David Lat, founder of the AbovetheLaw legal blog, realizes his lucky escape from the severe coronavirus infection and his ability to donate blood for research into the virus.
Just under two weeks ago he was receiving oxygen and afraid for the worse, being rendered unconscious and incubated before receiving the ventilation that saved his life.
“I don’t know that I’m getting any worse,” he said by cellphone in an interview with the New York Law Journal.
He also received experimental drugs to assist in the battle, as well as offering blood to assist scientists to find a successful treatment to the coronavirus.
“I ended up receiving an IL-6 inhibitor called Kevzara, a combo of the antimalarial drug called hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic called azithromycin, an IL-6 inhibitor called Tocilizumab, an IL-6 inhibitor called Clazakizumab, and an antiviral called Remdesivir,” he said.
The NY Law Journal reports that Lat was transferred out of intensive care on March 29, not long after being taken off a ventilator. And on Tuesday, in his first media interview since he’d returned to stable condition, he talked gratefully about being ready to finally go home—most likely, he said, on Wednesday evening.
He also tried to reflect—for perhaps the first time, he said—on what he had just gone through in his battle with a coronavirus-caused infection that had ravaged his life.
“I don’t think I’ve fully wrapped my head—and heart—around the enormity of what I’ve just been through,” he said during an extensive interview conducted via direct messaging on Twitter.
“It’s wild to think about how close I came to dying, to leaving my husband Zach to raise our two-year-old son as a single dad . . ”
David Lat
He wrote that “maybe 1.7 times” the doctors and nurses had saved him—a specific calculation that he laid out in a Twitter thread that bore the directness that his tweets have become known for.
“It’s wild to think about how close I came to dying, to leaving my husband Zach to raise our two-year-old son as a single dad,” he said. “I guess my main emotion is gratitude. I’m so thankful for all the people, many of whom I’ve never met, who were praying for, thinking of, and otherwise pulling for me throughout this ordeal. … And I’m so grateful to be alive.”
According to medical staff at NYU, Lat is close to being discharged despite being in a weakened position.
“My heart rate still tends to spike over 100 even for something as simple as walking 15 feet to the bathroom,” he added. “But that’s to be expected given what I’ve been through over the past three weeks.”
He said he had some pain, discussing his situaiton with his 86,000 Twitter followers, which included a retweet over the president’s latest nominee to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
There’s no keeping a top legal tweeter down – even when recovering from the coronavirus.
Recently on LawFuel
- The Legal Ladies Adding A Fresh, Gender-Balanced Addition To “Footie”
Gender diversity has reached the higher echelons of New Zealand Rugby (we can only wait …The Legal Ladies Adding A Fresh, Gender-Balanced Addition To “Footie” Read More »
- Morgan Lewis Recruit Structured Transactions Partner in LondonLONDON, April 22, 2022 – Powered by LawFuel – Morgan Lewis continues to expand its …
Morgan Lewis Recruit Structured Transactions Partner in London Read More »
- Is The Lawyer on Demand Model Working – Should Lawyers Adopt the Model?
Axiom has been successful with its Lawyer on Demand model, but it may not suit …Is The Lawyer on Demand Model Working – Should Lawyers Adopt the Model? Read More »
- Rotorua Lawyer Kiri Tahana Appointed to High Court
>> Your Next Law Job Is Here . . Read About It Rotorua barrister and …Rotorua Lawyer Kiri Tahana Appointed to High Court Read More »
- The 3 Lawyers With 129 Years’ Experience Make Legal ‘Career’ Move
>> See NZ’s Best Law Jobs Network for Your New Law Job Here Three senior …The 3 Lawyers With 129 Years’ Experience Make Legal ‘Career’ Move Read More »
