Joanne Blue, 65, suffered a gentle stroke earlier this yr and after a couple of month recovering at Lake Manassas Well being and Rehabilitation Heart in Gainesville, she was scheduled to go dwelling March 26. As her daughter, Joni Blue, was getting dressed and able to head out the door that morning to choose her up, her mother known as.
“Don’t come,” she stated. “I’ve a fever.”
It had already been virtually three weeks for the reason that household had been in a position to go to Joanne Blue, as a result of the rehabilitation heart restricted guests to assist forestall the unfold of coronavirus. Joni Blue and her kids would go by the elder Blue’s window and wave, however couldn’t go to in particular person.
Through the day she first spiked a fever, Joanne Blue was handled with Tylenol, and mother and daughter communicated by telephone. Throughout one dialog, Joanne Blue advised her daughter, “This fever is kicking my butt.”
She stated she had insufferable ache in her higher again and shoulders and her head damage so unhealthy she couldn’t open her eyes.
Early the following morning, March 27, her fever broke. However by dawn it had returned.
“My mother known as me that morning and stated, ‘I’m having a tough time, the fever received’t go, I preserve taking Tylenol, my chest is feeling tight,’” Joni Blue stated.
Joni Blue stated she known as the power a number of instances, then lastly hopped in her automobile and drove over. A nursing supervisor got here out and advised her they have been treating her mother with Tylenol.
Joni Blue went over to her mother’s window and tapped on the glass.
“My mother got here to the window and he or she appeared like hell,” Blue stated. “Simply seeing how onerous it was for her to get from the mattress to the window, I knew she wanted to go to the hospital.”
She advised the nursing supervisor, “Should you’re not going to name the paramedics, I’m.”
Joanne Blue was taken to Novant Well being UVA Well being Techniques’ Haymarket Medical Heart, the place she was examined for coronavirus and advised it might take as much as seven days to get the outcomes.
However whereas she was there, different sufferers from Lake Manassas Well being and Rehab have been delivered to the hospital with related signs, Blue stated. That’s when the medical workforce determined to carry out a extra rapid-response coronavirus take a look at, with outcomes the following day, she stated.
Medical Services of America, the corporate that operates Lake Manassas Well being and Rehab, didn’t return requests for remark this week.
The hospital launched Joanne Blue again to Lake Manassas the identical day. Three days later, the take a look at outcomes have been in: Joanne Blue had COVID-19.
By Monday, she had declined quickly, her fever gone however her chest tight. A cough and a rash developed. Blue, normally sharp and observant, started sounding confused, her daughter stated. She fell within the toilet over the weekend and hit her head. She complained that her head damage.
Joanne Blue was taken by ambulance again to Haymarket Medical Heart. On Wednesday, she remained hospitalized with pneumonia attributable to coronavirus. Her household can not go to see her.
Earlier than her decline and hospitalization March 30, Joanne Blue spoke by telephone with InsideNoVa, recalling how her sickness began with an terrible headache and a fever that left her freezing.
“That is one thing that you just don’t assume goes to occur,” she stated. “I’m right here to let you know, by no means, ever consider it received’t occur to you.”
Joni Blue stated her mother is hard. “I don’t understand how powerful this virus is, nevertheless it’s received one hell of a struggle coming.”