Change the Protocol
I am a wife and a mother of 11 children. I have medical training, but I do not practice in the mainstream medical field. My practice focuses on a holistic model of care, treating the whole body, including the mind and spirit. I use foods, herbs, oils, teas, and tinctures instead of pharmaceuticals. With that in mind, I developed a Covid-19 protocol.
My entire household got the virus and used my protocol, getting better within days; everyone fully recovered within a week. I have passed this protocol on to many others who also recovered quickly. However, my husband was working out of state. He came to visit us when we all began to have symptoms. On his trip back to work, he felt unwell. After arriving at his hotel, he laid down to rest and never got up unless he was vomiting in the bathroom.
From lack of communication, which often happens when he was away working long hours, I was unaware of how severe his situation had become because he couldn’t care for himself. After four days of trying to get in touch with him, I discovered he was at the hospital, tested positive for Covid, and had pneumonia. When he chose not to stay at the hospital, I immediately left to get him. I brought oxygen tanks with me for the ride back, and I have an oxygen condenser at home. Once home, I had a hard time getting him to do the things I needed him to do to get better. He made slow progress over the next two weeks, eventually recovering from Covid but still dealing with pneumonia. He was no longer on supplemental oxygen at this point.
Suddenly, he started to deteriorate, and I didn’t know why. His condition was beyond what I could treat at home. I called for an ambulance to take him to the hospital. Upon arrival, I was barred from accompanying him. We wanted high-flow oxygen to keep him stable and help figure out why he was deteriorating so rapidly. When he refused the ventilator, I was called in, where I agreed, no ventilator. He was already on a bi-pap machine, which I later learned is a non-invasive ventilator with a mask instead of tubes down his throat.
I was given no explanations or answers to my questions about what they were doing to him. They drew blood. At one point, they came in and just started unhooking him, and I almost got into a physical altercation with
the nurse. A different nurse came in said they were taking him for a CAT scan to check for blood clots in his lungs, which I was told they couldn’t do because he was hooked to this machine and his vitals would drop drastically if taken off.
Upon return, the first nurse and I had a firm talk and reached an understanding. We were left sitting there in the room alone, and I heard what sounded like the wheels of the bed scraping across the floor sideways. I did not know at the time what that sound was. I heard it three times! Then the hospital brought in someone to bully us into being placed on a ventilator. We were told they would do NOTHING until he was admitted to the ICU. He must go on the ventilator or go home to die!
My husband said, “I want to live.”
He was sedated and intubated. After intubation and ventilator placement, I noticed that his vitals were declining. His oxygen saturation was no longer stable, as with the oxygen supplementation. I left to go home, as I could do nothing more. I was called shortly after my departure to tell me that he now has a pneumothorax, which means his lungs are leaking air into his chest cavity. That sound I heard in the ER was his lungs blowing out!
A large tube was inserted into the side of his chest to suck out the leaking air, which was squishing his lungs, not allowing them to inflate any longer, and causing the decline I saw before I left. Being tied up in my practice and the busy life at home, I could not go back to the hospital for several days. I could only call in and get updates from the nurse.
From the day we first set foot in the hospital, I got vague information. I asked to speak to his doctor. Instead, I was passed on to the nurse practitioner in charge of his care. I asked for a detailed explanation of my husband’s treatments. He was given Remdesivir, the antiviral they use to treat Covid, even though he no longer had the virus and tested negative for it. Remdesivir is known to cause or exacerbate pneumonia and cause kidney failure. Lucky for us, I had been giving him things to support his kidneys and liver the weeks before the hospital admittance.
RED FLAG NUMBER 1, Remdesivir. Of course, he was on heavy sedatives because they wanted the machine to breathe for him, even though he could breathe on his own, and so he doesn’t remember the whole ordeal.
RED FLAG NUMBER 2, sedatives. Not only was he sedated, not just put to sleep, but he was PARALYZED, including his digestive system. The only movement his body performed was his heartbeat.
RED FLAG NUMBER 3, no nutrition. The doctors did not even give him Ringer’s Lactate in the ER. I pleaded with them to provide him with IV nutrition, particularly high-dose vitamins. They would not. I argued in the ER that he could not continue to fight or even sustain his current status without nutrition, as it had been WEEKS since he had eaten.
His first symptom was emptying his digestive system from both ends. I couldn’t get anything in him for the next two weeks at home with me. He threw everything up. When I spoke to the nurse practitioner about this, I demanded that he be given nutrition in his IV or a GI tube (before I knew his sedative was a paralytic). It had been beyond three weeks at this point that my husband had been starving. A typically robust man was now virtually skin and bones.
