COVID-19 Humanity Betrayal ㅤ Memory Project

On 11/3/20 Eric became sick. He did a televisit with family Dr on 11/5/20 and they prescribed an antibiotic for a sinus infection. On 11/10/20 he started having black stools. Took him to the emergency room where was for 5 hours and was sent home with a touch of pneumonia. On 11/14/20 he passed out from lack of oxygen in the bathroom. Rushed him to the er where they said he had double pneumonia and full blown covid and they were admitting him. I asked if he was going to die and they said it was a good possibility. He was on full flow oxygen and CPAP and bipap for two weeks. They had talked about the ventilator the week leading up to eventfully putting him on it.

On 11/28/20 he called me saying they needed up put him on it and that he couldn’t breathe. We prayed together and then for the next 8 days we waited. On 12/1/20 they slowly reduced his sedatives. He would be awake for small periods of time. On 12/5/20 they called and said they would be extubating him the next day and thought my voice would help him. I refused the audio call and insisted on a facetime call. I got to see him and talk to him that day. Three hours later he was facetime calling me back and the ventilator was removed. Later found out that he himself pulled the hoses out because he felt like he was dying and his lights were going out. There was NO BUTTONS OR CALL BUTTONS on his bed. Nurses were standing outside his room and he tried kicking his legs to get their attention only to be ignored. He started shaking his head to try to get the hose in his hands. He finally succeeded and was able to pull the hose out and breathe in air. NO ALARMS OR SOUNDS WENT OFF.

Within 3 days he was moved to a regular room and 2 days later moved to a nursing home. Which is a whole other nightmare. He arrived from the hospital, basically a “junkie” hooked on IV Ativan. They sent him to the nursing home with NO anxiety meds, and he was coming off of it, sweating and shaking. The doctor there wrote him a prescription of the ativan in pill form, which he took till he went home, and then the home dr helped him wean off of it then. At the nsg home he was automatically isolated for 14 days, even tho he’d already been isolated in the hospital from 11/14 to 12/3! He wasn’t allowed to even begin therapy treatments for those 14 days. He was ultimately discharged from the nursing home on 12/31/20, 7 weeks from his hospital admission, with, oxygen, which took months and months to get off of, but he did it, and is back at work!