NEW BERN, N.C. — For the first time since nurses and doctors at Carolinaeast Medical Center began treating COVID-19 patients for with the delta variant, a woman has left the ICU after being on a ventilator for a month.
Cindy Buck is the first COVID-19 patient at CarolinaEast Medical Center to survive the delta variant after being on an ICU ventilator
She entered the hospital September 4, was sedated and ventilated September 8, and woke up October 9
Grandson sang "You are my Sunshine" during her unconscious period
Sixty-two-year-old Cindy Buck was transferred from the critical care unit to an in-patient room at the coastal hospital’s rehab center Thursday morning.
During a bedside interview, Buck described how she felt severely ill when she entered the hospital September 4.
“This is my story. This is God's plan and that’s what I’m resting on,” Buck said.
The last thing she remembered was the sound of sirens in the ambulance ride to CarolinaEast.
“I’m thankful for God, who has allowed me this second chance,” Buck said. “I plan to use it with whoever I can speak to.”
A hospital staff member confirmed she was placed on a ventilator September 8.
“My family, they went through the most difficult time. They thought they had lost me,” Buck said.
The grandmother of five would not be unhooked from the machine until October 9. When she woke up, she was confused. She said, “I asked my husband, ‘what happened?’”
What she did learn from nurses is what her 5-year-old grandson, Andrew Buck, did for her while she was sedated and ventilated.
“My little grandson, he sang to me ‘You are my sunshine’. They (nurses) played it to me. They said they could see my heart rate,” Buck said.
As she talked, Andrew’s grandmother motioned upward with her hand to indicate an improved heartbeat. Her grandson’s words left a lasting effect on her unconscious state of mind.
“They knew I could hear him, and I could. He really rounded up the corner for me. I gotta get back to him. God said, ‘Yeah. I’m gonna send you back. Give people hope,'” she said.
Her fight with the virus isn’t over. A tube stuck out from her throat because of a surgery called a tracheostomy. An excerpt from the Mayo Clinic describes the procedure as “a hole surgeons make in the front of the neck and into the windpipe” to pump a more direct flow of oxygen into a person’s body. Her lungs have not fully adapted to breathing on their own. Buck said she now has proof for her friends, family and community.
“I had the worst variant from what I understand, and I was a gym goer. I didn’t think I could get sick, but I know better now,” the North Carolina native said.
From her hospital bed she admitted to not having the vaccine. She plans for that to change.
“This is real. Very real. People need to take it serious. That’s my message,” she said.
