Dana’s Story

Site created on February 27, 2021

On Wednesday, February  24th, Dana was taken by ambulance to St. Mary's in Rochester with COVID-19 and low oxygen levels. He was moved to the ICU covid floor where it is a restricted area so unfortunately no visitation is allowed.  Due to his oxygen levels being at a 60% , where they need to be at a 90 or above, he was placed on a Bipap machine (basically a CPAP machine on steroids) to give him max oxygen, as well as max pressure. 


On Thursday, February 25th, they tried to see how well he would do on the high flow machine, but his oxygen levels would drop tremendously.  Therefore needing to keep him on his cpap machine with high oxygen levels. We also found out from talking to the nurse, that Dana had a blood clot on his leg, and he could potentially have more, such as one in his lungs, however they couldn't do a CT scan due to receiving such high oxygen. We were able to video chat with him on Thursday night, although it was hard to understand him with his cpap mask, which we believe helped build his spirits up quite a bit. He had told us that he was unsure what the time was, as well as being bored laying in the hospital bed all day. However, we as a family also enjoyed getting to hear his voice and speaking to him.


On the morning of Friday, February 26th, we really thought he was doing super well. He finally got to eat some food, which included some salmon, rice, a muffin, and some green beans. He was also more awake and texting his family more often. We as a family, were super excited to see his progress, because while he was eating, he got to use the high flow machine, which was a step in the right direction. However, around 4 PM, we received a call from Dana, with some unfortunate news. He called us letting us know that the doctors wanted to put him on the ventilator, therefore giving his lungs a break and hopefully some time to heal. Andrew got to speak with the doctors, and understand their plan of action that they had for Dana. Andrew also was speaking with Dana, just making sure he fully understood what the doctors' plans were, and how much we all loved him. At around 5 PM, we received a phone call letting us all know that Dana's procedure to put him on the ventilator went well and according to plan. 


Today is Saturday, February 27th,  and we are frustrated. Due to Dana being put on the ventilator, we are no longer able to communicate with him, as he is heavily sedated, therefore all our updates on knowing how he is doing is strictly coming from when we get to contact them. We spoke with Dana's nurse at around 11 this morning, and she informed us that he was doing well this morning, and the proning (rolling him to his stomach) went well last night. He was receiving 100% oxygen from the ventilator when the procedure began, but overnight, he was only receiving 45% oxygen (which is a really good improvement).  The nurse told us that they were going to flip him back onto his back at around 1 pm. We spoke to the nurse around 3:30, in which she told us he had gone back up to using 60% oxygen, as well as the fact that his blood pressure had dropped. Andrew said this can be very normal, due to the sedative, as well as his blood clot(s) potentially causing the blood pressure to lower as well.  They will update us at around 8 PM tonight to let us know any further updates on how he is doing. Please continue to pray for Dana and our family.  


We truly appreciate all the love, prayers, and support that we have received!

Love,

Paula & the kids

Newest Update

Journal entry by Paula Milbrandt

I am thinking this may be my last journal post on how Dana’s doing.  His inflammation from his infection has gone down quite a bit but he still has some discomfort as far as he knows his UTI  is gone so his isn’t on any antibiotics right now. These are not necessarily COVID related but because of the catheter and hospital stay most likely🤷‍♀️

I am thinking this may be my last journal post on how Dana’s doing.  His inflammation from his infection has gone down quite a bit but he still has some discomfort as far as he knows his UTI  is gone so his isn’t on any antibiotics right now. These are not necessarily COVID related but because of the catheter and hospital stay most likely🤷‍♀️
He continues with PT and is making progress but gets a little frustrated in the fact that he tires easily.... his minds says yes I can but his body says... no not so much!! He couldn’t open a bottle of pop for someone and he says I can’t since Covid... is that a Covid thing they ask.... no probably not but when doing his OT his grip and strength weren’t there... but that too will improve.

