Darlene is the music teacher at Cambridge Elementary that contracted COVID. She was the music teacher of my next door neighbour's son twenty years ago. Cathy and Darlene have been good friends ever since. This is a post from Darlene's Facebook page. I thought it was interesting as she explains her story:
To my Facebook friends,
I have only begun checking Facebook posts these past 3 days. I have a lot of catching up to do! From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! Thank you for your messages, emails, your prayers and concern. A very special shout out to my colleagues and families at Cambridge Elementary for their support and endless goodwill. I am so blessed, humbled and staggered by the outpouring of kindness and affection! My family is truly touched and honoured… and a little shaken, but in a good way! This will be a VERY long post, so only read on if you’re interested in the back story and my thoughts.
If you didn’t know, you are alone in the hospital right now. No one can come in, no one can help, no one can ease your fears or loneliness. And I was one of the lucky ones, because I speak English and I had a cell phone to talk to my daughter and husband every day. But there was no TV, no computer, no way to know what was going on outside my walls. Well yes, there was a TV, but in ICU I was mostly unconscious or on my belly and in the critical care room, mine was broken. A lot of things in my room was broken!! I had no call bell for 3 days, so I would bang my “cage” like an animal for help! The lights weren’t working and I didn’t have toilet paper for 2 days! Crazy!
This is how my virus presented itself: I had severe joint pain for two days, but I have arthritis and disregarded it. My voice was also getting raspy but it OFTEN is as a music teacher, so I disregarded it. But on the third day, thankfully an in-lieu-of professional day, there was no denying I was sick and got tested. Positive. The only other people I had any physical contact with outside of work was my husband and dear friend. Both tested positive. I was CRUSHED. Evie was quite sick but managed mostly all alone from home. Tony was completely asymptomatic the entire time, the healthy bastard!! No, actually I am SO grateful to God for his health because it would have crushed Sadie and how would we manage with Tony in hospital? OMG, I don’t want to think of it!
I knew that our school had many exposures, more than what was being reported. It was really scary, especially for someone like me who is very susceptible and at high risk. Privacy was paramount, and I understand that logically, but it was a detriment to us all. Fraser Health never deemed me to be a close contact to these exposures and therefore I was never alerted once, even though these unmasked children were singing, laughing and coughing in my room. CRAZY STUPID!! A fellow teacher, on the other hand, told me IMMEDIATELY when she tested positive and I was so thankful!! But the damage was done, the dreaded COVID had invaded my body. As of today, I know personally 2 teachers (including me), one student teacher, one Educational Assistant and 6 + now 22ish more students (in our last update from Fraser Health) all infected at Cambridge.
When I got my positive result, I immediately wrote a letter to the entire staff at Cambridge and told them. There was no way I was going to stay quiet, even if there would be discomfort, blame or disapproval, I just didn’t care. I wanted the whole community to know that they need to watch out for symptoms because I have contact with too many little bodies, over 500 a week. And I care too much about them and our staff to think about staying quiet.
My illness progressed VERY quickly and aggressively. I was weak beyond moving, tired beyond staying conscious, pain from head to toe and having a harder and harder time breathing. My second trip to emergency was in an ambulance and I was failing fast. Please pay attention to how you are feeling!!! Get tested if you feel weird at all!! Seriously!!
I was admitted to Surrey Memorial Hospital for just short of 2 weeks. ICU for a full week, and critical care for the rest. I had infection throughout my lungs and they were filled with fluid. My blood oxygen was in the low 80s and I ultimately needed to be put on a very specialized oxygen machine…. I wish I remember what it was called. At one point, the ICU was totally FULL and as soon as I was completely and confidently stabilized, they needed my room and I went to a Covid ward. It was an abrupt change and a busy place, with more than 4 full pods of Covid patients, most of the single rooms being doubled up. My roommate was a man who didn’t speak English! We couldn’t see each other, thank God, but we could hear every private and embarrassing sound, LOL!
It took me days to finally write a thank you letter to my beloved colleagues at Cambridge Elementary, and it was a long one, so instead of re-writing all my thoughts, I will use some of my words from that letter. It’s long and personal, but it’s from my heart:
You may be surprised to learn that I knew nothing of the news while I was in hospital. I didn’t know the school was closed and that my name and face were on the news! My family made the decision to not tell me anything because they wanted me focused on healing. Even when I got home, they were very particular and slow to educate me, knowing I am easily emotional and would feel so undeserving! Once home, a reporter called for an interview that I agreed to do and my husband decided that perhaps I should first see a few news clips he had recorded for me….. and I was FLOORED!!
Occasionally a nurse would say, “I know you. You’re that teacher on TV.” And I thought they had me confused with someone else. Once a nurse told me that Dr. Bonnie Henry herself called to check up on me, and I just thought she was trying to make me laugh and cheer me up, LOL! Like the time the nurse told me he was giving me the very special Trump drugs, hahaha!
I don’t do well in hospitals. Some of you know the details of my daughter Lindsey’s long and public battle with leukemia. I had only been at Cambridge for one year and that summer our lives changed forever. My baby had cancer. She relapsed over and over again, went through years of chemo, full body and brain radiation, a bone marrow transplant and endless painful, crippling procedures with no success… and we lost her.
I witnessed more fear, pain and an ever-increasing disability than anyone could ever bear seeing their own child endure. This experience has made it impossible for me to be sick or in pain without immense guilt that my own daughter suffered so much more, so buck it up, princess! Hospital stays would mean full on panic attacks, restraints, sedation and totally losing my mind. IT DIDN’T HAPPEN THIS TIME!! For the first time, I was calm (relatively, lol) and I don’t DO calm!
It felt like a miracle. No nightmares, no flashbacks, no crying, no fits of terror and anxiety. I was LIFTED. I felt light, which is no small thing when you’re my size and you can barely move, LOL!!
It was YOU! It was your prayers, your love and your support. I feel saved. I feel JOY! I haven’t truly felt joy in a decade. I’ve been going through the motions of life and work like a robot, painting on a smile and experiencing moments of happiness here and there but always tainted with my loss. I couldn’t let go of my pain. If I let go of my pain and my ugly memories of her suffering, I felt like I was letting go of my girl, my most immediate memories of her and dishonouring her journey. But suddenly I feel love and joy, pure and untainted and I truly believe I have changed. Finally!!
The Go Fund Me page. O…M…G!!!!! Amy, what did you DO?!!! I seem to remember Tony telling me it was around 2 thousand dollars when I went into hospital? He was so concerned! “Darlene, you gotta get Amy to shut this down!! That’s enough!!” And now it’s up to a year’s wages?? This is CRAZY! I am astonished and indebted and it won’t even sink in! YOU PEOPLE!!! I need to put a message on that page.
How do I even begin to address this or thank anyone for this? We are in shock. Teachers, families, people on FIXED INCOMES!!! So many people, so generous and we feel so undeserving. Without Tony’s income since March, this will make us more than whole. I will be able to take a few months off (at least!) and not have to worry about the smaller pay since I’ll go directly onto SIP or WorkSafe because I have no sick days…never have!! Always sick, LOL!
Anyway, I’ll end this by saying one more thank you, one more “OMG, this is too much!!” and one enormous hug filled with love and appreciation to each and every one of you. You have blessed me and filled me with pride and deep gratitude. I am the lucky one!! Sincerely and with great affection, Darlene ❤️ 🥰 🌻 🎵 ❤️
Here is her Go Fund Me Page: Go Fund Me
