Recovered senior COVID-19 patients Xu Ming (right) talks about their experience with the virus in Wuhan, Hubei province, on April 16, 2020. (Photo by Wang Jing/China Daily)
After recovering from the novel coronavirus, Xu Ming, a 95-year-old resident of Wuhan, Hubei province, said he now looks forward to living to 100. When he was sent to the intensive care unit in mid-February, he lowered his expectations to just making it back to the general ward.
On Thursday, Xu returned to the Wuhan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine where he had stayed between Feb 9 and Feb 23 to thank the medical staff there.
"I now cook for myself at home because my daughters are either still under quarantine or in other cities. It's nice to be able to take care of myself again," Xu said.
Xu, who was once a construction worker on the famous Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge completed in 1957, had been in good health with no major diseases before suddenly developing fever and other symptoms of the novel coronavirus such as a cough and poor appetite on Jan 31.
He was admitted to the hospital on Feb 9 and became the oldest novel coronavirus patient there.
"He had been experiencing difficulty breathing since Feb 10. We decided to transfer him to the ICU on Feb 13 because the condition of elderly patients can deteriorate very rapidly so we had to monitor him closely," said Zhang Jun, a doctor who treated Xu.
Xu was overwhelmed after seeing so many strange machines at the ICU. "I wondered how much I had to pay to use those machines," he said.
