Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Couple describes ongoing battle with COVID-19

Dawn and Nathan Ashbrook don't know where they caught COVID-19 and they thought they were doing all the right things to prevent themselves from getting it.

They got it anyway and it very likely could have cost one of them their life.

The Ashbrooks own and operate Whispering Oaks Terrace, a wedding and special events venue east of Rainbow. Nathan, specifically, is a tall, strapping man who does physical work in maintaining the property for guests and clients.

He said he's always been very good about keeping his hands clean – he doesn't touch guardrails, santizes and always has – and because of the physical nature of his work, he's in good shape.

"I don't get sick, I get hurt," he said.

Dawn, who does much of the same on the property, had been preparing for a back surgery and was in quarantine for two weeks beforehand in preparation.

Then, on Dec. 23, Nathan didn't feel well. By Christmas Eve, they were both miserable – Dawn couldn't breathe well and Nathan had body aches all over.

On Christmas Day, they gathered with family to celebrate, admittedly a mistake, since the couple's son, his girlfriend and her mother all came down with the virus after leaving their home.

Over the next few days, with Nathan deteriorating, they went to the hospital looking for care and treatment.

They were sent home on two occasions.

"It just kept going," Dawn said. "I brought Nathan to the hospital three times from when it started to when he actually went into the hospital. The only reason they didn't keep him the second time, they wanted to, but they didn't have any beds. They said you can sit here and wait, there are seven people waiting in front of you. Or they sent us home because he responded to what treated him with. Go home and come back if it gets bad, which we went back two days later and that's when they kept him."

Nathan was admitted on Jan. 5 and didn't leave the hospital for 9 days. He spent the first two days on a cot in a wing of the hospital turned into a COVID ward, the rest of the time he was in a bed.

"It was like being in an isolation cell," Nathan said. "They came in and took my blood, gave me shots and gave me pills. I sat in a recliner or a laid in bed. I couldn't lay in bed, I hurt too much.

"I didn't realize I had been there 9 days, I thought I had been there only 4 days."

Nathan said the impact on his diaphragm caused him to be stricken with bouts of violent, constant hiccups, which caused tremendous pain, which doctors tried to ease with morphine.

"It was like someone punched me in the gut and I couldn't breath for 30 seconds," Nathan said. "So, my chest and my back got really sore and I am still kind of fighting with that right now, the pain of it. I'm still on hiccup medicine to suppress them to be able to eat.

"I was on oxygen for a long time. They started slowing it down for the last couple of days, because I had to be off oxygen before I could go home."

Dawn, on the other hand, was never admitted to the hospital as the oxygen level in her blood never dipped below 90, which the couple said was the number hospital officials said was the benchmark to require hospitalization.

While her husband was in the hospital, Dawn was also sick, weak and feeling terrible, and she was on her own.

And then there was difficulty getting reports on how he was doing, since she couldn't see or talk with him very much.

"I was able to talk to him on day 5 because he just didn't have enough to speak and have oxygen (at the same time) up until that point," Dawn said. "So, the nurse was like, you can talk to him, but I don't think he can even get words out right now.

"It was just a lot of ups and downs of not knowing and being afraid of them telling me after he's dead? Just because there's no protocol to update families. I mean, it's been a year, there should be something in place to update families."

The hiccups and being on oxygen caused other issues for Nathan during his stay and made it very difficult for him to eat anything. Since Christmas Day, he said he's lost 25 lbs.

"My whole spine hurts," Nathan said. "When I got out of the hospital, my legs were so atrophied that just walking from the car to the house now, my legs get sore.

"I was just talking to a guy who just got out and he sounds just like me, no strength in the voice. The recovery part of it, they said it might take up to two more months to get my voice back."

Speaking by phone, Nathan's voice was weak and hoarse, and after 5 minutes of conversation, he was labored in his breathing.

"Take it seriously, people between the ages of about 40 and 60, it's going to hit you hard," Nathan said. "The problem is, I don't know if my lungs will come back. Right now it feels like I've been smoking for 25 years and I've never smoked a cigarette in my life."

Dawn, who still has a fever and hasn't smelled or tasted anything since Dec. 23, is still battling COVID-19 along with her husband. During the ordeal she posted updates on Facebook on most days.

She said she has been reaching out to friends and family and agreed to speak with Village News in hopes of sharing their story and warning members of the community.

"I've lectured a few of my friends," Dawn said. "They like to get together and groups, they like to go to the wineries, and they're still doing that. And it's just not worth the risk, it really isn't. Sharing with them every day what we've been going through has helped them, not all of them, but most of them change their mind.

"I just think that sharing anything you can share with what you've gone through over this is going to help the smart ones realize that they should be careful and the ones that are just that ignorant are next in line.

"I was careful, we hand sanitized, we had everything we needed, and we still got it. And we got it bad."

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 
Rendered 03/28/2024 02:24