{"id":37881,"date":"2021-02-18T10:49:31","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T17:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=37881"},"modified":"2021-02-18T10:49:31","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T17:49:31","slug":"life-after-covid-19-3-northern-colorado-hospitals-in-49-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/life-after-covid-19-3-northern-colorado-hospitals-in-49-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Life after COVID-19: 3 northern Colorado hospitals in 49 days"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Deb Hoffman survived COVID-19, and is\u00a0managing with support from family and friends, as well as\u00a0health care providers. Photo by Joel Blocker, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Deb Hoffman told her family after she was discharged from the hospital on May 27, 2020, that she didn\u2019t want to discuss her bout with COVID-19. She didn\u2019t want to hear television reports about the pandemic, she\u00a0just couldn\u2019t bear it.<\/p>\n

The survivor\u2019s guilt she felt after surviving COVID-19, when so many others had not, overwhelmed her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have all this time to lay around, you start thinking about everything going on in life,\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cWhy me? Why did I survive?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoffman spent 49 days fighting for her life in hospitals. While she survived, her battle was far from over. She felt tremendous guilt for many months after being released from the hospital.<\/p>\n

Almost a year later, she is talking about it so she can help others facing similar challenges. Looking back, she said, \u201cIt goes back to that saying: ‘You never know how strong you are until that\u2019s the only choice you have.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Life during a pandemic, and the fear of COVID-19<\/strong><\/h2>\n

During 45 years as a nurse, Hoffman has seen a lot.\u00a0She was working as a triage phone nurse at UCHealth Family Medicine in Greeley<\/a> when the pandemic struck Colorado last spring. The fear and devastation that COVID-19 unleashed on her community<\/a> was nothing like she had ever seen before. A month into the outbreak in Colorado, UCHealth\u2019s 12 hospitals were caring for more than 200 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, a number that grew daily.<\/p>\n

Hoffman, who suffers from asthma and chronic autoimmune disorders Lupus and Sjogren\u2019s<\/a> syndrome, was scared too. On Friday, April 3, 2020, she was told not to come to work because she was immune-compromised and high risk; she\u2019d be paid for the week until workflows could be worked out.<\/p>\n

A few days later, she began to feel unusually winded while at her Evans, Colorado home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought maybe it was my asthma, which I knew was weird because it had been controlled over the years,\u201d Hoffman said.<\/p>\n

Her nephew, Justin Eidem, brought her a new inhaler, but it didn\u2019t help. The next day, she got a COVID-19 test but had to wait 72 hours for results.<\/p>\n

By that evening, she felt feverish. Her temperature reached 103.8 degrees and her oxygen level dropped to 78. Dizzy, she sat on her couch gasping for air and called her sister, Penny Eidem, who lives in Greeley. Penny called an ambulance.<\/p>\n

Hoffman grabbed her advance directives paperwork<\/a> and wrote in the margin: If this is COVID, if needed, I want to be intubated. \u201cI\u2019m too young not to fight,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She unlocked her door and waited.<\/p>\n

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Deb Hoffman is waiting for the day her friends and family are vaccinated and they again are able to be with each other. Until then, she stays safe at home and occupies her time with puzzles. Photo by Joel Blocker, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When COVID-19 becomes real<\/strong><\/h2>\n

At UCHealth Greeley Hospital Emergency Room<\/a>, doctors confirmed COVID-19 and worked to stabilize the 63-year-old nurse. Three days after arriving, Hoffman\u2019s breathing had grown progressively worse. She needed to be intubated and placed on a ventilator. Her pulmonologist asked Hoffman about her end-of-life wishes.<\/p>\n

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Deb Hoffman with her nephew, Justin Eidem. The two have always been close but Justin provided so much support to Deb after her battle with COVID-19. Photo courtesy of Penny Eidem.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when it hit me. \u2018OK, now it\u2019s fight or flight, and I\u2019m going to fight,\u2019\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cI\u2019m going to fight and give it everything I have, and I hope that is enough.\u201d\u00a0 That was the last thing she remembers.<\/p>\n

