COVID-19 Humanity Betrayal ㅤ Memory Project

My parents owned a small restaurant in Gwinnett County, Georgia, and had been in business for 34 years when Covid hit. They struggled to get by during the shutdown and by May 2020 they decided they couldn’t sustain and had to shut it down. The day they decided it (05/8/2020) he became dizzy presumably from new medicine to treat his BPH, fell, and was airlifted to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, GA. He had a small Subarachnoid hemorrhage and was in the ICU for 7 days, then about another week on the floor. While there, no visitors were allowed.

On 5/11/2020, I was with my mom and we received a call from the ICU NP that he was confused and combative. I was able to calm him over the phone but he was restrained for a time being while there. The details are not clear at this time but I am able to get the records. (By the way I am a Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant and have been practicing for 19 years.) A diagnostic cerebral angiogram was performed on 5/12/23, and my mom never verbally gave consent for the procedure.

The physicians performing the procedure claimed to have tried to call my mom postop, but said they were unable to reach her. She had no record of a phone call. I actually worked with the wife of the fellow performing the procedure and she had told me this information. He didn’t attempt to call me either. He also received an EGD later in the course of this hospital stay and signed his own consent for that procedure, which in my opinion seemed inappropriate considering he was extremely confused from the TBI.

After a week and a half during this stay, they finally gave him a toothbrush at my mom’s request. No visitors were allowed at all throughout. In my opinion, he seemed to have some PTSD following this event. Devastated by the loss of his business and after a traumatic experience in the hospital, he experienced major depression. In November of 2020, my grandfather was admitted to a community hospital in Snellville, GA, and my dad took my grandmother to visit him everyday. There was only one entrance into the hospital through the ER.  We presume this is where he picked up Covid.

While eating dinner on 12/4/20, he told my mom he couldn’t taste the food they were eating. 12/5/20 they went to a local urgent care where he was given azithromycin only. My mom specifically asked for steroids and was told that is not effective for Covid. Over the course of the week, he basically stayed the same, not improving. On 12/12/20, my mom called me and said he was not doing well. I suggested he return to the Urgent Care they had been to previously. They wouldn’t allow him to enter and said to go to the ER. My mom drove him to Gwinnett Medical Center. She was forced to leave him at the entrance and she said he said to her “you’re not going to leave me alone are you?” She had no choice. No visitors were allowed but occasionally we could FaceTime him. His SpO2 was in the 60s upon arrival and he was immediately placed on bipap. He wasn’t allowed to take it off even to eat or drink.

I believe it was 12/15 or 12/16 when my mom called to tell me he required intubation and was placed on a ventilator. I believe he threw a PE from what I can recall. They tried prone therapy and convalescent plasma. Some days we would see improvements and some days he’d go backwards. The first ICU attending was receptive to my suggestions (through my mom) of Vitamin D, C, and zinc. He even remarked that maybe that’s why my mom didn’t get sick because she had been taking those supplements. Unfortunately my dad hadn’t been, despite my recommendation.

A new attending took over sometime in between and he was very “doom and gloom”. He didn’t give us any hope. He did mention trying to schedule him for a tracheotomy and PEG tube placement to try and ween him from the ventilator and we agreed. He was not amenable to my suggestions of HCQ or monoclonal antibodies, and said that is not the proper protocol for hospitalized Covid patients.

Suddenly, he seemed to take a turn for the worse and was in renal failure. I believe it was 1/5 or 1/6 and the attending had a family conference call with my mom, my sister and me. He preceded to tell us that if he even survives he will require dialysis and that we should “think about whether he wants to live on that”. He said that he’s never seen anyone recover from renal failure.

As a healthcare provider myself, I was very confused at the time on why his kidneys were failing. It wasn’t until later I had learned of the harm done by remdesivir to kidney function. 1/7/2021 the doctor told my mom he was too unstable even for dialysis. 1/8/2021 he said that we need to make arrangements to remove him from life support and say our goodbyes. He said it wasn’t a rush and that we could do it sometime that weekend. I live in Melbourne, Florida, so my husband and I headed up the morning of 1/9/2021.

Prior to us even getting out the door, my mom called and said to come as fast as we could because his condition was worsening. She and my sister headed to the hospital as soon as possible. This was the only time he was allowed visitors. My mom FaceTimed me while my husband and I were in route to Georgia (it was about an 8 hour drive from my house). We had to pull over and we said our goodbyes around noon that day.

My dad always wanted a boy. He had 2 daughters and my sister had 2 daughters as well. At the time of his death, I was 32 weeks pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl. They were born a little over a month later. He never got to hold his new grandchildren. My pregnancy was uneventful until my dad’s passing. Afterwards, I developed pregnancy induced hypertension, and required a c section at 36 weeks. Maybe that was related to stress. Maybe just a part of a high risk pregnancy. My mom had used up all of her PTO after my dad’s passing and was unable to help me with my newborn twins.

Life has been tough, especially on my mom, ever since. I miss my dad so much. My family misses him so much. I’d give anything to see him hold his grandchildren. We named my son Richard in his honor. He would have been so proud of his twin grandchildren. He was such a kind an gentle soul. He mentored so many young adults throughout the 34 years he ran the restaurant. He loved animals and children. He loved The Ohio State University Football. He was a true Patriot.