Blog: Hope within the darkness of COVID-19

By Cheryl Cranick, Copywriter/Editor, North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA)

When COVID-19 took hold in New Jersey, Bill Squires, 66, and his wife, Jodi, worried about one person: their 23-year-old son, Sean, who lives in New York City, a hotbed for the virus. Sean has cystic fibrosis (CF), which puts him at high risk for COVID-19. “We never imagined Bill would be the one to get sick,” said Jodi. Bill did not just get sick — he nearly died. But thanks to expert critical care from healthcare professionals such as Isaiah Fuller, CRNA, Bill is home.

Bill’s COVID story began like many others. At home, he spiked a fever and had a terrible cough and extreme fatigue. Jodi urged him to seek help. “I was scared,” she said. “What if Bill got worse? What if I got sick and couldn’t get Sean food and supplies? We also heard hospitals were running out of ventilators. But Bill kept saying, ‘Give it another day.’”

Barely able to eat, Bill finally agreed to go to the hospital, but Jodi could not go with him. “I was thrilled when I saw an incoming call from him,” said Jodi. But it was not Bill on the line. It was a nurse who said Bill’s oxygen level had plummeted and he was being ventilated.

Placing COVID-positive patients on ventilators delivers oxygen directly to the lungs. Some COVID patients improved after a few days, but many never recovered. Bill was sedated — a machine breathing for him — for nearly a month.

Managing COVID from afar
Unable to visit her husband, Jodi started a running list. She called three times a day for updates, writing down the name of every person on the phone. “I knew Bill would want to thank them,” she said. “Who knew he wouldn’t leave the hospital for seven weeks?”

Waiting and worrying at home was exhausting, said Jodi. “Every night I slept with my phone by my ear.” She shared any bit of news about Bill with his extensive network. Her husband is a well-known, well-respected, and well-loved man: a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and retired Naval aviator; an expert in sports facility and event management with past and present ties to the Yankees and Giants; now a private consultant and adjunct professor at Columbia University; and a fierce advocate for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

“Everyone wanted to know: ‘How is Bill?’” said Jodi. She disseminated news to hundreds of people every day.

Meeting Isaiah

Isaiah Fuller is a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) from Memphis, TN. He was one of 60 clinicians within our organization who traveled to the New Jersey COVID hot zone. Anesthesia professionals were expertly suited to expand a hospital’s critical care team during this pandemic.

“When we first heard about COVID-19, I wondered: ‘Was it going to be that bad?’” said Isaiah. “Then I saw the stories from New Jersey and realized this virus was catastrophic.”

In operating rooms and recovery rooms transformed into COVID wings, Isaiah and his colleagues served on intubation teams to sedate and ventilate patients. Anesthesia clinicians also rounded as intensive care providers. Isaiah intubated patients of all ages, even those in their 20s. He cared for patients with multisystem organ failure, and he held the hands of patients dying alone.

“This virus affected everyone differently,” said Isaiah. “We had patients off the ventilator for days, then the virus came back and ended their life.”

Isaiah needed one story of hope. Bill became that story.

A second intubation
After 25 days, Bill seemed to recover and was removed from the ventilator. He saw Jodi and his three children via a conference call. He asked Jodi to come get him. “I knew I couldn’t yet, but we were encouraged,” she said.

Bill assumed he had been sedated for just a few days. Isaiah remembers saying, “Bill, you’ve been asleep since March.” But two days later, Bill’s fever spiked again. Isaiah was the one who reintubated Bill. “His case became so personal for me,” said Isaiah. “We were getting patients to the point of extubation, but why couldn’t we keep them there? I realized I needed to do more than what I came here to do.”

After Bill’s second extubation, his body was exhausted and showing signs of prolonged inactivity. He needed to get out of bed and begin a routine. Unfortunately, physical therapy was also overwhelmed, but Isaiah could not let Bill down. The nursing staff does not traditionally move patients, but Isaiah’s critical care nursing experience kicked in. “I picked Bill up and placed him in a chair myself. I began active steps to help him break down the mucus in his lungs. I did that for days until physical therapy arrived.”

But Isaiah did not just care for Bill’s body; he cared for his soul as well. “I’m of the mindset that our morning preparation is an important part of our day and makes us feel more successful,” said Isaiah. “I went to Bill’s room and shaved his face, trimmed his eyebrows, and cut his hair with these cheap scissors the hospital had.” He managed to clean away more than a month lost to COVID-19.

Bill was discharged from the COVID wing on May 12 and spent 23 days in the region’s top rehabilitation center. He is now home continuing his recovery. “It was Bill’s fighting Navy spirit that got him through this,” said Jodi, “and people like Isaiah who gave us hope.”

Bill remains grateful to the staff at Saint Barnabas Medical Center who saved his life, and to Isaiah who stayed by his side.