With ICU beds full at Greeley, she was transferred to UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies<\/a> in Loveland.<\/p>\n

The next 40-plus days were a blur. She recalls seeing health care workers in full protective gear and having\u00a0hallucinations. For her family, it was 49 days of fear, uncertainty and prayers.<\/p>\n

Connecting two worlds: Fighting a pandemic both inside and outside the hospital<\/strong><\/h2>\n

At UCHealth hospitals, nurses were moved from their regular duties to the front line of the COVID battle. Robin Johnson, an MCR cardiac nurse who transitioned to a COVID-19 patient liaison during the first wave of the pandemic, was there to help families stay informed and connected with their loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was heartbreaking and emotional,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe supported each other every day and because families couldn’t come in to see their brother, sister, mom, or dad, I was their connection.”<\/p>\n

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Deb Hoffman and her sister, Penny Eidem, before Deb got COVID-19 in April 2020. Photo courtesy of Penny Eidem.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Johnson spent hours on the phone with families, talking to each patient’s loved ones two to three times a day. She\u2019d start by educating families on the coronavirus and the necessity of quarantine and isolation \u2013 as hard as it was. She kept families abreast on their loved ones’ treatments: what was working and what wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeb got pretty sick,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBut I tried to give her family something positive about Deb every day. It\u2019s important for them to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson charted everything in a patient diary she kept for Hoffman. Exclamation marks highlighted each “positive” event for the comatose Hoffman. Good days were measured in the amount of time Hoffman spent on her back and more time meant her lungs were beginning to heal. Johnson let the family know when Hoffman\u2019s fever lessened and when she received blood pressure medication, a signal she was weaning off the ventilator.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was simply a lifesaver for the family,\u201d Penny said of Johnson. \u201cWe hung on every single word she uttered every day. She gave us hope while helping us to manage our expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson shared each time Hoffman started to move a finger, an arm, or a leg \u2013 signs that brought hope to the family. Soon, Johnson began sharing messages from the family with Hoffman. For example, her nieces and nephew asked the nurses to whisper in her ear, \u201cAuntie, keep fighting because we love you and we need you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After 49 days in the hospital, Deb Hoffman spent many months at home recovering from COVID-19. Her escape was to sit in her den and read. Photo by Joel Blocker, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPenny would tell me things to tell Deb,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIn the beginning, Deb wasn\u2019t understanding a lot because of the medications, but as she became\u00a0more coherent, she\u2019d get a smile on her face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important because those people know what you were like before all of this,\u201d Hoffman said. Johnson and the other nurses would tell Hoffman how much her family loved her while they brushed her hair \u2014 something her sister told Johnson Hoffman would enjoy and would calm her.<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 nightmares<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Only hours after Hoffman was off the ventilator, Johnson set up a Zoom call with the family. Hoffman still couldn\u2019t hold her head up well or her eyes open.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobin (Johnson) tried to prepare us \u2014 that Deb was going to be very confused, maybe even combative because of the medications she had been on,\u201d Penny said. \u201cBut I wasn\u2019t prepared for that confusion. As soon as she heard my voice she started to whisper to me. \u2026 It took us 15 minutes to figure out what she was saying: \u2018Medical Center of the Rockies.\u2019 She was trying to tell us where she was because she believed we didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unknown to her family, Hoffman had been having horrifying hallucinations while intubated, including being on an airplane, kidnapped by ruthless people.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t realize what they may have been through, and until we got through to her, she wasn\u2019t trustful,\u201d Penny said of her sister. \u201cShe was convinced she\u2019d been taken and scary things happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penny reassured her sister that she was safe; that her family had been talking with her nurses and doctors, and she needed to trust their care. Those\u00a0hallucinations would haunt her for months, but Hoffman knew she needed to focus her energy on getting her physical strength back after being sick for so long.<\/p>\n

