Mr. Kelly presented with shortness of breath and was found to have influenza A and bacterial pneumonia with a lung abscess. Admission was called to the Hospitalist but while he was waiting on transportation, he became cyanotic and a code blue was called where resultant intubation and pressors were begun. He arrived to the SICU where he was started on sepsis protocol with large volumes of IVF and antibiotics. Unfortunately, his kidneys worsened due to poor perfusion with sepsis and he required continuous renal replacement therapy.

His initial echo showed an ejection fraction (EF) of 35% and he went into A-fib with RVR. Multiple treatments for his cardiac issues were trialed with poor success, as well as attempts to extubate him. Despite weaning sedation, his mentation remained poor. Tracheostomy was placed on March 1 with hopes for weaning off ventilator and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube was placed March 2 for feeding.

On March 18, multiple discussions were held with the medical team regarding further things that could be trialed. On March 19, Dr. Crawford arrived to Mr. Kelly’s room to find him awake, alert, and FaceTiming.

Only two days after waking up, with the help of PT and OT, he was able to sit up on the side of his bed and even briefly stood with assistive devices. By March 30, he was able to self-propel a wheelchair and was able to go outside for the first time with assistance. On April 1, he had been weaned off of the ventilator and his tracheostomy was removed. By April 8, he had improved enough to move to Easy Street for rehab. He has continued to improve on Easy Street and had his PEG tube removed on April 24. He was discharged to home from Easy Street on April 25 to continue his recovery with home health.

Dr. Crawford remembers, “ On March 18, I spoke with his wife regarding the severity and length of his illness. She told me that day that she was not ready to ‘let him go.’ We talked about praying and having faith regarding his healing. On March 19, I arrived to his room and his wife was FaceTiming with the camera aimed at his face. I was confused about what was happening until I walked into the room and he turned his head towards me. This is the first time that he had been awake since admission and we were able to have a full conversation via lip reading, as he was still intubated with a tracheostomy. During that conversation, he asked me when he could ‘walk out of here.’ When I told him that I was happy to finally meet him and see him awake and he said, ‘just wait until you see me dance.’”