pretty quickly so that, you know, my body can take all of its energy and fight a virus rather than trying to struggle to breathe. And, um, you know, I feel very lucky because I think the great care that I received, I think it saved my life. I think on a, on a personal and an emotional level, it's been quite a journey. Speaker 2: 03:29 And that, um, I can remember being the night they were going to move me out of the intensive care unit. I was waiting to be moved. Then one was watching a national network and they were reporting the story of a surgeon in New York who died in the arms of his husband simply because he went to work to do his job and he got sick and he died. And I saw other stories about, you know, the assistant principal who married his high school sweetheart and coached soccer and who was 42 years old and who was fine, got sick, ended up on a ventilator and never came home. So for me, I've really spent a lot of time reflecting on the fact that I got to get wheeled out of that hospital last week and that around this country, and even here in San Diego County, there are people who are never coming out and it's indiscriminate and it's random and it's vicious. Speaker 2: 04:30 Uh, and which is why I think we need to continue to take this extremely seriously. And in my case, I really had done a lot of reflecting about what that really means and what it should mean, uh, for me and for our community. Well, that's a message we should all take to heart, certainly. And now you're home. Uh, what's your recovery been like there? You know, it's, some of it's the harder part, right? Um, what happens when you're intubated like that for a period of time? You don't use your muscles, so you have some wasting that happens. I lost about, I think 27 pounds during the course of the 11 days I was on a ventilator. Uh, I've lost a lot of muscle mass to my legs. So it's almost like kind of learning to walk again in some ways. Uh, but I'm getting stronger every day. Speaker 2: 05:16 I'm up and about, um, I'm light years from where I were when I first, uh, came out of the ICU. But you know, what my physicians told me, and I think it's true for any Kovac patient, particularly critically ill patients, is your body suffers a tremendous trauma and it really deals with inflammation. And the only thing that's gonna really deal with that is time and you know, steady and slow progress. So I'm really grateful to be here. Um, uh, mindful of what it means that I'm here or it should mean, um, and I'm focused on just getting stronger every day, uh, and putting one foot literally in front of the other [inaudible] Speaker 1: 05:58 and have doctors said, how long a you need to remain in quarantine now that you're released from the hospital? Speaker 2: 06:04 Well, um, you know, my symptoms started to present coming up on a month, so we're kind of blown away past the typical 14 days [inaudible] period and probably even past the three day period without any real symptoms. So, uh, in my particular case, uh, probably got some good antibodies and probably not shedding virus anymore, but they're being conservative. Um, I'm staying with my daughter, my son in law for a period of time. We're being very conservative about it and kind of quarantining and wearing masks and all that. I certainly do that when I go out, uh, just to be mindful of others, so we're being pretty conservative with it. Um, but I, in my own personal case, I think I'm pretty far along down the road. Speaker 1: 06:52 So does this point come where you're given a letter or a badge saying you're now immune and free to go about the community that's actually been considered someplaces Speaker 2: 07:00 somebody I know, I haven't received anything from the County. Obviously. The last thing I did was when I was first diagnosed, uh, and they sent me a letter, a very polite letter saying stay home. Um, but that was obviously before I went into the hospital. Uh, I will be having a follow up, uh, with my physician this week and I'll obviously have a lot of questions and follow up for them and they'll give me a lot more specific, uh, specific guidance. Then Speaker 1: 07:29 now the San Diego blood bank is asking people who've recovered from at 19 to donate blood plasma. Is that something you're involved with or considering? Speaker 2: 07:38 I have, I am going to have that conversation with my primary care physician this week and I'll have a lot of questions around it. And obviously on a personal level I'm going to do anything I can personally do to try to be helpful, both in terms of sort of using my voice, uh, from this experience. Um, and you know, contributing in a way that's helpful to other people. Speaker 1: 08:01 And what would your message be to the public right now having experienced this terrible virus Speaker 2: 08:06 care for one another, respect one another's health. Take it very seriously. You know, we're still not through this, this isn't just a public health crisis, it's an economic crisis. There's a lot of people who are hurting and scared. Um, this is something none of us, I think I've ever lived through. Uh, I think the last pandemic was over a hundred years ago. So this is, this is new and it's scary and this is a moment when people need to really be respectful of one another and to be there for one another. Speaker 1: 08:42 Well, I've been speaking with Steve Badea, Chula Vista city council member. Steve, thanks very much. And take care of yourself. Speaker 2: 08:48 Thank you for having me.