Yu Changping: A Doctor and Online Influencer Diagnosed with COVID-19

By Yan Wen & Du Weiwei

Doctor Yu Changping making a simple selfintroduction余昌平醫(yī)生做簡單自我介紹

“Do you want to know who I am? I am not a celebrity, but you would take interest in me...”

“I am a cheerful guy and I want to share interesting stories with you.”

Wearing a nasal cannula, Yu Changping was quite optimistic and confident in the video.

He posted 4 short videos online, in which he spoke with a strong Hubei accent, describing his condition after being infected and his treatment process. In this way, he encouraged the viewers to stay calm. Unexpectedly, the videos made him an online celebrity.

Yu Changping, a doctorate degree holder and deputy chief physician of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, was infected with COVID-19 in the fight against the epidemic. Later his condition unfortunately worsened and he became severely ill.

Reporter: How did you, a respiratory specialist, get infected with the virus?

Yu Changping:I started to run a fever of 38.5 degrees Celsius on January 14. There were no other symptoms: no running nose or cough. However, then a strange thing happened to me: Once I started to eat, it came with hiccups and farts. Then I was suspecting it could be caused by gastroenteritis. But these were not any symptoms of gastroenteritis, and I did not have diarrhea. On January 17, coworkers in our department were about to dine together, and suddenly I realized that I might have been infected with the novel coronavirus. So, I immediately called my colleagues to help me to have a CT examination.

The results revealed that something was wrong with my lungs and I must be hospitalized immediately. Almost at the same time, one of my colleagues, who experienced fatigue, also did the examination, and then was diagnosed with COVID-19 and hospitalized.

In the first 3 days at the hospital, I felt quite okay. Without any chest tightness or breathing difficulty, I was even able to go downstairs for CT scan myself. However, the re-examination results showed that my lung problems were becoming worse. I knew that, the condition of a patient infected with coronavirus only got worse day by day. I hoped the deterioration would be a little slower. Unfortunately, on the third day after the reexamination, my condition began to deteriorate rapidly beyond my expectation. I could not get out of the bed for 5 days. I could not sit up in the bed. I experienced chest tightness, suffocation, and breathing difficulty, I felts a little bit better only when using oxygen.

“大家知道我是誰嗎？我不是大人物，但你們一定對(duì)我感興趣……”

“我很瀟灑的，我的性格很好，我有很多故事。”

戴著氧氣管，視頻里的余昌平，樂觀自信。

他發(fā)了4 條短視頻，用濃重的湖北口音，風(fēng)趣幽默地描述自己感染病毒后的狀況及治療過程，鼓勵(lì)大家消除恐慌，正視疫情，成了網(wǎng)紅人物。

余昌平是武漢大學(xué)人民醫(yī)院呼吸與危重癥醫(yī)學(xué)科副主任醫(yī)師，醫(yī)學(xué)博士，在一線救治過程中被新型冠狀病毒感染，并發(fā)展成危重患者。

“早期癥狀連我都被迷惑了”

記者：您是呼吸科專家，怎么感染病毒的？

余昌平：1月14日我開始發(fā)燒，38.5℃，別的一切正常，不流鼻涕不咳嗽。當(dāng)時(shí)有個(gè)現(xiàn)象就是，吃東西就打嗝、打屁，我很疑惑，是胃腸炎嗎？不像，也不拉肚。1月17日，科室要一起吃飯，我突然意識(shí)到，自己可能感染了病毒。于是立即給同事打電話，申請(qǐng)做CT 檢查。

結(jié)果顯示，雙側(cè)肺部都有問題，必須馬上住院。與我一起檢查的，還有另外一個(gè)同事，有點(diǎn)乏力，一查，也是這個(gè)問題，我們倆同時(shí)住院。

住院前3 天，我感覺還好，沒有胸悶氣喘，還能自己下樓做CT。復(fù)查結(jié)果出來，雙肺病變?cè)谠黾樱@個(gè)是我能料到的。病毒性肺炎肯定是一天比一天加重的，就是看程度，我希望它慢點(diǎn)。沒想到復(fù)查之后第三天，病情急速惡化，有5 天都沒起過床，坐起來都沒機(jī)會(huì)了，胸悶、憋氣、呼吸困難，只有吸氧才能好受一點(diǎn)。

“熬過一周危險(xiǎn)期就能活”

記者：用您的話說，這次是在“鬼門關(guān)”走了一遭。怎么挺過來的？

余昌平：除了醫(yī)護(hù)的精心治療和家人的照顧，最主要的就是兩點(diǎn)：信心加抵抗力。

第4 天時(shí)，我開始問自己：我會(huì)不會(huì)死掉？我當(dāng)時(shí)估計(jì)，這個(gè)可能性是30%。

5 天時(shí)間我都沒有好轉(zhuǎn)，再加重兩三天，可能就活不過來了。但如果5 天過后穩(wěn)住了，就有希望了，甚至?xí)棉D(zhuǎn)，所以我總還是有60%～70%的期望能活過來。

我迷迷糊糊地躺著，想起自己平時(shí)身體比較好，抵抗力強(qiáng)，可以和這個(gè)病毒打下去。當(dāng)時(shí)還有個(gè)信念，雖然呼吸困難，但是能吃能喝能睡。呼吸不暢時(shí)吃不動(dòng)，我就慢慢吃。

確診后，我的第一個(gè)想法就是要活下來，想著自己的那些病人怎么辦，我很有信心：因?yàn)槲伊私膺@個(gè)疾病，所以沒關(guān)系。

第5 天復(fù)查CT 對(duì)我來說很重要，看能不能穩(wěn)住。結(jié)果顯示，真的穩(wěn)住了，接下來就是拉鋸戰(zhàn)了。

“用輕松的方式消除大眾恐慌”

