Pandemic: Life on the ground

[canpakes]

It’s both amazing and heartbreaking how many stories like this keep popping up.

A 29-year-old Kentucky woman who was fearful of getting vaccinated died of COVID-19 after missing her wedding while hospitalized with the virus.

Samantha Wendell had spent nearly the last two years planning her wedding to fiancé Austin Eskew, obsessing over every aspect of the big day, NBC News reported. The surgical technician from Grand Rivers had put off getting vaccinated, worried that her plans to have three or four kids with Eskew wouldn't be possible after she heard false information from her co-workers that the shots led to infertility.
 
She "just kind of panicked," Eskew, 29, said.

The Centers for Disease Control, OB-GYN groups and health experts have emphasized that the COVID-19 vaccines do not cause infertility and are entirely safe for hopeful or expecting moms. "It is just not true that getting the COVID-19 vaccine is associated with infertility in either males or females," Dr. Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University, previously told PEOPLE.

Wendell ended up changing her mind on getting vaccinated as the delta variant spread through the U.S., and decided that she and Eskew should get inoculated before their honeymoon in Mexico. She made appointments for them for the end of July, but after her bachelorette party a week prior, she started feeling sick and tested positive for COVID-19.

"She could not stop coughing," Eskew, who got it too, said.
Neither of the couple had preexisting health conditions, and Eskew's symptoms were mild. But Wendell continued to deteriorate and was hospitalized in August. She spent six weeks in the hospital, and five days before their planned wedding date of Aug. 21, Wendell was put on a ventilator. Just before, she asked doctors if she could get a COVID-19 vaccine.

"It wasn't going to do any good at that point, obviously," her mother, Jeaneen Wendell, said. "It just weighs heavy on my heart that this could have easily been avoided."
 
On Sept. 10, her family decided to take Wendell off life support, and she died that day. The family is now planning a funeral for her at the church where she had planned to get married.

"Misinformation killed her," Wendell's cousin, Maria Vibandor Hayes, said, adding that she hopes the tragedy will encourage others to get vaccinated.

[Jersey Girl]

It’s both amazing and heartbreaking how many stories like this keep popping up.

A 29-year-old Kentucky woman who was fearful of getting vaccinated died of COVID-19 after missing her wedding while hospitalized with the virus.

Samantha Wendell had spent nearly the last two years planning her wedding to fiancé Austin Eskew, obsessing over every aspect of the big day, NBC News reported. The surgical technician from Grand Rivers had put off getting vaccinated, worried that her plans to have three or four kids with Eskew wouldn't be possible after she heard false information from her co-workers that the shots led to infertility.
 
She "just kind of panicked," Eskew, 29, said.

The Centers for Disease Control, OB-GYN groups and health experts have emphasized that the COVID-19 vaccines do not cause infertility and are entirely safe for hopeful or expecting moms. "It is just not true that getting the COVID-19 vaccine is associated with infertility in either males or females," Dr. Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University, previously told PEOPLE.

Wendell ended up changing her mind on getting vaccinated as the delta variant spread through the U.S., and decided that she and Eskew should get inoculated before their honeymoon in Mexico. She made appointments for them for the end of July, but after her bachelorette party a week prior, she started feeling sick and tested positive for COVID-19.

"She could not stop coughing," Eskew, who got it too, said.
Neither of the couple had preexisting health conditions, and Eskew's symptoms were mild. But Wendell continued to deteriorate and was hospitalized in August. She spent six weeks in the hospital, and five days before their planned wedding date of Aug. 21, Wendell was put on a ventilator. Just before, she asked doctors if she could get a COVID-19 vaccine.

"It wasn't going to do any good at that point, obviously," her mother, Jeaneen Wendell, said. "It just weighs heavy on my heart that this could have easily been avoided."
 
On Sept. 10, her family decided to take Wendell off life support, and she died that day. The family is now planning a funeral for her at the church where she had planned to get married.

"Misinformation killed her," Wendell's cousin, Maria Vibandor Hayes, said, adding that she hopes the tragedy will encourage others to get vaccinated.

