IN THE MAIL: Everyday superheroes
'We are more grateful than you will every know'
A family in Monaghan has penned a heart-felt letter of thanks to the frontline medical staff in Cavan General Hospital and further afield who worked together to help their father to battle Covid-19. Maurice Moffet (59) didn't drink or smoke and exercised regularly but he spent seven weeks in ICU, on and off a ventilator, battling coronavirus. Here is his story, in his family's words...
Madam,
As the turn of the New Year approached, I’m sure many of us breathed a sigh of relief that the 2020 nightmare was almost behind us and we could begin to look to better times ahead.
Unfortunately, for us as a family, the nightmare was only beginning. On New Year’s Day, my dad Maurice went for a Covid test and, like so many around that time, it came back positive.
Dad is 59, doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, isn’t overweight and exercises regularly. Because of that, we didn’t feel worried or scared, rather just frustrated at the thought of two weeks of isolation. It soon became apparent, however, that isolation would be the least of our worries and instead we boarded what became a two-month rollercoaster of seemingly endless fear, hope and uncertainty.
By January 6, Dad’s condition had deteriorated from aches, pains and fatigue to some chest tightness and shortness of breath. We had all watched for nine months as the media reported stories of Covid patients who had gone to hospital, been separated from their families and, in some cases, never came home. Those stories made us reluctant to resort to hospital; each day felt like it was the worst of it, and he would soon start improving.
His GP advised sourcing an Oximeter – a simple device that measures blood oxygen saturation by shining a light through the skin of your finger. €37 in Argos, every household should have one. In full health, one would return a result between 98 and 100% saturation. Multiple tests showed Dad’s level between 55 and 60%. His GP calmly but promptly suggested that he was going to phone an ambulance. We have since learned that any value below 80% would be cause for alarm in a hospital.
From that moment to the present day, Dad’s life was in the hands of our public healthcare system and our public healthcare workers, and we wish to briefly outline some examples of their compassion and professionalism and to extend our utmost admiration and gratitude to everyone involved. The ambulance arrived within the hour and took him to Cavan Hospital where a bed awaited him. The next few days are something of a blur at this point, as Dad went from the ward to ICU and, after six days, onto a mechanical ventilator.
The nurse on duty called Mum and put the phone to Dad’s ear for her to say… well, what do you say? All Mum heard in response were Dad’s last struggles to breathe on his own before the ventilator thankfully took over. The previous year of watching the chaos unfold around the world and all the talk of Covid and ICU and ventilators had suddenly become our reality.
Once Dad was ventilated, our only point of contact was via the nurses and doctors. Visiting was not permitted, so we got to know the various nurses and doctors who were by his side 24/7 over the phone. They never gave false hope, but always spoke with compassion and urged us to call any time, day or night.
After a few weeks, we were offered to come and visit Dad in the ICU Covid Ward. It gave us a chance to see the environment the staff operated in throughout their tireless 12-hour shifts.
No panic or chaos like the media might have made you think, but lots of tubes and wires and beeping machines, and lots of PPE – we too were fully kitted out.
Like on the phone, the staff were compassionate and informative. Visiting also afforded us the opportunity to meet with the consultants - Dr Page and Dr Butt, and get a more detailed understanding of Dad’s condition. This was both comforting and scary; they left us under no illusions that the road was going to be long, and the spectrum of potential outcomes was vast.
The ups and downs continued over the following few weeks to the point where on Thursday night, February 11, I ordered new slippers for Dad after one of the nurses suggested he would eventually need them as he recovered enough to begin some rehab.
Just a few hours later, at 4am, my phone rang and as my sister’s name appeared, I immediately feared the worst. ‘He’s still with us’, she said, ‘but he’s gone backwards and they think we should come over.'
After the huge strides of the previous week, we found Dad right back to square one, fully sedated and back on the ventilator, which he had managed to briefly do without.
We met with Dr Butt and his team once again and they informed us that he had, in fact, suffered a cardiac arrest, but they had managed to ‘bring him back quickly’. For us, it was back to excruciating hour-by-hour phone updates once again.
Over the weekend, as Dad’s kidneys began to show signs of failure, we feared the end was near. He would require a special type of dialysis we were told, and the specific machine wasn’t available in Cavan.
Once again, the quality of the care was remarkable. They managed to secure a bed in Galway University Hospital and the logistics of the move were managed impeccably. The ICU ambulance, complete with dedicated ICU doctor and ICU nurse, arrived in Cavan where a 90-minute meeting allowed a careful handover of all Dad’s vital information before heading for Galway.
We were given the contact details of a new ICU ward and, sure enough, three hours after departing, he arrived safely in Galway and we began to get acquainted with a whole new team of brilliant doctors and nurses. Dad got the dialysis he required and, before too long, began to slowly improve.
A couple more weeks of ups and downs followed, but on March 1, after 53 days, Dad was moved from ICU to HDU in Galway and out of the critical woods. After another brief stint back in Cavan, he was moved to the rehab ward at home in Monaghan.
Last Friday evening, 100 days since first being admitted to hospital, he returned home in great spirits and increasingly good health. He is incredibly grateful and excited to have a chance to get back to full health and do all the living he still has to do!
We want to thank the many, many people who sent kind thoughts, prayers and well wishes and the many friends and family who were a support to Mum and our family throughout.
We hear and read lots of negative press about our health service and of course they don’t get everything right. But from the top of the HSE to the people on the ground in our regional hospitals, we want to extend our most sincere respect and gratitude.
Every step of Dad’s journey required the highest level of skill, communication and decision making between multi-disciplinary teams, just to give him a fighting chance.
We want to highlight the exemplary service and care we feel Dad received from the moment the ambulance arrived, until the moment he returned home, and every day in between.
To the many, many people who played a part in that, however small or large, we salute you and we thank you.
We are more grateful than you’ll ever know.
Sincerely,
Richard Moffett
on behalf of the Moffett family,
Ballinode, Monaghan