Today he wanted to talk again about his stay and still trying to understand why he was so confused and swearing and whatever..... he too wants to understand what really went on

I tell him it’s hard for me... I wasn’t there most of my information came from over the phone yes we tried to zoom or FaceTime but We didn’t know what any of the nurses or Drs looked like... We don’t know what the rooms were like... he thinks or thought we were there... but we weren’t..... he has memories of thing we don’t know if it happened or if it was dreams.

 He doesn’t understand why this upsets me.... why we can’t have these conversations ........ why I get worked up???
I don’t know if he thinks this was a vacation for me or if it’s a male vs female mindset....  I guess for me I was trying so hard to keep everything together, answering everyone questions, being supportive for my kids, working, dealing with all the day today stuff because life was going on.... all the paperwork... all the unknowns and looking forward to the 1 call a day for the most part on how he was...that time for more was very hard.... I know he doesn’t understand... we may never truly understand....

I honestly don’t know how families with special needs or critical health issues do all that for a much more extended period.... the last 3 months feel like a year.... honestly March is a blurr until Dana wants to talk about it

I know people don’t believe in Covid, or definitely have strong opinions on it....  at school the kids have been so tired of wearing masks.... all I know is Dana almost died... he questions why God saved him and not others..... he wants things I feel to be back to normal.... but for me he isn’t his normal self.... oh he can still talk the same and do pretty much the same things.... but this experience has changed him.... for the good I feel.... but still navigating through all this new uncharted  territory will take some time

from the beginning we said baby step... and baby steps we continue... if he overdoes the next day he can do nothing .... lots to figure out but he is making good progress...

slow and steady wins the race 

Thanks again for all the prayers, love and support!!!!!! We as a family appreciate it tremendously 💙💚🙏

He continues with PT and is making progress but gets a little frustrated in the fact that he tires easily.... his minds says yes I can but his body says... no not so much!! He couldn’t open a bottle of pop for someone and he says I can’t since Covid... is that a Covid thing they ask.... no probably not but when doing his OT his grip and strength weren’t there... but that too will improve.

Today he wanted to talk again about his stay and still trying to understand why he was so confused and swearing and whatever..... he too wants to understand what really went on

I tell him it’s hard for me... I wasn’t there most of my information came from over the phone yes we tried to zoom or FaceTime but I didn’t know what any of the nurses or Drs looked like... I don’t know what the rooms were like... he thinks or thought we were there... but we weren’t..... he has memories of thing we don’t know if it happened or if it was dreams.

 He doesn’t understand why this upsets me.... why we can’t have these conversations and why I get worked up??? I don’t know if he thinks this was a vacation for me or if it’s a male vs female mindset....  I guess for me I was trying so hard to keep everything together, answering everyone questions, being supportive for my kids, working, dealing with all the day today stuff because life was going on.... all the paperwork... all the unknowns and looking forward to the 1 call a day for the most part on how he was...that time for more was very hard.... I know he doesn’t understand... we may never truly understand....

I honestly don’t know how families with special needs or critical health issues do all that for a much more extended period.... the last 3 months feel like a year.... honestly March is a blurr until Dana wants to talk about it

I know people don’t believe in Covid, or definitely have strong opinions on it....  at school the kids have been so tired of wearing masks.... all I know is Dana almost died... he questions why God saved him and not others..... he wants things I feel to be back to normal.... but for me he isn’t his normal self.... oh he can still talk the same and do pretty much the same things.... but this experience has changed him.... for the good I feel.... but still navigating through all this new uncharted  will take some time

from the beginning we said baby step... and baby steps we continue... if he overdoes the next day he can do nothing .... lots to figure out but he is making good progress...

slow and steady wins the race 

Thanks again for all the prayers, love and support!!!!!! We as a family appreciate it tremendously 💙💚🙏

Patients and caregivers love hearing from you; add a comment to show your support.
Help Dana Stay Connected to Family and Friends

A $30 donation to CaringBridge powers a site like Dana's site for one month. Will you make a gift to help ensure that this site stays online for them and for you?

Comments Hide comments

Show Your Support

See the Ways to Help page to get even more involved.

SVG_Icons_Back_To_Top
Top