Day 15 November 3rd, 2020

I couldn't take it any longer, I stayed in bed and struggled with my breathing. My mom called to check on me as she was on her way home and I finally broke down. She came right over to help Mike get me out of the house and follow us to St. Marys. They obviously were not allowed into the hospital but we knew that was going to happen. Mom and Mike gave them all the information they could and they waited a bit.

My memory gets foggy at times during this period and I am sure there are things that happened that I don't remember or don't remember clearly so please stay with me.

When I first got into triage behind the sliding doors the nurses at the front instantly put me on oxygen, while I had no fever my blood pressure and heart rate were good to which they were shocked but my o2 was in the high 70's to low 80's. They put me in a wheelchair and put me back in the hallway till I could be seen which seemed as though it took forever. There was an older lady who was next to me who was just as sick as I was, but they were so rude to her and it was starting to piss me off because it was one particular male nurse who said he was new there tonight. He kept making comments to her about having the COVID test done. His exact words were "You seriously can't be scared we do this on kids and babies all the time". Are you kidding me! So what, she was scared you are a medical professional be there for her.

I was lucky enough to have a different nurse thank God as I am not sure that would have gone over well sick or not. He was smooth with the IV which is abnormal for me, I tend to be a harder stick. My veins are deep, they move and collapse really easily. They got my IV started right away but had trouble getting the rest of my labs as I started to pass out in the hall. I started feeling flush but sweating, I felt like my eyes were rolling into the back of my head and all I wanted to do was throw my head back but there was nothing I could rest it on. I kept slouching in the chair but every time I did that it would make it worse. I tried sitting up but the light was too bright for my eyes. I could hear the nurses running over and talking and doing my vitals but they sounded so far away and I kept grabbing out because I didn't want to hit the ground. I started crying because I knew what was going to happen. Thankfully, though they got me squared away. The doctor said it was a Vasovagal syncope which was just another term for fainting. They kept asking if I was afraid of needles. I normally not as I get blood work every 3 months. I also have tattoos so that was kind of like what the heck.

Once they were able to get the rest of my labs done they started giving me potassium, at first it was by taking huge pills. My COVID markers came back positive but low again, so I guess that was a good thing. They wheeled me in to have a cat scan of my chest and strangely enough as overwhelming it was, I started to fall asleep. I was comfortable and I could breathe. After that was completed they took me to the raspatory therapy room for a breathing treatment, but before they could start that they needed to get my blood gas. Let me tell you that is an experience I never want to do. It took 7 tries to finally get something enough for them to check. My wrist hurt so bad and the hospital bracelets kept rubbing up against them. Once all that was done, I was put into this room where I was alone near the ambulance bay so all I heard was the door opening and closing. The room was isolated off with plastic doors and tape. I had a nurse who came but mainly was gone. I had to go pee so bad and all they could do was bring me a bedside commode. That is so dehumanizing and embarrassing, at the same time I knew I couldn't walk to the bathroom nor would they let me because I was covid positive.

After a bit, the ER doctor came in and stated he had called the internist for our insurance and they were keeping me as I was too dependent upon oxygen and it was not safe to send me home. I was on a level 7 at that point and still having issues with my stats they were stuck around 87 to 90 at best. Before I left to my own room once upon admission they actually started giving me Potassium in my IV which felt like this intense burning through your veins. It hurt so bad that the only way they could give meantime of relief is to give me an ice pack.

At about 9 pm they wheeled into my room where I was alone. I talked with Mike and my mom as I was scared, I cried most of the time once I was in the room. The first nurse was amazing but there was only so much they could do. They started my antibiotics asap and getting steroids going. I tried to get some sleep because I was exhausted but I had blood work every 2-4 hours, breathing treatments started right away and they kept coming in to do my vitals. They did have me up and walk to the bathroom a few times but I went and it took them to help me get out so once again they gave me a bedside commode, which just made me feel helpless.