x
Breaking News
More () »

'Never thought I'd get COVID' | CBS19's chief photographer describes COVID-19 battle

CBS19’s Alan Kasper shares his experience of contracting COVID-19 for nearly a month.

TYLER, Texas — The symptoms someone will have from contracting COVID-19 vary person-to-person.

CBS19’s Chief Photographer Alan Kasper knows that first hand from his own experience of having the virus for nearly a month.

“I never thought I would get COVID" Kasper said. "I had worn my mask, done everything I could."

Saturday, July 11, would mark as the first time he began having a symptom from COVID, but Kasper was unaware of what he was truly sick with.

“Everything I ate was going through me,” he explained. “I called my doctor's office Monday morning to see if I could get a checkup, and they told me I needed to come in and get tested for COVID.”

Yet, Kasper was skeptical a test result would come back positive, but he went and took the test anyway.

“The only symptoms I had were the diarrhea and the temperature, but I was told diarrhea is a more prominent symptom and hadn't been mentioned as much early on,” Kapser said. “So I tested that Monday, Wednesday morning, I got the call back that I was positive.”

For the next week, those would be the only symptoms he had, and felt fine during that time. A prescription for Kasper was sent to a mail order pharmacy instead of a local one, this would just be the beginning of his frustration due to COVID-19.

On the 10th day, a Tuesday, he began to feel some pain in his left leg and a tightness in his chest.

“[I] talked to the doctor’s office Wednesday and they said I could go to the emergency room,” Kasper said. “I waited, Thursday I talked, and they said yeah, you need to get to the emergency room.”

It wasn’t until Friday morning, that he went to UT Health East Texas and would be admitted for the next five days. Kapser's stay was something he says was unexpected and wishes he had been more prepared.

“Have a bag ready with everything you need cell phone charger, some clothes, any kind of special medicine or anything, so just in case it takes a quick turn for the worst, you'll be ready,” he encouraged.

Credit: KYTX

Kasper says he arrived in the morning, was tested for COVID once more around noon, and at 3 p.m., it was confirmed he still had the virus. It wasn’t until after midnight that he would be settled into a room. While he waited, he gon an MRI on his legs and lungs.

“Saturday morning, a doctor came in talk to me for about five minutes,” Kasper said. “They thought I had blood clots in my legs, blood clots in my lungs and pneumonia and they were treating me for it, and I also mentioned the diarrhea, but I never felt they really treated for that.”

He says the doctor came back briefly on Sunday to give an update, as well as perform a chest x-ray and ultrasound on his leg. The next day, he was told he needed a biopsy after lesions were found in his lungs.

“I asked for the doctor I talked to on Saturday and Sunday, and they said Sunday was his last day,” Kasper said. “So, I never had a COVID doctor talk to me the last two days about what to do. There was confusion on what was going on between that the fact that doctors weren't communicating. I realized I wasn't as sick as probably a lot of the people up there, but still five minutes a day would have been nice.”

Tuesday evening, Kasper would be discharged with a packet of what he says contained little information, despite the fact he asked earlier that day to have a printout of everything that was done to him at the hospital.

“When I got home, the packet had some test results from blood and had some test results from stool samples,” he said. “But it didn't have any of the procedures that were done, the x-ray, the MRI, the biopsy, and it was a short on information.”

Kasper says the nurses were amazing on the COVID floor, and the only way he received information at times. He wishes hospitals would realize the impact a lack of information can have on a patient’s mental health, especially during a pandemic and you can’t have any visitors.

Kasper’s next few days back home were spent similarly to the time after he left his doctor’s appointment, and was confirmed to have the virus.

“When I left, I was on my 18th day of diarrhea, and basically got home with the same course,” he said. “Luckily, the drugs from the mail order had come in. Three days later, I was able to stop the diarrhea.”

According to Kasper, UT Health East Texas told him they do not test outgoing patients to see if they’re still positive for the virus, instead the person is considered clear after three days without symptoms.

CBS19 reached out to the hospital to find out the policy for outgoing COVID-19 patients. 

Below is the statement received from UT Health East Texas:

"All patients presenting with symptoms of COVID-19 are tested at the hospital. We have adequate resources available to isolate and treat COVID-19 patients as well as care for patients needing treatment for other conditions. As the region’s only Level 1 trauma facility, we see patients with a variety of medical needs on a daily basis and we have the staff in place to care for all patients.

A team of patient advocates and case managers work to ensure that patients have a positive care experience while in our hospitals and a seamless transition once discharged. Patients are given discharge paperwork before they are released from the hospital with details specific to their situation. If they have questions about their care once they are home, we encourage them to call us and/or their primary care physician."

Kasper might be clear of COVID-19, but he’s still dealing with the aftermath in multiple ways. He’s unsure of what exactly was performed at the hospital and is still suffering pain in his left leg, as well as tightness of the chest.

The packet he received with instructions for his medicine had some test results from his blood work as well as other information about medicine, but was lacking details about what procedures were performed.

“I'm sitting at home with blood clots and medicine to take, but I don't know, am I supposed to be doing some physical therapy on my leg?” Kasper said. “Any other precautions if this happens, what should I do? They told me go see your regular doctor, you know, my practicing physician three weeks after I leave.”

He’s not the only one in the dark on his medical information from his time in the hospital. Kasper says his insurance has little information and right now is requiring him to make the full payment.

“I tried to call and get the records of what all I had done, and I still haven't heard back from the UT Health East Texas records department, left three different messages,” he said. “I tried to use my patient portal for my physician, but it only has his stuff, it doesn't have anything from the hospital, and I was not able to connect to a patient portal for the hospital.”

“It's a little discouraging not knowing exactly what I'm going to be facing, especially anything long-term,” Kasper said. “I haven't felt really bad, but that doesn't mean that maybe my lung capacity will be limited because of this, or my leg will have this problem you know, the rest of my life.”

As for the policy on receiving records, UT Health states:

“We have a medical records request form on our website, or patients also may call us at 903-531-8125 to request medical records.”

Credit: KYTX

Kasper feels lucky he had no pre-existing health conditions that contributed to his experience with COVID-19. He says this just goes to show the virus can affect anybody.

"Hopefully by hearing my story, some of the people around here that know me say, 'that's just an average guy, and if he's got that, it could happen to me,'" he said.

Before You Leave, Check This Out