Getting nowhere with the nurse practitioner, I asked to speak to the man who came down and bullied us, promising he would be taking care of my husband in the ICU. This man told me to leave it to him, the professional, because he KNOWS Covid, and to stay home and pray for my husband, call and get updates and ask how his breathing is only, and leave the rest to him. I pressed the nutrition issue, but he refused to listen to anything I said. They discovered his blood count was low and gave him two units of blood.
“Why is his blood count low,’ I asked, “Is he bleeding somewhere?”
I got no answers. Three days later, ulcers in the duodenum were discovered, sealed with a clot, using an upper GI scope. The ulcers were why he was deteriorating at home. His lungs were not the big problem. The blood transfusion saved him. The ventilator and the medications weren’t necessary. The only pain reliever we keep at home is ibuprofen, which he would always take by the handful on an empty stomach, four at least, because he is “a big man with big pain.”
After a week of repeated tries to find someone to talk to, I got a new doctor and brought up these three key issues:
1) Remdesivir. He didn’t need it because he no longer had Covid. It has a bad reputation for pneumonia and kidney failure. Don’t put things into him that have risks and no needed benefit. He agreed to stop the Remdesivir.
2) Sedation. I want the sedation lowered.
3) Nutrition. He MUST get nutrition. For four weeks, he had been starved. He agreed to stop the paralytic drugs and still sedate him into sleep mode instead, give his bowels some time to wake up, make noise, start a tube feeding down his throat, and skip over a GI tube. I was pleased to get these three things changed.
Also, I wanted him off the ventilator ASAP, but I know that is a process and not a quick one. He had been at 100% oxygen, which does more damage to the brain than benefit, so I wanted that lowered. The new doctor decreased it to 50% for five more days. I still have not gotten anyone to give him high-dose vitamins. He receives a vanilla protein shake in a tube, which is a start. Also, I have seen him daily since we got a new doctor, which enables me to read to him from one of his favorite books.
Visitation is minimal. I stayed as long as I could (hours instead of minutes), in which I took notes of his vitals and his meds, anything that changed, and I read his book while I rubbed any part of his body that I could. There was not very much that I could rub. I mixed a bottle of oils that would give him vitamins and medicinal help, and I rubbed it into his skin, especially his hands and feet. I didn’t want him to be unable to move inside his body and feel left alone or lose his mind in there. They finally lowered the pressure on the ventilator three days later, which allowed his lungs to heal the leaks over the next few days.
(Day 15) We were able to pull the tubes out and get off the vent. He is off all medications, eating liquids only, coughing out all of the goop in his lungs, having to do speech therapy because he sounds like an anti-smoking commercial, talks through a trach box, is awake and can squeeze and wiggle but does not have use of any of his body parts (yet). We don’t know how well intact his mind is from all of this or how his body will be. Side effects of the three antibiotics administered include hearing loss or ringing in the ears, delirium, cardiac death, kidney, and liver failure.
(Day 16) Now that he is OFF THE VENTILATOR, HALLELUJAH!! As more and more connections are removed, I can rub him more. He even asked me as soon as I walked in today to start with a foot rub and stretch it well. I have been very gentle with him, but he usually likes a hard massage and stretch. I will continue to do whatever I can for him as he is in the hospital, but I cannot wait to get him home where I can take care of him to rebuild his strength and health wholly. It was uncertain if he would make it, as we know several lost to this virus and the hospital’s protocol.
WHAT WOULD I CHANGE?
For starters, the mainstream medical providers need to realize that healthcare will NEVER be a one-size-fits-all formula. Each person has a different history, body chemistry, diet, current medication, response, and reaction. Each person has the right to be INFORMED of their options and risks. If someone cannot make these decisions or communicate independently, they have the right to have someone with them to speak for them. THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE WHAT KIND OF CARE THEY PROCEED WITH, or without threat and coercion.
The frontline healthcare workers need to LISTEN to the people, the patients, and their advocates. I was repeatedly ignored and, in this case, was told that I needed to leave it to the professionals, “I know Covid. I have nine years of education to get here and not just listen to Facebook.”
I also have an extensive medical background with over 20 years of experience. Where did all of this knowledge come from in our education? The knowledge was built upon the experience and trials of others. It is ever-changing and evolving. In today’s age, continuing education includes social media listening to others tell their experiences, especially when it comes to something new, as this Covid virus is, and the delta variant more so.
