The flight of steps was arduous, requiring two stops to complete, and he could tell the bright sunshine was miserable for her. His car was nearby, and he prodded her into the passenger seat. She leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes. He drove through morning traffic to the emergency entrance.
Inside, she was quickly placed in a room, and someone in full PPE took her temperature, blood pressure, and pulse. A pulse ox probe was placed on her finger, a swab went in her throat, and another swab deep in her nose.
“That was ugly.”
The nurse agreed. “Isn’t it? Sorry.”
In record time, Ian, in PPE, came to talk to her. “You have a high fever. We’ll test you for influenza, strep, and coronavirus. Your pulse ox is marginal. In light of the pregnancy, I think you should use a low dose of oxygen.”
“OK,” Faith whispered. “Where’s Josh?”
“We don’t want him to come in. We’ll test him and put him in PPE later.”
A respiratory therapy tech entered the room, also in PPE, and attached little tubes in Faith’s nose, hooked it to the wall, and started the flow of oxygen. The tech had no more than left when Ann entered the room.
“Good morning,” Ann said. “I heard you feel like death warmed over.”
“I do.”
“We’ll pump you full of Tylenol, find you a room, and take good care of you.”
“And Cori.”
“Cori?” Ann smiled. “Good name.”
Josh headed for the small conference room where he planted himself in a chair. His heart was pounding. The impact of the last few hours now landed on his shoulders, and he took stock of what had happened and the implications.
He dialed Natalie. “Hi, Josh. What’s up?”
“Faith is sick,” he wheezed. “After midnight she woke me up and had a high fever. She was burning up. I gave her some Tylenol, but in a few hours she was hot again. I gave her more Tylenol and Gatorade. By this morning, she was stiff and achy, and said she couldn’t taste her Gatorade. We brought her to the hospital, and she’s on oxygen.”
“Oh, Josh,” Nat blubbered. “Is she going to die?”
“I hope not. The good news is that she isn’t progressing the way the three patients we had who died, but the bad news is that she is on Humira and she’s pregnant.”
“What does the Humira have to do with it?”
“It is an immunosuppressant, so it might make her body not fight as hard.”
“Is pregnancy bad with COVID?”
“Yes. Pregnant patients are more susceptible to severe disease.”
“But I thought her age group rarely had trouble.”
“Yes. But she’s pregnant and on Humira.”
“So, what happens next?”
“We wait and see. We don’t have any treatments that work, we don’t know enough about the virus to actually know what to do, and unlike other diseases we don’t have a way to know where this leads.”
“This is bad news, Josh,” she said.
“Can you tell your parents?”
“Yes. They aren’t here right now, but I can call Dad.”
“You can call me back if you want to. Faith has her phone. I’m warning you, though, she sounds terrible when she talks, and she coughs a lot.”
“OK. Can we come visit her?”
“No. We don’t want you to get infected. And that is super true of your mom.”
“Oh yeah. Fat and diabetic. I remember.”
“I’ll keep you up to date, Nat.”
“OK. Bye Josh.” He heard her start to cry as she ended the call.
Chapter 33
She startled him when she awoke and spoke. “Hi.”
“There you are. Did you sleep well?”
“No. I had stupid scary dreams,” Faith’s scratchy voice said. “Then I realized where I was, and then the dreams came back.”
Josh handed her a Styrofoam cup with ice water which she took through a straw. “This is really scary, Josh. How does this end? My muscles all hurt, if I take a deep breath I cough my head off, and the chills are the pits.”
“I understand. You have to get it together and get well.”
“How do I do that? So far, it isn’t working.”
A nurse arrived with some medicines in a little plastic cup. Faith pitched them in her mouth and washed them down with more water from the cup Josh held. “There’s Tylenol in that, so in an hour I’m going to be sweaty and burning up.”
“They said that so far, that’s keeping your temperature down,” Josh said, “which is important for Cori.”
Josh’s heart warmed when he saw the mischievous look on her face. “Who? I don’t think I know her.”
“Some little blue-eyed, red-headed girl who needs her mommy to get well.”
Faith laughed and grimaced. “Josh, don’t make me laugh.” Without a break, she said, “Hello, Peggy. Why are you here?”
“I had a thought. Do you think you could tolerate a CPAP mask?”
“I don’t know. What’s that?”
“It’s a mask you strap to your face. Normally it’s used for obstructive sleep apnea, like in fat, old women like me.” She chuckled. “I sleep with one every night.”
“Do you think it will help me?”
“I don’t know. But we could try it. It might make it easier for you to breathe. It keeps some air pressure on you all the time.”
She nodded. “I’ll try it. Will you help me and stay with me until we know?”
“Yes. It will only take a few minutes to know if this is a dumb idea.”
“OK. Let’s do it!”
She plugged the machine into the wall outlet, entered settings, and handed the mask to Faith.
Peggy placed the mask on her face verifying the size. “Do you think the mask will freak you out?”
Faith laughed out loud, followed by a fit of coughing. “More than coronavirus?” Cough. “I don’t think so.” Cough.
They had to wait for her to stop coughing to continue. Peggy hooked the hose to the machine and the mask, then helped her put it on, adjusting the straps until there was a good seal, making it comfortable on her face, and connecting the oxygen. They both watched the pulse ox reading hold steady.
“That does feel better,” Faith said. “It’s so good I might be able to sleep.”
“Sleep would be good. You need rest so you can fight this off.”
“How do you manage a pillow?”
Peggy chuckled. “You fluff it, adjust it, and turn it until it’s comfortable. It’s hard at first, but once you know how you like it, it gets easier.”
“Any way it sits on my face is OK?”
“Yes,” Peggy said. “If there’s a good seal, it’s working.”
“I think I like this.” Faith closed her eyes.
Peggy turned to go. “Sleep well.”
Josh said, “Thanks Peggy.”
“Peggy, I’m really scared,” Faith’s hollow voice came through the mask.
“We’ll take good care of you, Faith,” Peggy said. “I promise.”
“Peggy! That’s what I told Reyenne!”
Josh said, “Don’t think like that Faith. You’re doing so much better than Reyenne did.”
“I’m still scared.”
“We’ll be right here,” Josh wheezed.
“Can you call my parents?”
“I did. Well, I talked to Natalie.”
“That’s good.”
“Think about the bench near the little stone house on Sandia Peak. Feel the wind on your face, listen to the Douglass Firs whisper, and watch the birds flit around. Check out the marmot and the chipmunks.”
“That was really nice, Josh. That was an amazing day.” Faith drifted off. Josh kissed her cheek and left.
Chapter 34
“You look better, Brian. Great.”
“Oh, man, what a trip. I have never done anything that ugly.”