"How serious is this?"

[babylonsister]

Copied this from a friend’s post:

You get a fever, and it's a little hard to breathe, but not that bad. Take some tylenol and go to bed. You wake up in the middle of the night to find yourself gasping for air. You reach over to your wife and get her attention.

She rolls over, “What's wrong honey? It's the middle of the night.” It's then she can hear you breathing, or trying to. She turns on the light and sees the panic in your eyes...

No matter how much you inhale, it's not enough, it's never enough. That would be bad enough but the fever is spiking, it's hard to focus.

Your three kids come into the room, they heard Mom talking loud, trying to get your attention. The little girl, 6 years old, you're the center of her universe. She's a daddy's girl and loves it when you take her places with you. "Is Daddy Okay?" Mom tries to hide her panic "He's fine honey, he'll be okay..."

She struggles trying to decide if she should drive you to the emergency room or get an ambulance. She decides to drive. You're too out of it to get dressed so she takes you in your pajamas.

Once there, they admit you. Your wife cannot go in. You're alone. She is sent to the house to quarantine with the rest of your kids. They start to work on you. You're getting tired, your chest hurts from trying to breathe for so long. Your blood pressure is up. They lower your fever a little and put on an oxygen mask. It seems to help a little, but only for an hour or so.

Then your lungs begin to fight for air again. They offer to turn you over on your stomach, "sometimes it helps" they say. They roll you over... It does. You look out the door, Doctors are running everywhere. There are patients in the hallways. The ward is full, and everyone is trying to keep up. You hear Code calls, and ventilator machines being rolled up and down the hallway. You notice you cannot smell anything, and you have pain all over.

You wonder about your family. Your daughter, the fear in her eyes as her daddy was put into the car. "Why are you leaving Daddy? I'll take care of you..."

Pain.. the fight for air. It's back. You press the button. They roll you back over and check you out. The doctor comes up to your bed. Completely covered, face mask, hood, looks a little like an astronaut.

"Sir, you're not getting enough oxygen in your blood. We need to put you on a ventilator." You nod in agreement, gasping.

"Sir... You won't be able to talk once we do this. Would you like to say anything to your family? We can arrange a facetime with them if you like.”

As your head tries to wrap itself around this offer, one question comes to mind: "How serious is this?" It takes the doc a while to respond, he's done this hundreds of times, but it never gets easy.

"Patients that go on a ventilator have a 4 in 10 chance of not recovering. Should we try to reach your family?" You nod... Numb. Your brain can't handle all the info it's getting. The fever, the pain in your chest the struggle for air, it's too much.

A nurse comes back in with an iPad. "I have your family online" she tries to say with a smile. You take the iPad. There they are, all three kids and your wife. Your everything. The look on their faces is a look you've seen before. The brave smiles. The look you give when you feel sorrow and pain, but need to cheer up the person you’re talking too. They are not at home. It looks like they are outside.

You pull in as much air as you can so you can sound somewhat normal. It does not work. "Hey guys, where are you?" Your wife forces another smile. “We're outside your window honey. They put signs out so we know where you are. They can't let us in. We're not supposed to leave the house but we needed to be close to you.” She starts to cry, it's too much for her.

That's when it hits you. Clarity, all at once.. You're saying "goodbye.” The next time you hug your family will either be a few weeks from now, or in the hereafter. So this is your last chance to say something.

The six year old is shaking, pale with fear. "Hey there nugget. How you doing?" "Daddy... Please come home... Who will read to me? I miss you so much, please get out of bed.. I'll do anything you want!"

You never realized you could cry as hard as you are right now, and it's making the breathing even harder. You know you're scaring her. You cannot stay on much longer. "I'm sorry nugget... I can't get out of bed right now. You take care of your Mama for me okay? I love your everything.” She looks at you through tear soaked eyes.. "I love your everything too.”

You can't do it... You can't say goodbye, it's all just too much. The iPad falls in your lap as you struggle to both breathe and cry all at once.

An alarm goes off, the Docs surround you and begin to put in the ventilator. Your eyes close for the last time.
It's over. It takes years for your family to recover. They lost their rock, and nothing will be the same, ever again... End

I felt compelled to write this to give a perspective to those of us who are more focused on comfort and "getting back to normal.” The above story has played out thousands of times with Mothers, Fathers, Grandparents, and children. Families that will grieve for years to come.

It’s not about how high the numbers go. It's about that one person. Your "everything.”

Please... show compassion. Odds are you know somebody that endured something like this. We're in a war right now, and we're losing. It's time to step up and make sure these kids keep their parents.

Thank you... Jay A Kelley 11/16/2020
*copied & pasted from Lee Ann Welch Kelley

[Budi]

1. K & R Thanks for the dose of Reality.

+

[tblue37]

2. You made me cry. K&R for visibility.

[sheshe2]

3. I am crying.

[cp]

4. Thank you

[Illumination]

5. Well written. Really gives the reader a glimpse into the progression of this deadly virus...

..... .....

