She paused to compose herself, and added: “If
this is going to happen, and you can provide
some comfort that maybe they wouldn’t have
gotten if you weren’t there, that’s important.”
The newest lesson: Recovery takes a lot longer
than surviving.
Back in Dallas, Donelson spent 17 days on a
ventilator. When it was removed, he was too weak
to even sit without support and the breathing
tube had taken away his ability to swallow.
“He would try to pick his head up off the pillow
and it would lob to the side just like a newborn
baby,” said his wife, Terri Donelson, who for the
first time since his hospital admission finally was
allowed to connect with her husband through a
videoconferencing app.
For days after waking up, Donelson had
tremendous delirium, a dangerous state of
mental confusion and agitation. He didn’t know
where he was or why, and would try to pull
out his IV tubes. Then a bacterial infection hit
his lungs.
Then one morning, worried that Donelson
suddenly was too quiet, his doctor donned
what she calls her “full-helmet, Darth Vader-
style mask, which cannot possibly help anyone’s
delirium,” and went in to check on him.
“I rubbed his arm,” Goff recalled, asking him to
wake up. “I said, ‘Hey are you OK, are you with
me?’” and Donelson started trying to talk, at first
too raspy to understand.
Eventually, she made out that he was wishing
her a happy Easter. She can only guess he heard
the date on TV.
Doctor and patient cried together.