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Columbia coach Brian Allen is seen on the sideline during a game against Florida High on Oct. 2, 2020.
After five days in the hospital battling covid-19, Columbia football coach Brian Allen is home and recovering.
Allen told the Lake City Reporter on Wednesday that he’s feeling better after he went into the hospital due to shortness of breath, one of just a few symptoms he experienced. He was released last Thursday and has spent the past few days in isolation away from his family to finish his 14-day quarantine.
Every single day at Lake City Medical Center saw Allen hooked up to oxygen and he was also diagnosed with pneumonia while he was there. It didn’t end there either as doctors sent him home with more oxygen, which he says he continued to use every second of the day through the weekend.
“For three days even after being home it was 24/7 me on oxygen, and just here in the last three days I’ve weaned myself off of it,” Allen said. “It’s just been uphill from here. I’ve been doing good and each day getting a little bit better.”
Allen tested positive for covid-19 on Feb. 10 and was showing mild symptoms such as sneezing and coughing the two days prior. The hope was it was just a cold but when Allen went to take a bite of chicken at lunch on Feb. 10, he couldn’t taste it.
That was alarming and he had a feeling he had covid-19. A rapid test later that day confirmed it.
His doctor sent him home with a Z-Pak and a steroid to hopefully flush out the disease and Allen says he spent much of the next three days quarantining in his man cave sleeping as he battled fatigue. But he says he made the mistake of sleeping on his back, which made things even harder on his lungs.
On Feb. 13, he noticed he was having a little trouble breathing and even told his wife Jessica if he wasn’t feeling any better Sunday he was going to drive himself to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville. However, his body never gave him a chance Sunday morning.
Just taking the short walk to the bathroom took all the energy out of him.
“I took a few steps and I was completely out of gas,” Allen said. “I was struggling to even breathe at that point.”
No way was Allen driving himself to Gainesville. He had Jessica call 911 and he was taken to LCMC.
“Anybody that knows me well knew it had to be bad if I let the EMT come get me,” Allen said. “I was extremely scared for me to tell her to call. I couldn’t catch my breath and it was just from a small walk to the door. I was completely gassed. I couldn’t catch it and I thought I was going to pass out. It was scary.”
Allen received rounds of a steroid and Remdesivir, an antiviral drug used to treat people with covid-19 who are hospitalized. He says his oxygen levels were very low and he was even concerned when they released him after five days.
In fact, Allen says when he put his mask on for them to wheel him out of the hospital last Thursday he thought he was going to suffocate. Once he was home, he was still exhausted for days as he continually had to use oxygen while hibernating in his man cave that he built away from his house.
“It’s been tough,” Allen said. “I never thought getting up just to stand up would ever be exhausting. It’s the small things you take for granted like going to the bathroom or taking a shower — that was exhausting. I definitely sympathize with all those that have had these types of symptoms. I understand it fully and for somebody who has thought himself pretty healthy, it definitely knocked me on my behind pretty good.”
Allen is doing his best to try and strengthen his lungs. While weaning off of the oxygen, he’s taken longer walks each day that began with just strolling down to his mailbox to making it about 200 yards to his uncle’s house on Wednesday.
He calls them “small victories” in a battle he knows still isn’t over. Luckily, Allen says he never had a fever and got his taste and smell back within a week, though he did lose some weight.
“It’s definitely been a tough road,” Allen said. “I definitely have a story to tell to people that don’t believe this thing is real and don’t believe it can knock you down. I know there’s still a lot of people who don’t, but I can assure them that it’s been one of the toughest fights I’ve had.”
Allen says he figured he’d eventually catch covid-19 just from being back at school and around the football team. He just hoped it wouldn’t be so terrifying.
Back in August, Allen took a step back from Columbia’s football program and planned to coach from behind the scenes with defensive coordinator John Woodley serving as the co-head coach because he has a daughter who has underlying health issues that requires medication that suppresses her immune system. That lasted one week after he spent the season opener in the end zone behind a video camera as the Tigers lost to Trinity Christian 28-21.
Allen still had a plan to protect his daughter and the rest of his family though. He had built a man cave about 20 yards from his garage door and he’s spent every night since football season sleeping on a reclining couch there.
His wife and daughters have still seen him a bunch though, whether it’s been together on the patio or at a distance in the house. But he made sure he avoided areas in his home where he could potentially pass germs on to his family.
It’s all worked out too. Jessica tested negative for covid-19 after he tested positive and all three of his daughters are in good health.
“Inevitably, if I was going to do all this stuff with football and weightlifting, it was going to happen,” Allen said. “It was just a matter of when. I knew that. I had no doubts even being careful with masks and all those things I do over there. I just always had the feeling eventually it was going to catch up in some way, fashion or how and it did. I’m just glad it’s working out to where it wasn’t as severe as it could have been and it didn’t affect my household where my family is good. And it looks like I’m going to be able to make a full recovery.”
Players and students still won’t see Allen back at Columbia this week but he hopes to return to school next Monday. Wednesday was the last day of his 14-day quarantine.
Allen has a follow-up with his primary doctor next week to make sure he’s made a full recovery.
“I know I’m not out of woods even right now but I know that I’m much better than I was when I got back here Thursday,” Allen said. “I know there’s progress that’s happening. I still can’t take a deep full breath in, so when I’m trying to just take a deep breath in I start coughing halfway through it. It’s still a process I’m going through to get these lungs stronger but I’m always going to be a fighter. So if I’ve got to walk and keep fighting and pushing through this thing to get the lungs stronger then that’s what I’m going to do. But I know it’s still a bit of a climb that I’m making right now but I think I’m through the steepest part of the climb.”