Chuck & Diane

Mother, Father, Son, all hospitalized and vented at the same time

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: The Monday after Easter Sunday, my husband Chuck began to feel ill; We thought he had allergies and stayed home from work. By Wednesday, he was feeling worse and had a fever. On Thursday, he went to Urgent Care and tested positive for COVID, so they put him in isolation the following Monday at the hospital. 

By this time, I was also beginning to feel sick. On Saturday, my mom became ill, and I took her to the hospital. Because of COVID protocols, I could not enter the hospital with her, and she had to go in alone with her walker. This was very difficult; it was the first time I couldn’t help and comfort her.

On Sunday, my 25-year-old son, Jordan, said he was having trouble breathing and thought he should go to the hospital. Such a request was very unusual for him, and I knew it was serious. I took him to the hospital, and, like my mom, I had to leave him at the entrance to find his own way. It broke my heart; I’d always been with him in difficult times.

I returned home to an empty house. My husband, mother, and son were all in the hospital. It was a strange feeling; I was lonely and not feeling well myself.

In his isolation room, Chuck was given oxygen and began to feel better. But, in time, his breathing became more and more difficult, and they transferred him to the ICU.

We don’t go to church, but we always talk with God. Just before Chuck was intubated, he told God he needed his help, he had a lot more living to do.

On Friday, five days after I had taken Chuck to the hospital, I checked myself in. I was put into isolation, and while there, my mother was transferred to the same COVID floor. The nurses knew we were related and brought my mother, who was in better shape than I, to see me in a wheelchair. I told her that I loved her and was sorry she was sick. I’d done everything I could to protect her, but she still caught COVID.

My mom went on to recover without ever needing to be intubated.

When my condition deteriorated, I was transferred to the ICU. I found out that both Chuck and Jordan were in the same ICU connected to ventilators. We were in rooms side by side. When my condition worsened, the doctor wanted to intubate me and put me on a ventilator too.  I called Chuck’s sister and my sister and told them they would have to coordinate our medical care. They both stepped up to do this.

I was put to sleep on April 26 and awoke on Mother’s Day (May 10, 2020). All I could think about was calling my mother and telling her I loved her. But she was in rehab then, and I didn’t have the strength to hold my phone. That’s what surprised me the most when I awoke; taking a few steps completely wore me out.

Jordan was intubated twice and on a ventilator for eight days before he awoke.

After several drug treatments and days connected to a ventilator, Chuck’s condition still worsened so they put him on an ECMO machine. His blood was taken out of his body, cleansed and oxygenated to let his lungs and heart rest, and then pumped back into his body. He was on ECMO for nineteen days, tied down so he wouldn’t move about and disconnect all the tubes and wires. Doctors dealt with organ failures and many other problems that gave him only a 5 percent chance of surviving.

All this time, Chuck had a nurse, Katie, who was specially trained to operate the ECMO equipment. She did a video call with me and explained how everything worked, and then let me talk to Chuck. He was sedated, but I think he heard me. Katie played music for him and even talked about baseball. She was great!

When I was in rehab, says Diane, the first person I got to hug was Jordan, who came to visit. I was stressed out, anxious to leave, and he comforted me. 

“Stay cool, mom, go with the flow.”

I remember thinking, this is my son, he’s grown up. He’s not a kid anymore.

When I finally returned home, I was all alone. My mother and son were both recovering with my sister. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed and started sobbing. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t believe what we’d all gone through. 

Chuck was given a convalescent plasma transfusion, and he soon began to recover too. He finally woke up at the end of May. He’d gone under in April and lost an entire month. It was a very strange feeling. Because of tubes in his throat, he couldn’t say anything, so he pointed at the door. He wanted to go home. But he could barely raise his arm, and going home wasn’t going to happen quickly.

He had dreams of sneaking out of the hospital and going to Starbucks -- his favorite daily routine.

When Chuck was finally transferred from the hospital to rehab, it was the first time we got to see each other in more than two months, longer than we’d ever been apart. That was a huge moment. I was so grateful.

He was so grateful to be alive. He wanted to hug everybody, but he had to settle for elbow bumps with the doctors and nurses. He did get to hug his sister when he got to rehab, and thank her for all she’d done to help save his life.

I’m always praying. I know many people were praying for us, all the members of my mother’s church, Chuck’s coworkers, neighbors. Even a business partner of my brother in law's that lives in Singapore, China was praying hard for us. I believe God saved us and gave us a second chance.

The fact that all of us survived was miraculous.

We feel guilty sometimes. So many people have died, and we survived. Why were we saved, and what do we do now?

When Chuck got to rehab, he knew his job was to walk again, and he said, “take me to the gym.”

They were amazed at how fast he got his strength back. When he finally walked out of rehab, all the ICU nurses who had treated him came to wish him well.

Chuck is slowly getting back to where he was before COVID, but his brain gets foggy. The one thing that still overwhelms us are the medical bills. There are piles of them. We’ve been told that the insurance company will pay for all COVID expenses, but the paperwork necessary to make this happen, all the telephone calls, it’s stressful.

Your anxiety level is already through the roof, and you get buried with medical bills. It’s overwhelming. Chuck's total medical costs are probably over a million dollars alone, but we don’t know what insurance will cover and what we’ll have to pay.

Chuck’s sister started a GoFundMe page for us. We feel awkward about that; we’ve never liked asking people for money. But, everything considered, we thanked her for doing this.

We’re home again, back together, and that’s a blessing we’ll be forever thankful for. 

It’s a miracle mother, father, and son, all on life support in the same ICU, and we all survived thanks to all those prayers and the kind and professional doctors, nurses, and medical staff who cared for us.

And these good people continue to do their work, day in and day out, to serve us all. We will be forever grateful.

As you can imagine, the Drungelo family has a mountain of bills for Covid related healthcare. To help them cover their costs, please consider contributing to their GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-drungelo-family-covid-survival-fund