Clair had been seen by his family practice provider for chest pain and shortness of breath for a few months.  He had been seen by the cardiologist and cleared.  His medical history included, hypertension, NIDDM and Large Granular Lymphocytic Leukemia, that he’d been under treatment for more than a year.  I believe the shortness of breath was due to the Large Granular Lymphocytic Leukemia.  He had a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and had taken methotrexate for many, many years before he stopped on his own. I believe this may have caused the Large Granular Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Then in December, 2021, he came down with a cold.  I tried to have him seen by his PCP but was told, it sounded like COVID-19, and they don’t see COVID-19 patients in the office.  He should go to urgent care.  We sat at urgent care for hours, and he finally said he had to leave because he was so sick, so we went home.

Several days later on 12/25/2021, I took him to the Penn State Holy Spirit Hospital ER.  First thing they asked was vaccine status.  Neither of us had COVID-19 vaccine, although he was investigating it to see if he should or shouldn’t take it.

His oxygen saturation was low, and they put him on oxygen and did a COVID-19 test.  They said was positive, but these tests weren’t testing correctly from what I was told by others – not hospital personnel.  Testing too high so everything came back positive for COVID-19.  They also did a chest X-ray, and said he had double pneumonia.

They made me leave due to his positive COVID-19 testing, and he was admitted.  When I could get to talk to him he said they weren’t feeding him or doing any hygiene care.  They put him on “high flow” oxygen and he told me he threw up in his mask.  When I talked to the hospitalist, she denied he threw up.

After several days people told me to get him out of there, and I told the hospitalist I was taking him home the next day so I’d need oxygen and medications, etc.  They called me that night and he had belly pain, so they did an X-ray that showed free air, Cat-scan showed possible bowel perforation.  They took him for repair on 1/3/22.  The surgical PA said they thought it was perforated.  So, I couldn’t take him home the next day.

Finally after 11 days, I could go see him (1/5/22), and he was talking and therapy was trying to get him to sit up on side of bed but stopped.  Twelve inch incision.  Nothing to eat other than IV fluids as he had a feeding tube in his stomach.  I thought the worst was over.

The next day when I went in they had moved him to ICU, and no one ever called me to notify me.  It was downhill from there.  When I went in to see him, he said, “They’re trying to kill me!”  I just didn’t know what to do.  I told them no ventilator, but after a day or so they said due to his organs shutting down, the sepsis from the bowel perforation and his low O2 saturation, they had to.  I really tried my best to not let them do this but the PA-C said it would only be for, at most, five (5) days.

I received very few calls from any doctors. They kept sticking him for blood samples, so they finally decided to insert a PICC line.  They still continued sticking him for blood.  If I had known, I would have made them stop all the medications to see if he’d wake up but, I unfortunately wasn’t as informed as I am now.  I tried to be there for rounds in the morning to get updates.

I got a call around 4 A.M on 1/14/22, saying I needed to go in as he was very bad.  I spent the next day or so there until they told me he was suffering and the ventilator should be stopped.  They asked me for a DNR. I said I didn’t want a DNR, just no more labs or special treatment for his blood sugars, etc.  They turned the ventilator off 1/15/22, and my husband of 50+ years died.  It was so devastating and I know they murdered him.