Her car had been in for repairs for quite a while and so it also meant we got to drive her to work. It was great because that meant lots of visiting time.
On Christmas Eve, we played games together. Jackbox is a lot of fun!
CBC decided to tell a story about us:
A Calgary woman says her husband ended up sick with COVID-19 a week after being released from a Foothills hospital cardiac unit — which is now at the centre of the largest active outbreak in Alberta — and no one from Alberta Health Services alerted them to the danger.
Four people have died and a total of 63 patients, visitors and staff have tested positive as the Foothills Medical Centre battles several outbreaks. Six units now have declared outbreaks, including several cardiac wards, and two others are on outbreak watch. As of Tuesday, 290 health-care workers were in isolation.
Dawn Ackroyd's husband, Allen, was admitted to Foothills hospital cardiac unit 81 on Sept. 9, for an angiogram to treat blockages in his heart, and released on Sept. 11.
He started experiencing mild COVID-19 symptoms one week later (on Sept. 18 ), the same day the first COVID-19 case was identified on the Foothills hospital cardiac care units. That outbreak was declared on Sept. 19.
Allen tested positive for COVID-19 on Sept. 20.
"I expected somewhere along the way somebody would call us from the hospital or Alberta Health Services to say that there had been an outbreak and to be cautious but nobody has," said Ackroyd.
The situation is particularly concerning, Ackroyd said, because heart patients like her husband are at higher risk for COVID-19 complications.
"In his case it's life and death," she said. "We definitely have that concern and are watching him closely."
What Ackroyd has discovered is that the contact tracing at Foothills hospital doesn't involve connecting with every patient that has been on impacted wards .
In a news conference Monday afternoon, Foothills hospital medical director Dr. Peter Jamieson told reporters the window for contact tracing dates back to Sept. 1, to account for the incubation period of the virus.
However, AHS has confirmed not all patients who were on an outbreak wards during that time period would be contacted.
"At-risk patients who are identified through our outbreak investigation are contacted by AHS' public health team if they are no longer in hospital. Patients who have already tested positive are notified through standard contact tracing," an AHS spokesperson said in a statement emailed to CBC News.
The spokesperson further clarified that the "at-risk" patients are those "who are deemed by infection prevention and control specialists and other health professionals such as medical officers of health as potentially at risk of exposure to a confirmed positive case."
According to Dr. Stephanie Smith, an infectious disease physician and director of Infection Prevention and Control at the University of Alberta Hospital, patients are considered at risk for infection if they had face-to-face contact with a symptomatic case for 15 minutes or more.
"Certainly for the index patient, obviously anyone that was in the same room with them would be considered exposed. But if there was someone on the ward that was in a different room and there was thought to be no direct contact between those patients they wouldn't necessarily be considered to be exposed," she said.
Ackroyd is so concerned she filed a complaint with AHS and is calling for all patients who are admitted to outbreak wards in the 14 days prior to the identification of cases to be alerted.
"They said they were sorry that nobody had contacted us but they were doing the best they could and they can't be sure that that's where he got it," she said.
"I wasn't really satisfied with that because he hasn't been anywhere but the hospital and home and so my guess is the numbers that they're sharing about cases from that outbreak are not accurate."
The outbreaks at the Foothills hospital continue to grow. Three more cases were identified in patients and staff on Wednesday as public health officials continued to piece together how the virus got into the hospital and put a stop to it.
We have had quite a month in our house. This fall, after being sent for a couple of stress tests, it came to light that Allen had severe blockages in his heart. They gave him strict rules (no walks, no mowing, no going to the gym, nothing to stress him.....they even said don't wash dishes! LOL) as they were really concerned that he could have a heart attack. All this time they've been trying to figure out why post stroke fatigue was such an issue for him. Now we know. He heeded their warnings and went to emergency a couple times. The first time they ran a long list of tests to make sure he hadn't had a heart attack as well as check his heart. The second time he went in they decided to admit him until they could give him an angiogram. He was admitted on Wednesday, had the procedure on Thursday and came home on Friday. This was the first week of school. Teachers always talk about how there's no tired like September tired. Well, I now know there's no tired like September tired when you're dealing with school and covid and then you get to spend evenings at the hospital! ugh
We also have great neighbors who do runs for chips and orange juice and just keep us well stocked in treats.
This is hard for me to write. My heart is broken.
On Friday, I had driven out to Chestermere, Langdon and Strathmore to deliver some certificates to seminary teachers. On the way back, my car was overheating. I pulled over on the highway and called Allen. He came to help me and while that was happening, Frank got out of the car. He ran on the highway. Cars were swerving and trying to miss him, but he got hit. It was the most awful thing to see and I cannot get it out of my mind. The people who hit him stopped, stunned. They apologized. We knew it wasn't their fault and told them so. Allen ran over and picked Frank up. We rushed to a vet's office. Allen held him and begged him to hang on, but he didn't make it and died in Allen's arms.
I have so much guilt. I should have taken Allen's car out there.
I should have known he would bring Frank with him and helped manage him.
I should have been able to catch him.
I should have....
I should have....
I should have....
We called Jill and asked her to come over. We went and got Peirce at work and told him. Jill and her boyfriend, Adrian, took Peirce home and I took Frank to the vet's office.
When we all got home we sat in Peirce's room and cried. Chico came in and was uncharacteristically affectionate. I think he knew and wanted to comfort us in our sadness. Adrian cooked some food and we looked at pictures and cried. There was a lot of crying. Jill suggested we have a family prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for the time we had with Frank and for the comfort in knowing we know where Frank is and that Jesus has felt all this pain before as well.
I don't know if I will ever get over seeing everything happen. It will always hurt my heart. My friend Lauri Bell sent me a message and I said to her that I wondered how long this would hurt so much. She said:
"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds. ' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone."
I believe that is true.
My friend, Lori T, said that the pain is part of the result of loving so much. We sure did love Frank. I can hear Allen sobbing now and then and Peirce stays in his room and it all just breaks my heart.
We will always remember Frank so fondly. He was the happiest dog. He brought happiness to us and this all shouldn't have happened. Somehow, we will go on but we will never forget.
This is what Peirce wrote:
This summer I've been working on cleaning and getting rid of stuff. Today I came across something I have had since I was a teenager!! I used to love this thing and would steam my face faithfully every week. Those were the days!
Fond memories...but out the door it goes. Giving it away! It even still works!
Today Allen gave away some lego to our little friend Danny who comes over to help with yard work. Allen had it all stored away downstairs too. Oh the things we have kept! I'm happy to let it all go.
Today Peirce did a one-time project with a couple friends. They had to unload this container full of HUNDREDS of tires and stack them in a warehouse.
Jill has been working on getting ready to move into her own place. She found a great place! We're going to miss her but we're so happy for her!
