Two patients treated for COVID-19 at Natividad share stories of recovery
SALINAS, Calif. (KION) Two Salinas agriculture workers are sharing their stories of surviving COVID-19 as Monterey County experiences more hospitalizations and positive cases.
Both Anastacio Cruz, 59, and Aurora Vazquez, 44, were treated in ICU isolation rooms at Natividad. Both were released from the hospital at the end of June.
Anastacio Cruz
Cruz was the first intubated patient at Natividad, according to Dr. Tony Medawar, the medical director of Pulmonary and Critical Care.
Cruz is a Salinas resident and agriculture worker who had never been sick or hospitalized. Natividad said Cruz's age put him at a somewhat higher risk of COVID-19 complications, but he had no pre-existing medical conditions. He lives with his wife, two daughters, son-in-law, son and two grandchildren.
On March 26, Cruz began to feel body aches and visited his doctor, who gave Cruz two medications and a shot. The doctor said to return in a few days to be re-evaluated, but Cruz was not tested for COVID-19.
“I was sick for eight days,” Cruz said. “I felt very tired, and my feet hurt a lot. But it was several days before I got a cough. And then, the fever came. When I couldn’t breathe anymore, I got scared.”
When Cruz began to feel sicker, he went to the Emergency Department at Natividad, where he was tested and screened for COVID-19. Doctors later called Cruz's daughter, Isela Cruz, to say her father had been put into a coma, intubated and placed on a ventilator.
Medawar described the first time he saw Cruz.
“I ran downstairs, took one look at him and knew it would be a very long road. I am the one who intubated him and brought him to the ICU. He was on the verge of death almost every day, and he pulled through.”
Cruz was on a ventilator for about 6 weeks, and while he was in the ICU, he experienced extremely low blood pressure, secondary lung infections and a lung collapse, according to Natividad. He spent a total of 10 weeks in the ICU.
While Cruz was hospitalized, he also got an infection according to his daughter.
“We got a call from the doctor that we needed to prepare to lose him. He told us there was a strong chance that his heart would stop at any minute. I just remember asking him to do everything he could to save his life. He said, ‘We are, and we will.’ And, he hung up. We prayed like we had never prayed before," Isela Cruz said.
The Cruz family was the first to use the hospital's Virtual Visit program, which allows patients and their loved ones to video conference. They began using two weeks after he was admitted, according to the hospital.
“They’d show us his whole body, the room and the medical equipment. Then, they’d put the tablet up to his ear,” she said. “My mom, siblings and I would tell him to keep fighting and believing that God would help him get through this.”
Eventually Cruz was transferred from the ICU to the Intermediate Care Unit and eventually the Acute Rehabilitation Unit. After nearly three months at Natividad, Cruz was discharged on June 29.
Natividad says Cruz no longer has COVID-19, but it will take time to fully recover from the toll it took.
“I don’t wish this on anyone. It is very hard. I suffered a lot. But thank God, I am getting stronger,” Cruz said. “I have a wonderful family. They were always there. I just want to hug my family — hug them very tight.”
Aurora Vazquez
Vazquez has lived in Salinas and worked packaging romaine lettuce for twenty years.
She was first sent home to quarantine in March when she was exposed to COVID-19, but after she returned to work at the end of April, she said she started to feel sick. She started to feel better, but three days later, the symptoms returned and became more intense.
“On May 10, I couldn’t take it anymore and went to Natividad for testing. I didn’t think I had COVID, but I had heard about it,” she said. “I was very scared to come. Some people I know said not to go to a hospital, telling me it is dangerous, and I would die there. But, everything I had heard was untrue. The hospital saved my life.”
Vazquez was diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to the ICU. She was put into a coma and was on a ventilator for 24 days. While she was in the hospital, she was also diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, which Natividad said can make people more susceptible to the virus.
“Ms. Vasquez was extremely sick,” Medawar said. “At one point, we had to put her in a special bed so we could place her on her stomach to keep her body oxygenated. It’s incredible what she had to endure and that she came out of this and made a recovery.”
When Vazquez's symptoms started to improve, the hospital said she was taken off the ventilator and out of the coma.
“When I woke up, I was very confused. I felt like my body and soul went to a different place; I was afraid,” she said. “At first, I couldn’t even walk. When they got me out of bed, my heart pounded.”
Three weeks after Vazquez was admitted, she was moved to the ARU where she worked with physical therapists to relearn daily living activities. She was discharged from the hospital on June 23.
Doctors said they are hopeful that Vazquez will make a full recovery, and she said she wants people to know that the virus is not a hoax.
“I was so scared in the beginning, but Natividad gave me my life back. Everyone did everything they could to save me. And now, I am COVID-free.”
As of Friday afternoon, the Monterey County Health Department reports that there have been 201 COVID-19-related hospitalizations. More than three fourths of confirmed cases in Monterey County are people who identify as Hispanic or Latino, and 28% of people diagnosed work in agriculture. There have been a total of 3,059 confirmed cases around the county and 18 deaths.
