My husband Luis was blind. He tested positive for Covid on November 28, 2021. On December 2nd he went to the ER at Parkview Medical Center Pueblo Co. They tried to send him home without treatment but the ER nurse did a standing/walking oxygen tests and his SPO2 dropped to low 80s. He was given dexamethasone and oxygen. He was prescribed an oxygen concentrator and was put on 2L. On December 5th, his at home 02 levels dropped to 86-88% on 5L so we went back to the ER.

When he walked in the door of the ER his 02 levels had dropped to 72% and he was admitted. Even though he was 100% blind our 21 yr old son was not allowed to stay with him to help him with monitors or medications. I was Covid positive and not allowed in with him. Upon admittance, his hospital records say his kidney levels were elevated (Stage 3 kidney disease. We had never been told this by any of his doctors and he went regularly every 3 months) and that his heart enzyme levels were also elevated. He asked for monoclonal antibodies and the doctor told him he could not have them until his kidney numbers leveled out. He asked several times if he could have someone come sit with him and was denied each time.

His hospital records state clearly that he was not a candidate for remdesivir and yet they started him on that very drug on December 6th. On December 9th he contacted me (conversation was very difficult for him because he had to dictate to his phone to send messages to me and it took too much out of him). He told me he fell asleep as his o2 levels dropped into the 60s on 65l high flow nasal cannulas and that no one caught it. He had to be moved to the AVAP mask that night. I called the nurse and asked her how his levels were not caught, she denied that they were ever that low and yet it says it right on his hospital records. I was finally able to reach a patient advocate and raised hell and was able to go in with my husband on December 10th. When I arrived he was in the cpap mask and his o2 levels were at 89% on 100% oxygen.

I sang to him and rubbed his back and calmed him and his levels went back up to the low to mid 90s. He had a nebulizer treatment at 2am that brought his O2 up to 96%. I stayed awake with him all night. The morning of December 11th he was able to handle the nose cannulas again to eat real fast but had to go right back to the mask. His levels were hovering between 87 and 92 so the MICU doctor said he wanted him transferred to their floor. Once he got to the MICU we waited for 5 hours for a doctor to even come in his room even though his nurse went out looking for him on 4 separate occasions. When he came in my husband’s room, his o2 levels were in the mid 90s even after having the nasal cannulas on for dinner. My husband was talking and joking around and seemed to be so much better. In fact, the doctor said he would be moved back to 5 Tower in a couple of days at this rate. That was not the case.

I finally needed to sleep. My husbands o2 levels were in the 90s so I took a quick rest. All of a sudden his alarms were blaring after a nebulizer treatment. I woke up and the nurse came in and said his o2 levels were dropping to around 85%. He kept telling me to try to calm him down and have him breathe. He kept bouncing between 85-87 and the pulmonologist came in and told us his heart was working overtime and his levels were continuing to drop and we needed to consider venting him before it was too late. My husband and I were both so scared and we had no idea what good levels and bad levels were. We were both sleep deprived and my husband made the choice to be vented because he was scared to wait until it was too late. We were allowed to call our children but 10 minutes later, I was whisked out of the room without getting to say goodbye.

I was allowed in to see him once after he was sedated and paralyzed. I got 30 min with him and I was kicked out of the hospital. I called and called to try to get back into the hospital in the several next days. I was already with him and I didn’t understand why I couldn’t continue to sit with him. Each time I called I was met with a no. He was vented on December 12th and I didn’t not get a callback from a doctor for five days. I would only get nurse’s progress reports and only if I called for them. No one ever called me. On December 18th my husband went into septic shock. His blood pressure bottomed out and he was put on pressors. They finally put a pic line in instead of doing that when they should have earlier. He battled back into critical stable but on the 22nd his o2 levels dropped to the low 70s. The pulmonary doctor called and said he was tachycardic. He said that we could either let him continue and he could go into cardiac arrest or we could move him to comfort care and be by his side when he went.

My children and I struggled with this decision. We decided to go and be with him. When I got to the hospital I was shocked. When I had left him he was thin and experiencing some atrophy. When I got there he was bloated and probably had 60-70 lbs of fluid on him. How he didn’t qualify for dialysis I will never know. He died in the early morning hours of December 22nd at the age of 46. He left behind three children aged 25, 23, and 21 and two granddaughters age 6 and the one he didn’t get to meet who was born December 6th while he was being admitted to the hospital. He had Type II diabetes that was very well controlled and was on high blood pressure meds as well as a statin. There was a charge nurse on 5 Tower that berated him in front of me and didn’t listen was he was trying to tell her his mask wasn’t on right. There were other things that we have documented on written by hand that I can submit when and if needed.