As you all know, we’re living in California for three months. And, while we are half way through our stay, my parents – back home in Maryland – just recently came down with COVID. Which was kind of a big deal because both of my parents have other health issues and were at high risk.
So, about 3-weeks ago, my parents call me and I notice they sound like they may be getting sick. My parents tell me they think they have sinuses. Still, I encourage them to call and get an antibiotic just to clear it up. Fast forward to a few days later and I am on the phone with my parents and they don’t sound any better. They’ve been on an antibiotic for a few days and I suggest maybe they should get checked for COVID. But they aren’t having any of the traditional COVID symptoms so they really don’t think it could be COVID. Two days later, my parents decide they aren’t getting better but they don’t feel worse, so they go to the urgent care and do a drive through COVID test.
Since it’s a drive thru test they see no doctors and are sent home and told they will have their results within two days. About this time, I’m noticing my parents sound sick on the phone but they’re still doing okay physically.
So, the next day I call my parents and my dad has a nuling pain in his back and I immediately ask my mom if my dad could have pneumonia. She doesn’t know, but they decide to go to the urgent care to get him checked out. Figuring the urgent care will do an X-ray, we’re kind of baffled when my dad comes out and tells us he didn’t get an X-ray instead the nurse practitioner treated him with a muscle relaxer and sent him in his way. That evening, my dad is sick. I call my mom and my dad doesn’t even talk. I can tell something is wrong because my dad isn’t acting himself. That evening he starts shaking and he’s feeling like he’s dying.
I know the urgent care doctor should have done more but being so far away, my hands are tied. The next day, my parents are able to call their primary care doctor and get my dad an X-ray and there it’s confirmed my dad has pneumonia and he and my mom are both positive for COVID. While my dad isn’t getting any better, my mom isn’t necessarily any worse. The next day, they are able to get antibody treatment. And finally, that Saturday my mom says she feels some relief but my dad is still unable to move or do anything. He’s sick and we have no idea what to do.
The doctors told my mom they don’t treat pneumonia from covid and I really find that odd but being so far away, I don’t really see how my dad is acting I just hear what I am being told. By Sunday, my dad is still sick and I’m begging my mom to take him somewhere to get treated but they are both so weak, they can’t make it out the door. So my mom decides they will just wait and see if he gets any better.
That day we are at a church picnic and I get a phone call that my dad went to an urgent care and they sent him by ambulance to the hospital. His oxygen level was only in the 70’s. By this in I’m bawling and the church members immediately gather around me and we do a prayer circle for my father.
I talk to my mom and she doesn’t know anything. The hospital won’t allow her to be with him and they basically told her they won’t really be treating my father.
But still it’s a hospital, you would NEVER expect a hospital to send home a patient that was deathly sick. So, a few hours later I hear my dad is coming home and he will have oxygen. I’m happy because I think everything is fine. BUT then Monday happens.
Monday, I wake up to a phone call that my dad isn’t keeping his oxygen in and oxygen is only in the 70s. By this time, I know he’s delirious. He’s low on oxygen and he has no idea what he’s doing. He’s grumpy and he’s just not my dad.
I urge my mom to take him to the hospital. But it’s a struggle. Thankfully while I am on the phone, my sisters and brother-in-law come over and my brother in law is able to get my dad to listen and keep his oxygen in for a little while. BUT he is still sick. He can’t keep his eyes open and we’re slowly running out of time.
Keep reading is where God’s handiwork really shows…
Thankfully, my sister is able to consult with a doctor and he tells my sister to take him to Morgantown hospital but gets disconnected while he’s on the phone. A few minutes later, he calls back and tells my sister he spoke to an ER doctor and he told him my dad’s situation and to bring him to that hospital instead. It’s a hospital that we would NEVER go to on any other occasion and one that this particular doctor would NEVER recommend we go to BUT after so many doctors failed my dad, we decide it may be our best hope.
So, while I am on the phone, I hear my mom is taking my dad to the hospital. Its a good 40-minute drive from their house and we’re just praying he can get their safely. My mom gets my dad to the hospital and I find out, it’s not good. All I can do from our apartment in California is desperately pray that my dad doesn’t die of COVID.
I check airplane tickets over and over, but I know there’s nothing I can do at home. But, still I want to be home. But the thought of flying on an airplane with 3 kids for the first time, is also terrifying. And, its really expensive. My hands are tied.
Not long after my dad gets checked into the hospital, I get a call from my sisters and its not good news. They want to put my dad on a ventilator and give him Remdesivir, which is a medicine that is notorious for kidney failure. Thankfully, my mom is with my dad and she immediately says, ‘no’. From there the news gets even scarier. My father’s blood clotting level was over 15k – it was the highest the doctor had ever seen.
So, they get him on blood thinners and then I get another phone call from my sisters, the doctor wants to try an experimental drug on my dad. So, we look this drug up online and find out its one that has been around for quite some time and we don’t find a lot of bad side effects on it, so we all agree and tell my mom to try it. At this point, our hands are tied and we’re not ready to say goodbye.
The rest of the day goes on like a blur. The next day, I’m just praying for some good news and, its not. My dad is wanting to go home. He’s not acting like himself and he’s still refusing to keep the oxygen in. I do a quick prayer and its not long before I hear, the day nurse got my dad to calm down. They even agreed to allow my mom to stay with him in the hospital, which is a big relief for my dad.
The next couple days, my dad isn’t like himself. I call my mom at the hospital and he doesn’t talk at all. I’m desperate to hear his voice, but I understand he is still very sick. By Thursday, 3-days later, I finally get a hint of relief, my dad is talking when I call my mom. He sounds a lot better and the doctors are even talking about sending him home.
By Monday, my dad is finally sent home, after a week in the hospital! He still requires oxygen and lots of blood thinners and he’s still at risk for blood clots BUT God saved him and my mom both. While my mom’s pacemaker had to be postponed for a while, I know that good deliberately placed everyone of those doctors and nurses right where they needed to be to save my dad and did this all for reason.
Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you.”Deuteronomy 3:22
Last Updated on 4 years ago by Crystal Carder