Besides the obvious preventable tragedy of this, something that stands out to me is that Samantha Wendell was a surgical technician. This is not unlike the story I posted previously about the mom and dad who died from Covid 19 and the wife,Davy Macias, was an L&D nurse. The reason I mention this is because research and statistics is a key foundation in their education. I don't understand why Ms. Wendell took the word of a colleague instead of researching nor why Davy Macias said she wanted to wait to check on vaccine safety and went on a late summer 'last hurrah' trip with her family, according to her mother. I have a hard time wrapping my head around folks not applying key skills in their field to Covid and vaccines. It puzzles me. It saddens me. It angers me.

As a side note, I've been to the funeral of a loved one who was married in the same church not long before their death. with the casket placed in the same spot where he took his vows. It is surreal. It's mind bending. It kind of takes a piece out of your soul and leaves a hole for what should or could have been. My heart goes out to this family and fiancee'.

I still don't fully understand and I wish I could.

[Cultellus]

Gorilla

[canpakes]

I still don't fully understand and I wish I could.

No serious person believes this. But do not take it personally. This board does not welcome any serious person who wishes to fully understand. The point here is not to understand, it is to convince and shame and you are among the very best at that sorta.

Why, Cultellus, this sounds like you’re trying to “convince and shame” someone. ; )


(For the record, our posts are off-topic, lol)

[Jersey Girl]

I still don't fully understand and I wish I could.

No serious person believes this. But do not take it personally. This board does not welcome any serious person who wishes to fully understand. The point here is not to understand, it is to convince and shame and you are among the very best at that sorta.

Notice how you failed to engage any issue or concept I raised in my post that you are allegedly replying to.

If you'd like to participate in this discussion, I'm all eyes. People aren't going to try to pull a conversation out of you. Not me at least. That ship has sailed, I'm afraid. If you are pouting about some other thing here, you can make a new topic thread for that.

[Gunnar]

Man Dies After 43 Hospitals Had No Room For Him

An Alabama man passed away after being denied admittance from 43 local hospitals that did not have an ICU bed available for him. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks.

"When Ray DeMonia was having a cardiac emergency last month, his Alabama family waited anxiously for a nearby hospital with available space in its intensive care unit."

It is more obvious than ever that the right wing conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers are rightly regarded as partially culpable in the surge of preventable hospitalization and deaths of as many as hundreds of thousands and counting people now. Continuing to deny that is every bit as irrational as denying that the earth is round and orbiting around a star 93 million miles away. In fact, it is almost as irrational as insisting that it is midnight while staring at the sun at high noon on a cloudless summer day!

I fully agree with the following comments to the video:

Conservatives don't believe anything until it affects THEM.
Then it's suddenly an issue. Their inability to empathize or to see anything beyond themselves is astounding.

As an RN, this both infuriates me and causes me heartbreak. I have worked in the ER for 35 years and in normal circumstances cardiac patients are our #1 priority. This should NOT be happening because of selfishness and/or brain damage.

That is insane and is unacceptable. This is a tragedy that should have been avoided.

Future generations: "They had the vaccine, but they were too stupid to take it"

It's not freedom it's selfishness.

Hard right conservatives pro life? In a pigs eye they are!

[Cultellus]

Gorilla

[Cultellus]

Gorilla

[Cultellus]

Gorilla

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

From Reddit:

I had Covid. I am not anti-vaccine or anti-mask. I stayed at home. I have yet to have a birthday party for my 2 year. old. I thought I could wear a mask, social distance, and become a social hermit and would not catch it. I thought, I am strong and if I get it I will fight it off and be fine. Then I caught it. First 5 days were uneventful. Small fever and headache. No big deal except I had these short lasting severe stabbing pains in the lungs. If they would have lasted even 1 minute I would have called 911.