PUT DOWN THE PRIDE, THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SEGREGATION, AND LISTEN!
Offer more treatment options. If the ventilators were the best mode of care for this virus, we wouldn’t be losing people left and right. Many sick people need supplemental oxygen, and at higher levels, for a few days while fighting off this virus. In McComb, they are not offering a human dosage of Ivermectin, which many have used successfully. They are not offering antibody infusions, which many of our family members have received in Louisiana, recovering without ventilator use. Lower oxygen supplementation used at home with oxygen condensers and antibody infusions can be outpatient procedures, not taking up precious bed spots in the hospitals. Some people have used Hydroxychloroquine to combat this, along with Budesonide breathing treatments.
I am not promoting any of these experimental and controversial drugs in the use of Covid-19. There are no adequate studies to prove whether they are beneficial or not. But I do think that ventilators are not the answer. High-pressure ventilation blows out the lungs. 100% oxygen is harmful to the brain. Laying still and on your back is the worst thing for this disease. Starving people is making things worse. Many people cannot ingest anything due to the symptoms of the virus. Oral or GI tubes may not be ideal or even possible, but the administration of intravenous vitamins is possible; High dose vitamins like Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Zinc specifically are a must.
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!
I am offering some of my thoughts. Do not lay sick people on their backs! Put them on their stomachs or their sides. Get them up and moving, not sedated in bed. Get them outside and warm, not cooped up inside highly air-conditioned buildings. Make them a sauna to sit in and add essential oils. The best treatment for the lungs is STEAM. I did the steam treatments, breathing in over boiling water and oils. I could feel my lungs clear every time I did it. That is one thing I could barely get my husband to do because he didn’t want to be hot. Hospitals have nebulizers. Let’s use those with essential oils and have outpatient booths for people to sit and breathe the steam for several minutes.
The first round of Covid killed the elderly, the immunocompromised, and people with lung problems. The Delta variant is killing the dads. Why? The men are generally healthy and robust. They are out in the workforce. But, when they are sick, what do they do? They go to bed and stay there as my husband did. Mom can’t quit. There is too much to do, having no one to replace them. Children don’t keep still unless they are asleep. They will run around cranky and still play. Get the men out of bed and on the road to recovery.
Another thing to think about, doctors specifically, we are seeing low oxygen saturation, difficulty breathing, chest congestion, and pneumonia in Covid patients, making us believe this is a respiratory virus. But, the Delta variant seems to systematically attack every part of the body. I have also heard one doctor mention that it attacks whatever area of your body has inflammation, which is why children get it the least. They are too young to have inflammation issues.
For me, it was my sinuses and my joints. My symptoms began with sneezes. Then the headaches were excruciating, especially in my eyes. But the worst pain for me was the joints, especially in my hips, recently having had a baby, who also got sick and screamed all night, so I had to walk him around with my hips in the worst pain I have ever felt! My husband began with vomiting, attacking his digestive system. In my own time of sickness, I noticed that one system would start to get better, another would be attacked.
Back to oxygen saturation, medical textbooks say that normal oxygen saturation is 95–100%. My average is 96–97%. If I breathe in supplemental oxygen to raise it, I feel spacey. It is too much. The medical model of care says anything below 90% is hypoxemia and needs intervention, the brain is affected below 85%, and cyanosis develops below 67%. Many Covid patients register in the 60–70% range and show no cyanosis signs. My husband’s oxygen levels were in the 30’s when he went to the hospital out-of-state and received oxygen supplementation.
Why are we not turning blue and falling over dead where we stand? Why is the blood getting thick and causing clots? Our blood is flooded with glucose at diabetic levels during this illness. I think it has to do with our body’s response to this lack of oxygenation. It may be to feed the brain, to keep it alive, while it is being starved of oxygen because the brain runs off sugar. The effect on blood glucose levels seemingly causes people to develop diabetes overnight, so make sure to check and treat that afterward.
My husband nearly died from bleeding in his intestines, and we had no idea. They never put two and two together at the hospital. They instead focused on his lungs and the virus he didn’t have! GI bleeds are very common with the Covid virus. Perhaps the blood is thicker, so we don’t bleed to death.
The virus is affecting the circulatory system in all of us. Skin changes include color and capillary volume, not blanching when pressed, skin, temperature, dark coloration, dry and peeling. I am still dealing with extremely chapped lips. The baby had crusty sores in the natural creases under his eyes. Expand your scope. Please step back and look at how the WHOLE body is responding.
We adapt. We survive. So, too, must our medical model of care.
— Sabrina Ferrage
