On 7/12/2021, my husband became ill and we thought it was heatstroke because we were on vacation. 2 days later, his symptoms did not improve.  I took him to Bear Valley Community Hospital where he was eventually tested and chest X-rays were performed. They confirmed COVID pneumonia, prescribed him Prednisone and Zofran, covered him from head to toe with a sheet and wheeled him outside in the middle of the parking lot to wait for his ride. We managed to gain enough strength and leave town the next morning to head back home.

My husband was trying to fight, coughing up blood, eventually admitted he couldn’t breath well and agreed to go to the hospital (7/16/2021). No COVID test was administered at this hospital.  Therefore, there was no confirmation that he had COVID by this facility, yet they began administering Remdesivir and Dexamethasone just based off chest X-rays without any recollection of an informed consent. He was admitted and his need for oxygen was increasing daily, to the point he was on high flow.  He was no longer able to take the oxygen mask off to attempt to eat or drink without risking aspiration. No other attempt was made to provide nutritional needs.

Four days in of being treated with Remdesivir (7/19/2021), my husband began to have a weird feeling in his chest so we informed his nurse.  An ECG was conducted and confirmed an abnormal finding.  It was hours before he was transferred to another hospital to treat said findings (3:30am 7/20/201). My husband suffered a heart attack for hours before being treated. He was then transferred to Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital for the Cath lab to remove the blood clot in one of the vessels of his heart. Three days later, I’m being told my husband needs to be ventilated.

So on 7/23/2021, he was put into a medically induced coma and ventilated.  He was given Nimbex in order to synch with the ventilator. He continued to have ST elevations on the monitor indicating 2 more heart attacks.  He had double pneumonia which eventually led to him becoming septic.  He was given all kinds of medications which were stopped and then given others to try and figure out how to combat the bacteria in his blood as it was becoming resistant to all antibiotics that they were trying. This is just the jest of his journey….there’s more to it, but this is the chunk that plays a big role in the beginning to his journey. Thank you for reading.