GLENDALE, Calif. – Going for walk around his Glendale neighborhood, is something Keith Morris no longer takes for granted.
It’s not the stay-at-home orders that kept him confined, it was his weeks-long visit to the ICU after testing positive for COVID-19.
“I think it was a grand total of 21 or 22 days, I was on the ventilator for 14,” said Morris.
He had sepsis and his organs were starting to fail. But after going through that near-death experience, he didn’t realize he had another challenge headed his way; post-ICU delirium.
“The first two or three outings I had a cane just for stability, and then after probably day three I didn’t need it anymore,” said Morris.
Mobility is just one of the challenges of post-ICU delirium. There is also trouble sleeping, anxiety, and even visions. Morris had delusions of speaking with his late father while sedated in the ICU.
“What I remember more vividly and what was very odd, were the hallucinations. The hallucinations of sitting there, thinking I was somewhere else, not in the room, not in the ICU room," Morris said. "Seeing psychedelic type paintings, pictures and hearing this psychedelic music in my head.”
Once home, he had brain fog for weeks. He had to write things to down or he would forget them.
“I do remember taking showers took longer, I wasn’t moving as quickly, brushing teeth, or getting ready for bed in the morning or in the evening was a slower process,” Morris said.
Sixty to 80 percent of ICU patients before coronavirus suffered from post-ICU delirium, according to NIH. We just don’t know how many COVID-19 patients are being affected by the condition according to Doctor Peter Marshall, a pulmonary critical care specialist at Keck Hospital of USC.
He was one of the physicians who oversaw Morris. He says this delirium is happening to a lot to his COVID-19 patients.
“It’s a result of physical and chemical changes in the body that are affecting the brain," said Marshall. "There might be some psychology to it, post-traumatic stress disorder is well described in ICU patients, and there is probably some of that as well.”
Because COVID-19 is so new, there is little research about the number of coronavirus patients suffering from post-ICU delirium, how long it lasts, or what is the exact cause. However, Dr. Marshall believes increased clotting and strokes among COVID-19 patients might be a contributing factor.
“We found them clotting in their lungs, in their coronary arteries, in the catheters that we place in them for delivery therapy, but there is also a stroke risk as well, and some percentage of this confusion might be related to transient schemic attack or small strokes,” Marshall said.
For now, hospitals are trying to help patients by keeping their sleep cycle on track, as well as giving them puzzles and journals when appropriate.
“Families help orient patients, help calm them down when they are confused and delirious so we have been using two-way video technology to have them see and speak with their families,” Dr. Marshall said.
Family didn’t just help keep Morris oriented, he says they helped keep him alive.
“The outpouring of support and love from not only family but friends has been amazing,” he said.
In the last few days Morris has gone back to his job as a stock trader. Walking and working are helping him regain some normalcy.