MACON, Ga. — A Macon mom is back home with her family for the holidays after spending months in the hospital fighting for her life. Tiffany Owenby says her battle with COVID-19 was rough, but a miracle came out of it.
She recalls August being a normal month for her until she lost her ability to taste and smell, and then tested positive for COVID-19.
"I was fine. I was kind of just recuperating at home. I was 26 weeks pregnant at the time," she said.
Owenby says she was starting to feel worse, so she went to the ER, where they told her that she needed to be intubated.
"I remember going to the hospital in Macon. I remember walking on my own, I could breathe. I felt OK. I don't really remember anything until about mid-September," she said.
Then, Tiffany learned that she had been intubated at Piedmont Medical Macon and later transported to Piedmont Atlanta for an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment. Tiffany spent six weeks on ECMO.
"It is a last resort, and I do know that a lot of people who go on ECMO do not survive," said Owenby.
Owenby was on a ventilator for nine weeks, had a feeding tube for seven, and her lungs collapsed twice. She says it was all a blur because she was sedated for about three weeks.
"I woke up, I had a tracheotomy, I had the vent in, I had an ECMO. I woke up on all of the machines," she said.
She was also no longer pregnant because she also had an emergency C-section at 28 weeks.
"He was 2.7 ounces -- but he was doing great. He thrived in the NICU and hit all of his milestones," she said.
Owenby and her baby, James, are finally home after spending 93 days in five different hospitals.
"I'm very grateful for coming home. I was able to come home just in time for Thanksgiving. I feel great, just still trying to build up to where I was beforehand," said Owenby.
She's still on the road to complete recovery and is still going to physical therapy, but she's happy to finally be home.
She says she got her first dose of the vaccine on the first day the CDC said pregnant women could get it in early August. She got sick in between doses, and got her second dose the day after she left the hospital in November.