[yonder]

6. Wow. How gripping, in a tight-in-the-throat kind of way.

[Joinfortmill]

7. Prayers for those suffering

[StarryNite]

8. Powerful

[crickets]

9. My heart just breaks for everyone going through this, for all of us.

[Akacia]

10. So very sad, as I type with tears in my eyes. nt.

[usaf-vet]

11. Prayers for the nurse, doctors EMTs and other caregivers. Many will have to live with PTSD.....

..... when this is over. And we are back to "normal".

[Jay25]

12. Thanks for sharing

It really puts into perspective, the impact on the patient, their family and the medical staff going over and beyond in their care of our loved ones. What’s really sad is that a little consideration of others, by just wearing a mask, can make a difference.

[niyad]

23. Welcome to our DU family.

[question everything]

13. This is frightening. I can literally feel it

[smirkymonkey]

26. So can I. That was just devastating.

Everyone should have to read that.

[gademocrat7]

14. K&R

The sobering truth. Thank you.

[llmart]

15. Heartbreaking.

These sorts of stories need to be shared far and wide and hopefully get some people to see just how awful this virus is and the suffering it causes.

I didn't think I could hate that s.o.b. any more than I already did, but reading this makes me hate him more and every single person who enabled him to go out there and tell the lies and call it a hoax and who did NOTHING.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

19. Lots of Republicans "enabled him" and promoted the same lies.

There's no way to count the nightmares that death cult has created.

[Karadeniz]

16. Oh, lord, that was gut wrenching... Thanks for sharing this... We need to know.

[liberalla]

17. Bookmarking!

[dalton99a]

18. Kick

[AZ8theist]

20. After reading this, tearing up, I then just get FUCKING ANGRY

At all of the fucking ASSHOLES who aren't wearing masks. See them every day. Most have Trump Pence stickers on their car.
FUCKING SCUM.

[mtnsnake]

21. Heart wrenching. I don't know how many times I felt the need to inhale as deeply as I could

while I was reading that post.

[Frustratedlady]

22. Yes, I just lost the daughter of dear friends...she was the same age as my kids.

She worked at the courthouse which was hit a month ago. Being in her 50s, she had retirement to look forward to after many years of hard work. She was so efficient and such a sweetie. I can't get her out of my mind.

Her mother had a heart attack a year ago and I'm worried for her, as this was her only daughter. There has been no obituary yet and I am pretty sure they are delaying it for the privacy, so I haven't called yet. With COVID in our area, I can't visit, so I wait...which is terrible.

This horrid virus has us all at its mercy. I've been basically quarantined since last March, which I can handle as I know the virus will be a death sentence. Your post was even suffocating to read, but a good reminder of what could be ahead for many of us.

[niyad]

24. Heartsick KNR. I want to print this out, and force every maskhole I encounter to read it. OUT LOUD!

Maybe, just maybe, reality might sink in.

[BobTheSubgenius]

25. Incredibly moving.

I have to admit, I was looking forward to the happy ending, with a lesson. A bigger, or perhaps more impactful is the way to describe the lesson, and no happy ending. It turned out that way, because it so often does, to real people.

Yikes. What more can I say to that? Nothing of any use.

But it seems like a good time for another admission on my part. I find myself to not be such a good person, to my dismay. Why? Or how so?

There are people out there that I find more than a little deserving of this. The people that put other people at risk because of their ridiculous sense of Freedumb, or Machismo, or whatever you want to call it. Those bottom feeders who deny, deny, deny, until it's their turn be struggling for breath, crying to be saved, like that neo-Nazi we read about yesterday. I can't help but think that resources were wasted on them...resources that might have helped someone else live. That that someone would play chicken, not just with their own lives, but the lives of innocents...because... why? Because their empty soul, or however you want to term it, needed to be filled with "Look at me!" F all of those people.

Sorry.

[Solomon]

27. Gripping.

Thank you!

[Ligyron]

28. JFC, that was too real.

Ignore at your peril I guess.

[malaise]

29. You have me in tears

but it is also about the numbers - this is happening to way too many people

[soldierant]

30. Passing on.

"Ignore at your peril" indeed.

The group I'll ba passing it to ncludes a friend who was just last month in the hospital for a week with what turned out to have been a form of pneumonia - and he's fine now - but he scared himself, his medical personnel, all the rest of us in the group, and probably his cat half to death.

[Olafjoy]

31. As a doctor, I just have no more words anymore

It’s so bad. To listen to all these patients talk about their travel plans for Thanksgiving and just not caring and fighting when you tell them to go get a COVID test. Just seeing case after case after case after case. It’s just so bad.

[Blue Owl]

32. I wish tRump could have experienced how serious it is

That fucker should be on a ventilator

[Roc2020]

33. That was very sobering

and terrifying

[skip fox]

34. Terrible. Well written.

[genxlib]

35. This is heartbreaking but it could be worse

If the hospitals get overwhelmed, you may not have the benefit of a ventilator or the mercy of being sedated.

You could be gasping for breath and left to die in a tent out back behind the hospital.

In that sense, it is about how high the numbers go.

[SCantiGOP]

36. One of the hardest things I've ever read

Hard to believe there are still mask-deniers and people who think this is being over-emphasized for some sick reason.