記者：怎么想到用短視頻跟大家講自己的經(jīng)歷？

余昌平：挺過了最難的那幾天，我的身體和精力都在慢慢恢復(fù)。

大概到了1月底，我開始刷手機(jī)了解外面的疫情。信息太多，看得難受。

作為一個(gè)專業(yè)醫(yī)生，我著急，想到我身份特殊，又有親身經(jīng)歷，總覺得自己能做點(diǎn)什么事。于是，我用短視頻為大家科普一下新冠病毒以及醫(yī)學(xué)常識(shí)，讓人們不要過度恐慌，學(xué)會(huì)科學(xué)理性的看待。

“最想感謝的人是妻子”

記者：大家都很關(guān)心您和您妻子最新的近況，你們兩人估計(jì)什么時(shí)候可以出院？

余昌平：謝謝大家的關(guān)心。生病以來，我最想感謝的人是我的妻子。隔離期間，中途她過來陪護(hù)，本來是不被允許的。但當(dāng)時(shí)我?guī)缀跻烟幱趶浟簦t(yī)院人員調(diào)配又緊張，沒人護(hù)理，我可能會(huì)死掉，于是就同意了，好在我對(duì)疾病比常人更了解，知道她即使患病，多半也是輕癥。

Reporter: This experience, inyour words, was “out of the jaws of death.” How did you get through it and survive?

Yu Changping:Apart from the professional medical treatment and meticulous care from my family, the other two important elements that helped me out were confidence and my immune system.

On the fourth day, I started to ask myself: Will I die? I expected the odds as 30% then. If I did not get better in 5 days and even get worse in two to three more days, I might not be able to survive. But if my condition could stabilize after 5 days, I still had hope. So, I had a 60% -70% chance to survive.

I had laid in a daze, believing I could beat this virus because of my good physical condition and my good immune system. Although I was having difficulty breathing, I tried my best to eat, drink, and sleep as normal, though I could only eat slowly when I had shortness of breath.

After the diagnosis, my first thought was to survive. Otherwise, who would treat my patients?

I was very confident in defeating the disease. Since I understand this disease well, it would probably be easier for me to overcome the virus.

Therefore, the result of the CT examination in the 5th day was crucial for me, which could tell whether I was in a stable condition. Luckily enough, it showed my condition was stable. Then a seesaw battle between me and the virus started.

Reporter: How did you comeup with the idea of shooting a short video to share your experience?

Yu Changping:After the most difficult days, my physical condition improved and I felt better day by day.

At the end of January, I could read the news on my mobile phone. There was too much pessimism and rumors on the internet, which upset me a lot.

As a doctor and an infected patient, I was eager to do something to make a difference. So, I decided to make a short video to help people know more about novel coronavirus. I also shared some precautions so that people can be better informed and stay optimistic in combating against COVID-19.

Reporter: We are concerned about your health and your wife’s. When will you two be discharged?

Yu Changping:Thank you all for the concern. Since I got infected, the person I want to thank most is my wife. During the quarantine, she came to accompany and took care of me, which was not permitted at first. But at that time, I was almost in a state of neardeath and there was a shortage of medical professionals. Inadequate medical care might make things worse. So my wife was permitted to take care of me. To my knowledge, even if she could get infected while caring for me, the condition would be mild.

Later, she was infected. Although it was mild as I had expected, it was still my fault to drag her into such a dangerous situation. Currently, she is all right and will be discharged soon. I’m getting better every day. Just because of the recent increasing attentions brought by the video clips, I have not gotten enough rest. But in short, I’m getting better.

Doctor Yu Changping eager to return to his work after recovery康復(fù)后，余昌平先生著急回到自己的工作崗位

On February 24, Yu Changping was discharged from the hospital. After two weeks of isolation, on March 10, Yu returned home. At present, he has been resting at home for more than 1 month, and he gained weight and went up from 75 kg to 81 kg. He said happily: “After May Day holiday, I will return to work.” He also explained the reasons for not posting new video clips recently. “As a doctor and also COVID-19 patient, I shared my experience of treatment and recovery online through videos. I just hoped through watching my video, other patients could stay positive and develop proper recovery plan. But, now I want to go back to my work and engage in the fight against the virus.”

As the overseas epidemic situation turns severe, Dr. Yu Changping also participated in videoconferences with overseas students in the UK on how to take precautions amid COVID-19 outbreak and with doctors in the United States to exchange experiences in treating critically ill COVID-19 patients.

(Translation: Zhao Yan)

后來她被感染，雖然是輕癥，但也是我不對(duì)的地方，畢竟把她置于危險(xiǎn)之中了。

目前，她沒有大問題，很快就可以出院了。我現(xiàn)在也一天比一天好，只是因?yàn)橐曨l的原因，最近受關(guān)注比較多，所以這幾天沒有休息好，但我們的情況都越來越好。

2月24日，治愈出院后，經(jīng)過2 周隔離觀察后，3月10日，余昌平已經(jīng)康復(fù)回家。目前，他在家已經(jīng)調(diào)養(yǎng)1 個(gè)多月，體重從150 斤回到162 斤。他高興地說：“五一之后，我就將重返工作崗位了。”

他說最近很少發(fā)視頻了，以前發(fā)是因?yàn)樗约菏轻t(yī)生，也是重癥感染者，分享治愈過程，是希望大家病后能有正確的療養(yǎng)方式，也給大家信心。現(xiàn)在他一心想回到工作崗位，繼續(xù)與病毒斗爭。

面對(duì)海外嚴(yán)重的疫情，余昌平醫(yī)生還參與連線英國的海外學(xué)子，為他們科普防治知識(shí)；與美國的醫(yī)生同行交流溝通，為他們提供救治新冠肺炎危重癥患者的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。