Bridgewater Doctor Recovers From Coronavirus, Donates Plasma

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — A month after being infected with the coronavirus Dr. John L. Bucek of Bridgewater is now recovered and donating his plasma to help others.

Bucek has worked as faculty at the Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health Somerset Hospital Family Medicine Residency in Somerville since 1997. He is also the director of Graduate Medical Education for the hospital and serves as chair of the Hospital IRB (committee for protection of human subjects).

Bucek became concerned in early April that he might be infected when he began experiencing mild, but odd symptoms for about a week.

"My temp was 99 instead of 98. My skin felt funny. My eyes and my sinuses were throbbing," Bucek said.

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On April 5 he lost his sense of smell and got a fever. He tested positive for the coronavirus the next morning.

"With the fever I had throbbing and fullness in my cheeks and forehead and behind my ears. These are locations of sinuses in the skull. I had fevers up to 102 for April 5 to 10. When my temperature went up my skin would sting and burn. I had dreams that I was getting stung by bees," Bucek said.

He also lost his sense of taste for three days and lost 10 pounds in six days.

"I was afraid of becoming very ill for the first two days. My lungs felt heavy and sore, but I never had a cough and never got pneumonia," Bucek said.

His fever broke on April 10 and then it took another week before his skin stopped tingling and started regaining weight. He was able to exercise again on April 23.

"I have treated many patients who had one or two day loss of smell and nothing else. I have treated a few patients who were in the hospital for 5 weeks before they won their battle and went home. This is a very variable illness. We are quickly learning the factors that put people at risk of severe illness," Bucek said.

After recovering Bucek decided he wanted to give back. There was word that patients who were hospitalized in critical condition after testing positive for new coronavirus were recovering after receiving convalescent plasma transfusion.

Bucek had even ordered plasma in the hospital for his patients. That's when Bucek decided to donate his own.

"We cannot tell for sure yet which treatments work and which do not, but ones that do not seem harmful must be tried. I want to make sure the plasma supply is there for my future patients," Bucek said. "I hope the research shows plasma is as helpful as it seems. It is something everyone can do to after they recover. But for me the whole last 7 weeks has been about trying to understand and beat this virus."

Now Bucek is hoping patients will begin to return to the hospital.

"We have gotten through the storm here at Somerset now we are figuring out how to go back to regular hospital function because there are so few coronavirus patients coming in now. So many people have been delaying lifesaving procedures and treatments because of the surge. We need to get back to taking care of the ASAP."

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