Touch and Go

Dr David Palmer, ICU Consultant at the Royal Oldham Hospital describes Touch and Go, as, “Mike captures in his heart-breaking account a moment in history, told from the patient perspective. Mike honestly, and often with a stoic sense of humour, describes his ordeal, including the hellish experience of delirium, which one wouldn’t wish on their worst enemy.” Mike takes the reader from the beginning of the horror story of Covid, through the rapid decline towards near death and on to the long haul of rehabilitation and recovery. The story is a roller coaster passing through the house of horrors in what is sometimes a bizarre world of delusion and paranoia experienced when emerging from the induced coma that saved Mike’s life. The first two months of that roller coaster ride being almost all downhill with the occasional glimmer of hope as Mike gripped on to life. And then came the words “Mike is Covid free,” and the uphill battle began. Walking, talking, eating and all those things we take for granted had to be learned again as if a child had been born. The learning continues as the disease maintains a hold on the author’s life creating new pain and obstacles to overcome every day. Mike describes the struggle to fight for life and then fight to live making clear reference to those who made that possible. Not only the medical professionals and support staff, but the family and friends who lived their own nightmare as they watched a loved one clinging on to life when his wife, Glen, heard the words down the telephone, “You need to prepare for Michael’s end of life.”