I hope all my dates are correct.

On October 4, my husband (Michael) woke up and complained of a scratchy throat. He seemed fine otherwise. Within a few hours he felt a little worse and called off for work for Monday. We both went to get COVID tests per his works requirement to return back to work. His test came back positive and mine was negative. Even at this time, we were not overly concerned. Michael was a strong and healthy 39 year old man with a baby boy on the way and a 1.5 year old daughter at home.

On October 8, he felt really awful with a temperature of 103. We called the VA nurse line and she advised he come to the ER. Once we got there and I dropped him off, he went in, they took his blood pressure and sent him on his way. Within 5 minutes he was discharged. With no treatment. We went back home for him to suffer at home. The next night his fever was high again, we went to UK hospital. He was there for a few hours and monitored and then discharged in the morning. Michael was not given any treatment. He was told to come back if he was having trouble breathing.

The next night, he couldn’t even breathe to get to the bathroom. We went back to UK hospital. At that time he was admitted and placed on 2L of oxygen. By the next morning, they had transferred him to the ICU and placed him on high flow oxygen. I was NEVER informed he was being moved to the ICU. He continued to be on high flow oxygen for a few days and they started Remdesivir. I did not know anything about this drug. I requested him to be given the vitamin cocktail and hydroxychloroquine or the monoclonal antibodies. They immediately told me no and that there was no proof or approval to use this drug. My husband continued to decline and he was placed on Bipap. Michael really struggled with this device due to his PTSD. I asked them to give Michael a little Xanax or something to help him relax to help his breathing. They refused. ONE nurse would call me when he would get anxious and hold the phone to his ear so I could calm him. No one else ever did that.

On October 17, I received a call from a resident telling me they were going to intubate Michael. Which, I refused. I said NO. Even the few days before the 17th, they kept trying to get me to intubate him and I refused. On the 17th, the doctor called me and advised me this was the best thing for Michael. I said No, but he was going to have to talk to Michael and see if this is what he wanted. My husband reluctantly agreed. I have no idea the exchange of information that happened to get my husband to agree. Before I could even ask the nurse if I could video or visit my husband before intubation, they had already intubated him. They continued the remdesivir day after day. I requested video chats multiple times a day just to see him and for him to hear my voice. I hope he could hear me.

On October 26, they told me they were going extubate Michael since his numbers seemed to improve. So they did. But they kept him on the precedex so he was totally out of it. Our son was born prematurely that night at Baptist hospital. My son was transferred to the level 4 NICU at UK. Then following day I was offered a compassionate transfer to UK to be close to my son. We were now all at UK hospital at the same time. On October 28 early in the day, my husbands doctor came to my room and was telling me how much better he was doing and in a bout 1-2 weeks, he could go to rehab. I was so relieved. 3 hours later, my husband was DEAD. He went into cardiac arrest and died.

I DEMANDED to be taken to his room. (His doctor had called me during CPR). The hospital kept telling me no. I became angry and they let me go see him. My last moments with my husband was watching them do CPR on him. I never got to say good bye or tell him his son was born (recommended by the doctors to keep my husband calm). I am a respiratory therapist, so I know what was going on in the hospital. I did everything I could possible do to advocate for my husband. I could have done so much more next to him. Instead they isolated him and he was probably feeling abandoned. I am just sickened and heart broken.