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A 52 years old Florida man, Rio Giardinieri, who was down with the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is claiming that yet to be approved antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine saved his life.
Giardinieri was diagnosed of COVID-19 and pneumonia at the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in South Florida, and was put on oxygen in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital.
He showed symptoms of horrendous back pain, headaches, cough and fatigue for five days after catching the disease, possibly at a conference in New York.
The Florida man, who is waiting to be discharged from hospital, said doctors told him there was nothing more they could do after more than one week of battling for life.
Giardinieri said goodbye to his wife and three children on Friday evening, he told Los Angeles’ Fox 11.
“I was at the point where I was barely able to speak and breathing was very challenging. I really thought my end was there,” he said.
Giardinieri narrated that in his travail, a friend sent him a message about hydroxychloroquine, and he contacted an infectious disease doctor about the drug.
“He gave me all the reasons why I would probably not want to try it because there are no trials, there’s no testing, it was not something that was approved.
“And I said, ‘Look, I don’t know if I’m going to make it until the morning,’ because at that point I really thought I was coming to the end because I couldn’t breathe anymore. He agreed and authorized the use of it and 30 minutes later the nurse gave it to me,” Giardinieri said.
After about an hour on an IV with the medicine, Giardinieri said, it felt like his heart was beating out of his chest and, about two hours later, he had another episode where he couldn’t breathe.
He said he was given Benadryl and some other drugs and that when he woke up around 4:45 a.m., it was “like nothing ever happened.”
He’s since had no fever or pain and can breathe again. Giardinieri said doctors believe the episodes he experienced were not a reaction to the medicine but his body fighting off the virus.
Giardinieri, the vice president of a company that manufactures cooking equipment for high-end restaurants in Los Angeles, said he had three doses of the medicine Saturday and is hoping to be discharged from the hospital in five days.
“To me, there was no doubt in mind that I wouldn’t make it until morning. So to me, the drug saved my life,” ,” Giardinieri said.