MUSKOGEE, Okla. — Skylar Green knew something wasn’t right one day at work.

A lieutenant with the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Department, Green had been suffering a headache all day long on Aug. 10. He went home to take care of himself, suspicious of what he might have.

“I tried Tylenol, Alka Seltzer, nothing seemed to work,” he said. “I tried sitting down to type a report and couldn’t. I said to myself, ‘This has to be the COVID.'”

His suspicions were confirmed a couple of days later went he went W.W. Hastings Hospital in Tahlequah, where they treated and discharged him.

“They gave me a pulse oximeter, and the next morning when I woke up, my O2 levels were at 65,” he said. “My wife calls 9-1-1 and I go by ambulance back to Hastings and they admit me. It’s kind of blurry from there — I feel I lost about two months of my life there.”

Doctors determined Green’s lungs were failing and the cause was COVID-19. He was put on a ventilator, and on Nov. 15 his name was put on a transplant recipient register for two lungs.

The website for National Foundation for Transplants says the average wait time for a patient to receive a match for one lung is 185 days.

“There was a donor match in less than 24 hours,” said his wife Aariel.

Skylar was transported to Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston where the double transplant took place. He was released from the hospital on Dec. 14 but has to remain in Houston for observational purposes.

“He’s doing fine now and has started in-patient rehab,” she added.

“He has to go in every Tuesday to have everything checked, so we’re still in Houston,” Aariel said. “We’re staying at an Air B&B.”

The family will have to remain in Houston for about three months.

“I’m learning how to walk again, take a shower again, brush my teeth again,” he said. “Re-learning the simple things, the necessities a person has to have, to get around day-to-day.”

Aariel said that her husband is a little self-conscious about his appearance, having lost around 90 pounds through the ordeal.

“He’s not happy with the way he looks right now,” she said. “He doesn’t like to have his picture taken at this time.”

Skylar also said that he can’t wait to return to his job and to Muskogee.

“I’m not from Muskogee, but I now consider it home,” he said. “The people have expressed so much concern, I consider them my friends.”

And about continuing with the sheriff’s department?

“I will eventually get back,” he said. “It might not be on patrol because of my physical limits, but I will continue to serve in some capacity.”