Mark Frilot Kenner attorney tests positive for coronavirus after Louisiana lawyer initially misdiagnosed with having the flu. Health takes turn for the worse until miracle recovery.
A 45-year-old Louisiana attorney has begun breathing on his own once again after being put on a ventilator following the lawyer contracting the potentially deadly novel coronavirus, after initially being misdiagnosed with having the flu.
Mark Frilot had battled what the man’s family thought was seasonal flu for several days before being found in a state of fever-induced delirium talking to himself while seated on the edge of a bathtub- Nola.com reports.
A trip to the emergency room last Thursday revealed the construction lawyer from Kenner having COVID-19 and double pneumonia and initially placed in quarantine.
The lawyer’s family had feared the worse, only for Mark’s wife, Heaven Frilot to post on Facebook last night that her husband’s health was improving!
Wrote Heaven: ‘He is still sedated but off the paralytic and is taking some breaths on his own in addition to the ventilator. They are changing up some meds but everything is stable.
Thank you so much for your prayers and continued support!’
Fears for the worse and misconceptions of Coronavirus:
Heaven says she decided to open up about her husband’s health crisis as a warning to others, especially younger people who may think they face a relatively low risk of contracting the illness.
The US Centers for Disease Controls says older people and people with serious pre-existing medical conditions are at a higher risk of getting ‘very sick’ from the coronavirus, but Heaven argues that it could happen to anyone.
‘I have been seeing a lot of posts about people taking this virus lightly and joking about it,’ she posted on Facebook page on Saturday. ‘Please be extremely cautious and smart during this time. This virus has been in our community a while now without us knowing.’
In her interview with Nola.com, Heaven explained that her husband first noticed that his temperature was slightly elevated on March 6, but was not alarmed. That was three days before state officials announced Louisiana’s first confirmed case of COVID-19.
Mark continued running a fever and stayed in bed all day. On March 8, he went to an urgent care center, where according to Heaven, doctors diagnosed him with the flu and prescribed Tamiflu, a steroid and a medicated cough syrup.
But despite the treatment, which Mark supplemented with Tylenol and Advil to break his nightly fever, his condition deteriorated farther, Heaven recounted.
When he alerted his doctor of the situation, Heaven said he was told that it was not uncommon and instructed to keep taking the medications.
Heaven told the paper that last Wednesday, she found her husband talking to himself in the bathroom and took him to the East Jefferson General Hospital, where a flu test came back negative.
Heaven then had the hospital contact the urgent care center where Mark had initially sought help and request his paperwork. To her shock and dismay, Heaven discovered that Mark had tested negative for the flu there too.
An infectious disease doctor then spoke to the Frilots and approved one of the coveted COVID-19 tests for Mark, which came back positive.
‘He is fully sedated and paralyzed and intubated no longer breathing on his own,’ Heaven wrote on Facebook. ‘He is quarantined so I cannot even be there for him to help him get through this.’
Heaven and her one year old son, Ethan, have been in self-isolation since the middle of last week. The CDC has been reaching out to people who have been in close contact with the Frilot family.
‘Due to the misdiagnosis, we have exposed it to others unknowingly. For that I am truly sorry,’ Heaven wrote. ‘Prayers from everyone are very much appreciated during this difficult time. Please take care of yourselves. If you have a fever 101 or above with shortness of breath and or a cough please seek immediate treatment.’
Heaven Frilot said she felt compelled to speak out and urge people to self-quarantine and take the illness seriously.
As of Monday afternoon, Louisiana had 114 confirmed cases of coronavirus and two deaths. The total number of cases in the US hit 4,134, with 71 fatalities nationwide.
