After Three Months, Roseburg Nurse Battling COVID-19 Moved to Rehab

For weeks Holly Jimenez didn’t know if her husband Jose was going to survive. Jose, a nurse at the VA in Roseburg, contracted Covid-19 back in early March. On March 20th, he started showing symptoms such as fever, chills, aches, extreme exhaustion, and poor appetite. Over the next week or so his condition went up and down, but overall his condition kept worsening On March 28th, Holly purchased a pulse oximeter to measure Jose’s oxygen levels. She was shocked to see the stats showing levels in the 80’s. Normal would be between 95-100. Holly immediately took Jose to McKenzie-Willamette hospital in the Eugene area where she works as a nurse. Jose remained at McKenzie-Willamette from the 28th to April 13th, when he was taken to Legacy Emmanuel Hospital in Portland where he has been ever since. Jose was first intubated on April 4th and after three long months of fighting, Jose finally had his trach removed on July 4th. Today, July 14th, Jose starts pulmonary rehab. If things continue to improve Jose could even go home soon. If you would like to help the Jimenez family during this difficult time, a Gofundme has been setup for them here https://www.gofundme.com/f/holly-and-jose-jimenez-fund For Holly, the past several months she’s relied on her faith, her community and on the medical team taking care of Jose. Here is her latest public entry she shared with supporters. July 8th entry - “Jose was intubated on April 4, and the trach came out on July 4! The dobhoff (feeding tube) also came out that day since Jose is eating better. Since I'm from Iowa, I still want to call it a corpak! Jose's been on 1L nasal cannula, and we increase it a bit for activity. When I'm with him, I have him do the incentive spirometer and flutter valve every hour. Our hope is that Jose will go to inpatient rehab soon. He will do pulmonary rehab and maybe some additional physical therapy once he gets home. It's definitely getting closer. Did I know that Jose would make it? No, I didn't. For weeks, I lived in agonizing uncertainty because I knew how grave his condition was. I prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. Some days were so painful that I didn't know how I would get through them, but somehow I got through that day and the next day and the day after that. Part of my surrendering was relying on the expertise of the ECMO team and trusting that they would tell me if we reached the end of the road. Faith has guided me through the past three months. I've never been an atheist, but I was definitely agnostic-leaning during high school. However, I was seeking and searching for something that I felt was missing. In college, I suddenly understood what Jesus did for us on the cross, and faith became real. This walk has became deeper and more meaningful, and I'm realizing it really is an endless frontier. Health is such a fragile thing and so easy to take for granted. Coronavirus doesn't just affect the elderly or the immunocompromised. It can strike people who are the epitome of health and fitness. Jose and I were believers in the body's ability to fight off viruses with time, rest, and hydration, but there is just no telling how this virus is going to affect a person. We are not in control. And it's just not coronavirus. Your life can change in an instant because of a stroke, cancer, heart attack, motor vehicle accident, or various other illnesses. I say this to talk about life support with your loved ones. Do your wishes change if you are in your 70s or 80s versus if you are still raising your kids? Even with us both being nurses and having worked with life support, I did not feel prepared to make the decisions I was making. ECMO is something we never, ever discussed and certainly not something we thought would happen to us. If it hadn't been started, Jose wouldn't be here today. And even though there were no guarantees, I would have guilt and regret if I didn't give Jose that chance to come back to us. Prayer request: For shortness of breath to decrease so Jose can increase his activity. Everything is a process, but it is great to finally see progress and big steps forward!” Photo courtesy of Holly Jimenez