While the World Sleeps

 While the world sleeps and shelters in to avoid this heinous disease that wraps its tentacles around the lives of those it touches, some of us are sitting by hopelessly with the knowledge that someone we love is indeed in the clutches of this terror.  I have never felt more helpless in my life. My brother Ted was infected with Covid-19 virus, and he was 1100 miles away from North Carolina in Texas. I am 76 years old and travelling in any fashion was not an option under the current lockdown rules, and besides that, I wouldn’t have been allowed to see him in the hospital if I was there. I am forced to rely on our shared faith in a heavenly father who hears our prayers. One thing that we believe is to “Hope” in God’s word and His Spirit leading us to believe that He is faithful and will hear our prayers. I have prayed with great hope, without ceasing, for Ted throughout this ordeal he is facing.

When I called him a few weeks ago he was already ill, telling me that he had been diagnosed with “walking pneumonia”. He had been to an emergency clinic near his home in Burleson, Texas and they had sent him home. Two days after I called, his wife Fay called to say that he had been admitted to a hospital on the SW side of Ft Worth because his blood sugar was highly elevated to almost 500 (Normal is 120-150) and his cough had not subsided. They administered a Covid-19 test kit and it came back on that Friday as positive. Fay had told him good-bye at the hospital door and was told that he couldn’t call out, so she, like the rest of us was isolated from contact with him.

After a couple of days I was able to get him on the phone in his room and we had a good talk. Same thing the next day and then it was another day before I spoke with him. His voice was weak and he was not happy with the treatment he was receiving, his cough was deep and raspy and he was not getting better. For some reason, the hospital had him in ICU, but not on a ventilator. I became genuinely concerned about his treatment and his recovery probability. The next day Fay advised that the hospital was going to release him and send him home for her to care for him.

That was a none-starter proposition for a multitude of reasons, some of which are.

1. Ted was still in need of constant care that only a hospital can deliver

2. Fay is in the highest risk category of catching this infectious disease

3. He had never been offered the use of a ventilator by the hospital.

4. Fay had recently suffered a major fall and was only barely recovered enough to be able to care for herself.

Fay’s daughter and Fay objected to his release and delayed the hospital for 3 days, after which, Ted was released without concurrence by the family, into the care of Fay in their home. She said they called and said, “He has been released and you need to come pick him up now”. She did and brought him to their home. He was still in need of major care and she quickly realized that she was not capable of meeting his needs. Ted was irrational in sound judgement and physically incontinent with his normal routine. He was having an extremely hard time breathing with excruciating pain and obviously in need of care that could not be provided at home. After calling Ted’s family doctor, he agreed and sent out an EMS team to take him to a different hospital the following morning. Subsequently, Fay was now quarantined to her home from exposure to a known Covid-19 victim, pending the results of a test kit in the future. (Miraculously her test came back negative)

Ted was immediately sedated and placed on a ventilator in the ICU. He has never recovered sufficiently to be removed completely from sedation or from the ventilator. This hospital was much better than the first, calling with updates to Fay twice a day, but they managed to commit a terrible fiasco. Fay’s daughter Julie called the hospital for her mom and the hospital misinterpreted her request to speak with Ted, and connected her to another patient with a similar name. This resulted in Fay thinking that she was talking to a conscious Ted even though he sounded groggy. She and Julie spoke to this wrong person and thought he sounded like Ted on drugs. He had been removed from the ventilator and moved to a step-down ICU ward in the hospital. When Fay shared this with the family, we were ecstatic and praising God for this miraculous improvement. In like manner, we were crushed to discover the error the following day and learn that Ted was still under sedation and still on the ventilator in ICU. The doctors and the hospital apologized profusely, but the damage was already done to the family. It was like a great burden had been lifted from your back, and then suddenly, been thrust back onto your shoulders. It was agonizing to all, but especially to Fay.

He had been on the ventilator for several days and the hospital tried to remove it and get him back to breathing on his own. He suffered a panic attack that led to a heart attack and they had to resuscitate him. His situation worsened and he was unable to even attempt removal of the ventilator without fear of another heart attack. Finally the family agreed to remove the ventilator and issued a DNR certificate. Within a day he lost his battle for life on this earth and stepped into  Heaven’s glory.

A kinder, gentler man I never knew, he was without guile, and pure of heart with all he met. He did not deserve the excruciatingly painful process that led to his demise, he did not deserve the agony, the mis-treatment, the mis-direction and the evil virus that accompanied his journey. But he did, and now he is gone. To a better place for sure and he surely will not suffer anymore. Ted was a wonderful man, respected by all and he will be forever loved.

He now sleeps without pain or suffering in a place far from this noisy place. God rest his soul in peace.