A dialysis doctor’s memories with COVID-19 disease

Abstract

This is the testimony of a nephrologist who was infected at the very beginning of the pandemic, in France, while treating his patients. On April 8, 2020, as he was finishing visiting his patients, he experienced myalgia, dyspnea, chills and fever. After two days of trying to stay at home, it became necessary to admit him to the intensive care unit to ensure proper treatment and sufficient oxygen therapy. In this testimony, he describes his own experience as a sick doctor, the effectiveness of the treatments he received, the empathy of his colleagues and the caregivers who took care of him, in a diary kept from day to day. This was followed by a long period of rehabilitation during which he wrote a plea to promote home dialysis methods in order to limit the contamination of end-stage kidney disease patients on dialysis.

The editorial staff has deemed it useful to publish this medical testimony full of humanity, written with modesty and the will to bring support and hope to those brutally victimized by the COVID-19 disease.