Value of the Lab Hits Home to ASCP Member When Spouse is Stricken with COVID-19

Last spring, Pom Chakkaphak, husband of ASCP volunteer leader Lynnette Chakkaphak, MS, MT(ASCP), came down with a very severe case of COVID-19. He spent more than 40 days in the hospital, much of which was on a ventilator. “When I first realized he was COVID-19 positive, I didn’t think he was as sick as he was,” she said. “In the hospital, I couldn’t be there for him. He was intubated and had a 50 percent chance of living. It was scary.”

Around April 16, the doctors told Mrs. Chakkaphak that they didn’t think they would be able to get her husband off the ventilator alive. “They told me to gather the family,” she recalled.

Although she has spent her entire career working in the medical laboratory, nothing could have prepared her for this moment. Mrs. Chakkaphak shared her family’s experience being on the receiving end of laboratory diagnostic care during an ASCP Patient Champions session at the ASCP 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting in September. The Patient Champions program focuses on teaching patients and caregivers about the laboratory so that they can better understand their options and choose the treatments that work best for them. 

After what seemed like an interminably long time, Mr. Chakkaphak began to stabilize.  The medical team wheeled him out of the COVID intensive care unit and placed him in the regular ICU. There, they were able to extract 1.5 liters of fluid from his lungs while he was still on the ventilator. His oxygen level slowly began to improve.  

“Every day his numbers got better and better,” Mrs. Chakkaphak said. “At 11:55 a.m. on April 23, his oxygen numbers got so good that they were able to take him off the ventilator. I cried tears of joy. Everyone cried. The doctor cried. My husband at our hospital he was the only one intubated for 25 days.”

“I do believe in the power of prayer. So many were praying for him,” she said. Looking back, Mrs. Chakkaphak encourages other patients and their family members to ask “a lot of questions” to their healthcare teams.” Ask what tests they are doing, why they are doing them and what will they do with the results,” she emphasized.

Patients and their caregivers can help take control of their treatment and care options by learning everything they can about a diagnosis, which includes laboratory and pathology results. 

Touchingly, Mrs. Chakkaphak recalled that when her husband came off of the ventilator, the hospital played the Beatles tune, “Here comes the sun” over the loud speaker. That is how everyone in the hospital knows that another COVID-19 patient has survived.

Receiving a serious diagnosis can be life-changing. But there are ways that you and your loved ones can cope. Let ASCP’s Patient Champions teach you the right questions to ask your doctor.

If you would like more information about the ASCP Patient Champions program, or if you would like to become involved, please click here.