My dad came down with COVID pneumonia at the end of September. We did our best to treat him at home but eventually we realized we needed to get him to a hospital. After about four days in the hospital on oxygen he crashed and needed to be put on a ventilator. We were devastated.
When they put a person on a ventilator, hospital protocol generally is to sedate and paralyze the patient. My dad was sedated and paralyzed for a total of about 17 days. He was completely immobilized. One doctor told us that my dad had one of the worst cases of COVID pneumonia he had seen in a long time. We were, of course, extremely worried. As time went on, his condition worsened. Through a series of miracles, my dad stabilized enough that they were able to give him a tracheostomy. This was the turning point where he was able to get transferred to a LTAC facility (which is a critical care facility for COVID patients).
Fortunately, through a friend, we were put in touch with Kali Dayton. We were told she has had amazing success helping people come down off sedation and the paralytic. One of the side effects of sedation is the patients experience extreme delusions and hallucinations. While we were at the LTAC, Kali was extremely helpful in helping us understand the importance of getting my dad off the paralytic and sedation quickly. She informed us that every day he was on the sedation added weeks onto his recovery. We began pressuring the staff at the LTAC to get him off the sedation. Kali has found that it is critical to get a ventilated patient up and moving and you can’t unless they are off sedation. The staff at the LTAC were very hesitant to take my dad off sedation, at times even telling us he was off it, when in fact, he was still on sedation.
Finally, through much vigilance, we were able to get him off sedation. We then had the task of making sure we had physical therapy coming as much and as regularly as possible to ensure my dad was up and moving as much as possible. Now that he was off sedation we began dealing with the repercussions of having him on sedation meds for so long. My dad experienced horrible hallucinations.
Through the help of Kali, we were able to have discussions with the PA, who was caring for my dad, as to the best pain killers or anxiety meds that would ease him safely off his sedation meds. Eventually, Kali was very instrumental in helping us to get the PA to allow my dad to turn off the ventilator to see how he would handle it. The PA told us he would probably only be able to go about two minutes. My dad was able to be off the ventilator for the entire day! He probably could have gone the night, as well, but they put him back on the ventilator for the night to give him a rest. Within a couple weeks my dad was able to come completely off the ventilator! The PA and LTAC staff were blown away by how quickly he improved.
We do not believe my dad would be here with us today if it hadn’t been for Kali and her knowledge of the importance of getting my dad off the sedation and paralytic and getting him up and moving as soon as possible. We truly believe she was instrumental in helping to save my dad’s life. He spent a total of two months in the hospital (this included ICU, LTAC and acute physical therapy). He has been home for over a month and a half now and is doing awesome! He hasn’t been on oxygen for about two months now. He is getting to the point where he isn’t even using a cane to walk around anymore.
We truly believe Kali is one of the miracles that came into our lives to save my dad’s life. Thank you so much Kali! We will forever be indebted to you!