From the COVID ICU toward recovery<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On May 8, 2020, Hoffman was well enough to transfer to inpatient rehab at UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer first day on the rehab unit, she was weak,\u201d said Megan O\u2019Brien, a PVH physical therapist. \u201cI remember her goal was to walk to her door that day, and she wasn\u2019t sure she could do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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UCHealth physical therapy assistant Dave Lensink adjusts Deb Hoffman’s oxygen while in rehab at UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital during her recovery from COVID-19. Photo by Kelly Tracer, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hoffman did, though, and each day thereafter she made more gains.<\/p>\n

Despite her progress, Hoffman remained on oxygen because her lungs had not fully recovered. She suffered from acute muscle myopathy, and she had \u201cCOVID toes,\u201d large blood blisters on the big toes caused by lack of circulation. She could not wear shoes.\u00a0 Weakened by so many days in the hospital, Hoffman didn’t have an appetite;\u00a0food had no taste and left her throat sore.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone in the hospital for as long as someone like Deb, their reality changes,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cWe see confusion related to ICU stays and medication. They are foggy and not themselves. \u2026 But Deb is a hard worker, and her goal was to get back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

After nearly\u00a0three weeks at PVH, Hoffman went home \u2014 49 days after the ambulance had taken her away. Health care workers lined the hallway and applauded as Hoffman\u2019s wheelchair passed by. \u201cEye of the Tiger\u201d by Survivor played in the background.<\/p>\n

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Recovering from COVID-19 is worth celebrating. During the beginning of the pandemic, health care workers at UCHealth would line the hallways to celebrate their patients who got to go back to their life after COVID-19. Deb Hoffman was one of those patients. Photo by Kelly Tracer, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At home, new battles began.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think about people discharged from the hospital or rehab and being better, but that\u2019s not the case,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cJust because they\u2019ve walked out the door doesn\u2019t mean they are back to normal. It\u2019s a long road, and they need support throughout that time \u2014 the weeks and months to come. Encouragement can\u2019t stop when they get home \u2014 that\u2019s when they need it most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily, Hoffman had support when she returned home. Her brothers and sisters had all the medical equipment set up she needed. Her nephew spent nights with her while Penny stopped in during the evenings and weekends. For two weeks, her long-time friend \u2013 a rehabilitation nurse from North Dakota \u2013 came to stay and helped Hoffman continue rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 had left Hoffman with two large hematomas, a collection of blood outside the blood vessels. She had one the size of a football on her side, and another under her breast. It took weeks for them to be absorbed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so glad to be alive \u2026 I didn\u2019t want to complain because God had done so much already,\u201d Hoffman said.<\/p>\n

Six days after she left the hospital, Hoffman got shingles, most likely brought on by the stress of her recovery. Then her hair started to fall out, a common COVID-19 side effect caused by medications used to heal patients. Hoffman had poor circulation, which often made her feel cold, and she still needed oxygen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all hard on the body\u2026 but I had an advantage because I\u2019m a nurse and knew how to take care of myself,\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cYou have to listen to your body. I didn\u2019t think I was a COVID \u2018long-hauler,\u2019 but it did take longer for me to recover.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, recovery is not only a challenge physically, it\u2019s also challenging mentally.<\/p>\n

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At first, Deb Hoffman didn’t want to talk about the 49 days she spent hospitalized fighting COVID-19. Almost a year later, she is bringing strength to other families facing similar struggles. Photo by Joel Blocker, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seeking mental health to deal with COVID-19 aftermath<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While Hoffman was in the hospital, her required CPR certification lapsed and she had difficulty getting open enrollment for insurance benefits completed while in rehab. Life\u2019s \u2018to-dos\u2019 piled up, but what really bothered Hoffman was the question of why she survived. In addition, flashbacks of her hallucinations reminded her of her experience.<\/p>\n

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Coping with survivor\u2019s guilt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Behavioral health therapist Rachel Slick provides some tips as you cope with survivor’s guilt and\u00a0other stressors that accompany the return to work and life after a traumatic event.<\/p>\n