My 2 year old caught it. Had to have a strong steroid and a breathing treatment to open his little throat. Instant regret. I looked at my sick sweet boy fighting Covid on his birthday and thought what if I had been vaccinated? Maybe just maybe he would not have caught it? If that little angel would have died and I had that maybe left in my mind I couldn't have lived through it.

On my 6th day I woke up and knew the virus was changing in me. The 7th day I woke up and I felt like I had a rubberband around my rib cage. My throat and lungs felt on fire. I could not keep my eyes open. I could not lay flat. I felt like I was suffocating. At that point I would sleep upright. I woke up to a crackling wheeze in my throat and lungs. Sheer panic set in. Where is my immune system? Fight damn it!!

The next day my O2 drops. I can't breathe. I am too fatigued to chew. Food tastes weird. Anything salty tastes like you have dumped salt on it same with sweet food. I am in so much pain. My stomach is empty and I feel like someone is twisting my insides. My bronchial pathways feel like someone has tied a rope to them and is pulling them out of my chest. And my chest feels like I am wearing a heavy xray apron.

I am dropped off at the er. I watch my family leave. I am trying to be strong. Don't cry LG. I tell my fiance, take care of baby. Hot tears fill my eyes. My oldest baby, now 20, calls. "Hey Momma, you feel better "? "Well honey, I am on my way to the hospital" Pause. His voice drops. I don't know what to say. Can't tell him I think I am going to die but I have so much to say. I wait. I have to be strong.

Blood work comes back. It's all so bad. Inflammation everywhere. I have no color in my face, lips, nails. My momma calls. She asks with a plead in her voice, what is the treatment? There is none but I am fighting Momma. That little angel can't comprehend how bad it is. "But your better"? I want to say no but I am trying to protect everyone around me. There is an internal scream in me. I regret listening to people say the vaccine caused this or that. I am so angry remembering Trump say it was the sniffles. I am a strong person and I am dying of the sniffles?

Next day I can't talk without a coughing fit. Can't eat. I have lost 15 pounds. I wake to a soaking sweat. I have no strength. Covid leaves me no dignity. I now have the craps. Coughing fits and diarrhea equals a crappy time. What is this life? I'm going out like this? My oxygen is at 89 when I stand. I have to make a mound of pillows and lay on my side to breathe a stinging breath. The day is long when you are suffocating. I wasn't a candidate for the antibodies. My family is calling me. I try not to gasp. I try not to cough but I can't. I hear their voices fall. They know it's bad. I hear my sweet boy playing. Will that sweet boy know how much I love him? Will he remember me? I should have had the vaccine. All that noise from the fear of the shot made me pause and in that pause I caught it. All that noise about my immune system and 98 percent chance of fighting it? I made a mistake and I can't go back.

Finally, I start fighting it. For 20 days I ran a fever. Day 27 and my lungs still hurt. I wake up fearing it's back. I have to rest after loading the dryer. I can't sleep at night. I had my foot on the edge of a cliff and I almost fell to my demise. My bp is still elevated as well as my heart rate. This thing has not left me unscathed. I am now an advocate for the vaccine. Yes, by some miracle I turned the corner but I could have just as easy ended up as just a number who died of Covid.

I share this at the risk of being shamed only because I think people forget about moderate cases like mine. Yep, I had a moderate case in which I thought I was going to die. We only hear about worse case scenarios on both sides. Cases like mine should have a voice.

As soon as I am strong enough I am getting the vaccine. Covid is like a tornado that ravages a strong brick house and leaves a trailer standing. You have no idea how your body will react. You are taking a gamble by not getting the vaccine.

I let the voices that feared the vaccine drown out the reality of what Covid can do. I had heard of people having blood clots or other reactions to it and I was afraid. I thought I could cut my risk of catching it by becoming a social hermit. I thought I could beat it no problem. I was wrong. I underestimated Covid and I overestimated my immune system. I only share this because I want people to know how bad it is. I made a mistake and want to do what is right by advocating for the vaccine even at the risk of being shamed.

It’s too bad there’s some idiots on this forum that are trying their best to cast doubt on the vaccine and preventative measures. Crazy.

- Doc