Mother, 105, and son, 86, recover from infection

Breathe in and out. Then again, breathe in, and out.

Three times a day, a Wuhan resident, surnamed Fang, says these words as she guides her 105-year-old grandmother and 86-year-old father in practicing a breathing exercise at home to help the two seniors resume lung function after they recovered from COVID-19.

Such a peaceful and loving scene was beyond Fang’s imagination two months ago, as she experienced anxiety and fear of losing her two loved ones.

In early February, both Fang's grandmother and father had fevers, coughs and had difficulty breathing. The two seniors were then confirmed to have caught COVID-19 and were hospitalized at Wuhan No 6 Hospital, where they shared one ward.

At first, Fang was very concerned about whether the two -- the sum of whose ages is almost 200 -- could survive the disease. Fang was particularly worried about her grandmother, who suffered other diseases, like high blood pressure, heart failure, hypokalemia and malnutrition.

To save the two seniors, the hospital organized consultations by gathering experts from different disciplines and carried out treatment plans for each of them.

After comprehensive treatments involving ventilators and nutritional support, as well as antiviral, anti-infection and traditional Chinese medicine, the patients’ diseases were brought under control and both mother and son started to get better.

They were grateful for the hospital's efforts to save their lives. Fang’s father said he could feel the obvious changes as they happened in his body. When he was first hospitalized, he was sick and short of breath. After treatment and care, he felt like he was brought back to life. His mother felt the same way.

He added that hospital staff called his daughter regularly to follow up on their situation after he and his mother were discharged. The staff also told his daughter to guide the two seniors as they practiced to help fully restore function to their lungs.

Zhu Tao, director of the No 7 Respiratory Ward Section at the hospital, said it was not only the treatment, but also the mutual encouragement and support between the mother and son that made the two patients recover quickly.

He added that he had witnessed a touching scene during a ward round that the son, who is in his 80s, helped his mother clean her back with a towel.