It was a story of Easter rebirth that one family needed very badly. And perhaps a medical team in Torrance — and healthcare workers everywhere — needed it even more.
Carson resident Ramon Zuniga — who spent 28 days in the intensive care unit, 20 of them in a coma on a ventilator — went home from Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance on Easter Sunday.
Zuniga and his family credit faith and perseverance. “This is a complete and total miracle,” said Maria Zuniga, his wife. “One thing that helped us through this is we are very faithful to God and we had so many people, who we didn’t even know, including us in their prayers.”
The 50-year-old Zuniga was released from the hospital with a hero’s sendoff from the doctors and nurses who helped save his life. Nurses and doctors applauded and cheered wildly in the hotel lobby in a an impromptu celebration of Zuniga’s life — as well as a celebration of the medical team’s ability to save it..
It was a hero’s send off for #COVID19 patient at Providence Little Company of Mary Torrance on Sunday after 30 days at the hospital including 20 days in a coma on a ventilator. Very emotional moment as he greeted his family with cheers from the medical staff. pic.twitter.com/FNnGNwSiYR
— David Rosenfeld (@RosenfeldReport) April 12, 2020
According to a report in The Washington Post, data from China, Italy and the U.S. suggest that about half of those with COVID-19 who receive ventilator support will not survive.The longer a patient remains on a ventilator, the less likely they will survive and return to normal health, the medical staffs was told.
Zuniga’s story renewed hope, said Dr. Alex Hakim, who oversaw Zuniga’s treatment while in the ICU. He called the moments of watching Zuniga roll through the lobby, surrounded by the ebullient medical team, and on out the hospital’s doors “powerful and cathartic.”
“Most of the patients I never get this type of interaction with,” Hakim said. “Most patients in the ICU don’t even know that I was their doctor. I just get them past the worst period of their life and they never know my name and I never know what happens other than what I read about in the chart. So to have this type of closure now is really powerful to me.”
Even though everyone wore masks, the emotion could be seen in doctors’ and nurses’ eyes. Zuniga took off his glasses to wipe away tears.
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” he told the hospital staff. “Thank you so much. I’m so grateful.”
Zuniga’s story is one of hope, but also one of extreme caution. The couple and their two kids, Malisa and Isaiah, had been quarantined for only a few days when Zuniga’s condition worsened so bad that his wife took him to the emergency department on Sunday, March 15. She dropped him off at the front door and before she had time to park the car they had taken him inside the hospital, she said.
Three days later he was on a ventilator, which involves sedating the patient and inserting a tube down the airway in a process called intubation.
“Really besides one little text he was able to send the next day, the next call I got was he was on a ventilator,” recalled Maria Zuniga. “It was very scary, and not being able to be there with him was almost too much to handle. It was beyond anything I could eve imagine.”
After nearly three weeks, Ramon Zuniga was finally brought off the ventilator. But he still had a lot of work to do. He had lost the ability to speak because of the intubation and his muscles were so weak that he lost the dexterity in his fingers. He still had the virus too, so he had to remain isolated.
“This is a lonely virus,” he said. “You’re by yourself.”
Zuniga, who had no underlying health conditions, said he lost about 60 pounds through the ordeal (but he wouldn’t recommend it as a weight-loss strategy, he joked).
“At some point,” Maria Zuniga said, described the days she spent away from her husband while he was on the ventilator, “I completely shut off social media and television. I focused on praying and staying positive and faithful.”
Maria would call the nurses three or four times per day even when her husband was too weak to speak. After three weeks of not seeing him, one of the nurses helped connect her through Facetime during a rare moment when Ramon Zuniga was awake.
“That’s where I saw the compassion,” Maria Zuniga said. “She knew we were hurting not being near him and not knowing what’s going on.”
Zuniga’s release represented a victory that front-line workers here said they truly needed.
Although the surge of patients has not occurred yet as predicted, Hakim said the time spent treating patients in the ICU have been arduous and intense.
Zuniga’s case is significant largely for the length of time he remained on a ventilator and survived, Hakim said.
“We were hearing things about over 50% mortality,” Hakim said. “He was in respiratory failure really fast. We didn’t know really how to behave around a patient like this. We didn’t know what his true mortality would be in our hands.”
So Hakim and his team tried to learn as much as they could from available case studies, including experiences at Providence hospitals in Washington which saw a surge earlier.
Zuniga, like all ICU patients at Providence in Torrance, received hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, which have shown success in some COVID-19 patients.
Zuniga said he noticed early on doctors and nurses would converse about his case. “It seemed like there was a lot of unknowns,” he said. “As it progressed, they seemed to find procedures on how to handle things. Over time they seemed to be getting smarter about this. They are learning everyday.”
He still experienced the ups and downs that have been widely characterized by COVID-19, the disease that results from the coronavirus. Hakim said they also put Zuniga on full anti-coagulants or blood thinners.
Ramon Zuniga, 50, wipes away tears greeting his family after being released on Easter Sunday, April 12, from Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance where he spent 30 days in the ICU fighting the coronavirus. (Photo by David Rosenfeld/SCNG)
“We are starting to see studies on blood thinners showing blood clotting in lungs contributes to patients not consistently getting better,” Hakim said. “We think it’s waves of microthrombi getting in the lung and in other organs. We see liver and kidney injuries. Some are seeing clots in retina and toes, classic places to have clots.”
Hakim cautioned that any success they are having is still anecdotal.
“I can’t make a conclusion that this worked or that didn’t work,” Hakim said. “We won’t know for a month or two. We’re used to seeing things anecdotally that don’t turn out to be real.”
For Zuniga, their success means that he will get to spend more years with his family.
“I didn’t know it was going to affect me so powerfully,” Hakim said. “I got emotional and didn’t expect it.”
It’s apt, he said, that he returned home on Easter. During his illness, Zuniga said he experienced a rebirth of his faith.
It wasn’t the typical Easter by any means. The Zunigas’ church, St. Barnabas Catholic Church in Long Beach, held virtual services and the family prayed together.
Earlier, the hospital chaplain came to him and asked if there was anything he could do.
“I said my faith has grown so strong, even though I’m going through this whole thing I have no remorse,” Zuniga said, “and no ill will toward anyone.”
