Pretoria man tells of his five-months-long battle with Covid-19
“My wife told me that she was notified four times that I was dying during the first few weeks of my illness.”
Hallucinations helped a Pretoria man cope with his terrifying Covid-19 experience during which he was hospitalised for five months, he writes in his new book.
Rudan Maritz (58) of Montana in the north of Pretoria was told he would never be able to walk again after suffering extreme Covid-related complications.
It all started when Maritz fell seriously ill in June last year and he was tested for Covid-19. Confirming his worst fears, the test came out positive.
He started experiencing low oxygen levels, which led to him being admitted to hospital and placed under sedation for almost two months.
“I was attacked from all fronts,” he said.
“When I woke up in ICU, I could not move. I was told that there was a chance that I would not be able to walk.
“I was on the ventilator and I stayed in ICU for 93 days. I was on oxygen for five months.”
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During his stay in ICU, Maritz had 13 Covid-19 complications, which included acute respiratory distress syndrome (ADS), a condition where fluid gathers in the air sacks of the lung, depriving organs of oxygen, and acute kidney failure and atrial fibrillation.
His gallbladder had to be removed after it got inflamed.
“I also had severe myositis with rhabdomyolysis, this inflammation of the muscles with the breakdown of muscle fibres with leakage into the circulation. I had axonal neuropathy with severe weakness. I had deep vein thrombosis in my lower legs and jugular during major vein,” he said.
“My wife told me that she was notified four times that I was dying during the first few weeks of my illness.”
One major symptom that stood out was his experience of hallucinations.
In his book, titled Covid-19: My Survival through Hallucinations, Maritz documented how hallucinations actually helped him survive major attacks.
“I see it as a method of survival. I feel that, for instance, when I battled to breathe I had at the same time a relevant hallucination, which is a struggle that I had to overcome,” he said.
“While fighting the hallucinations, I am inadvertently fighting what is happening to me in my sickbed.
“I wanted to tell others what I experienced. All the hallucinations were very clear to me.”
Maritz wrote a summary of the book when he was still in the rehabilitation hospital, the bulk of which was written in three weeks when he returned home still recovering.
The book is written in a “raw” format and it is left to the reader to experience it with that understanding.
He said he wrote the book as a testimony of God’s existence.
“The hospital staff think that it is miracle for me to have survived the complications as well as the long time that I was on the ventilator,” he said.
“And I would like for the reader to understand that the hospital staff is doing a great job.”
He said the book received some exciting reviews from friends and a hospital social worker thanked him because the book gave her a chance to relate to some of the patient’s experiences.
He said while he still struggled from the effects of long-Covid, he was in good spirits and hoped that people would use his experience as a lesson and get vaccinated.
Covid-19: My Survival Through Hallucinations is available in both English and Afrikaans and can be accessed online on: linktr.ee/RJMaritz
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