Most of his doctors were not at all optimistic about his ability to leave the hospital. And if he did, doctors told Hook’s wife, he’d probably be in a vegetative state.
But after 453 days in hospital recovering from the virus and numerous complications, Hook walked out of the facility in a wheelchair to the cheers of doctors and nurses in time to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas at home for the first time. for more than a year. .
“It was hard for me to lay there on Thanksgiving. [and] over Christmas because I’m a big vacationer,” Hook told The Washington Post. “Missing it was difficult.”
Hook has returned home to a new phase of the pandemic when, for the first time in the United States, more people who have received at least the first round of a coronavirus vaccine are dying from covid-19 than those who have not. haven’t, according to an analysis conducted for The Post’s Health 202 by Cynthia Cox, vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Fifty-eight percent of coronavirus deaths in August were people who were vaccinated or boosted, the analysis showed.
Although unvaccinated people are still more likely to die from covid-19, the disease can kill vaccinated people because the effectiveness of preventive medicine decreases over time. US health officials have urged people to keep their vaccinations up to date by getting vaccinated.
Crochet, who had no pre-existing conditions and was fully vaccinated at the time, tested positive in August 2021, his wife, Rachel Crochet, told The Post. A visit to an urgent care center to treat Hook fever and falling oxygen levels turned into a stay in hospital intensive care. He was placed on a ventilator four days later.
He went through pneumonia, collapsed lungs, pancreatitis, kidney failure and what seemed like an endless list of viral complications. Each time Hook began to get better, a new illness would crop up.
“Every organ in his body failed at some point except his heart and his brain,” said 70-year-old Rachel Hook. “The doctors looked at me and said, ‘He’s not going to survive.'”
In December, Hook was transferred to a long-term care facility where things slowly began to improve, but an infection that was not healing properly after another emergency surgery forced his doctors to reschedule his date. Release.
It wasn’t until November 9 that a nurse pushed Dub’s wheelchair down the hallway of the facility as doctors, nurses and family cheered as he approached the exit door. Some held signs reading “Way to go Papa!” and “Dub Crochet. You’re My Hero” on the way back.
In an interview with Houston-based news station KPRC, Hook credited hospital staff and his family. “God bless them,” he told the outlet. “They are my rock.”
This week the Hooks hosted Thanksgiving. He was seated at one end of the table, surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren. They ate green beans and sweet potatoes prepared by Hook himself.
The kids made crafts for Thanksgiving. They did a little photo shoot. The family turned on the TV to watch football. For the first time in over a year, things seemed normal.
“Did you ever think dad would be home sitting at the table?” Rachel Crochet said a family member asked one of the grandkids.
“I feel like I’m dreaming.”
McKenzie Beard contributed to this report.
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