22. A Marine Survives Treatment, Conversation with Dean

Sam Sigoloff: [00:00:00] Okay. So I'm here with Dean. Dean is a friend of mine we've met through, um, just being here, living in the same area and he is a business owner. Uh, he owns chosen cycle. And, uh, tell us just a little bit about yourself, your background, your history, 

Dean: um, farm mechanic, a Marine diesel mechanic. And I got started in Harleys back about 37 years ago.

Started my shop and then moved, uh, down here to Arizona about 16 years ago and opened up my shop, just love working on bikes and, uh, just having fun with it, dealing with all the people, the customers, and listening to the different people and being that we're at a close to Fort, which UK, uh, we get all the walks of life in here and it's just a great place to be backdoor of the day.

Sam Sigoloff: No. I came by inside, [00:01:00] ah, maybe a week ago, two weeks ago. And you told me about a really interesting experience, like actually quite terrifying, horrifying experience that you personally went through. I know some of your memory of this is going to be a little hazy because of, because of the experience itself.

Right. Um, but so kind of take us back to that time when things started, what your symptoms were and what happened. 

Dean: Okay. And I'm going to go back a little farther cause the. Uh, doctors knew this when I was checked into the hospital because I went to both the same hospitals, but in, uh, October 14, I had a heart attack and I was taken up to Tucson and, uh, I had a stent put in and it took care of everything and, uh, on all different types of medicine to keep my blood pressure cholesterol down, I was on statins for the longest time.

And I got off. Uh, due to a daughter's suggestion and my brother's suggestion, because Statens will just [00:02:00] rot your brain and what a difference that made. So now we fast forward and it was October. Once again, in October, I don't know what it is about October, but October of, uh, 21. And, uh, all the COVID stuff was going on.

Uh, I was just, uh, I seem weird and I didn't feel right. Uh, friends were constantly asking me for days, you know, what's going on? I didn't think anything. I thought I was fine and normal until, uh, one day, uh, middle of the night at three in the morning, I ended up, uh, going to Benson because of the, uh, chest pain I was having.

And my body just, I could tell something was. I get into Benson hospital and they immediately, uh, uh, put whatever it was, but two bags of something in me, uh, immediately cause my fingertips were turning blue and they wanted to [00:03:00] send me up to Tucson and they had to test me first. So they brought out this, uh, swab and it was quite humorous to me because the.

Right on the package said, made in China and they're going to stick that in my nose. And they tested me in, of course I had COVID imagine that, but what was wrong with me was my, uh, I had double pneumonia and my kidneys, they weren't shutting down, but the kidneys were having a serious problem. I was extremely dehydrated, uh, for whatever medical reason.

And so they, uh, 45 minute drive up to Tucson. They checked me in, but before they checked me in, they have to test me again to see if I have COVID, but 

Sam Sigoloff: you just got tested, right. You drove 45 minutes and they couldn't say he was already 

tested 

Dean: by. Right. And, uh, the one hospital told me they had to test me before the other hospital in Tucson would accept me, but the Tucson hospital had to test me too.

You'd almost think it was something to [00:04:00] do about money. 

Sam Sigoloff: Yeah. Or they, or just the ineptitude of the medical system and how they can't communicate at all. I mean, there's, it's a balance between the two. Right, right. Yeah. 

Dean: I agree with that. Yeah. So they test me and I have COVID and they're wheeling me through, on the gurney, through the hospital and they're going to put me in the, uh, uh, COVID ward where there's nothing, but COVID patients I'm like, I don't like being in there, but I did get my own room.

So that was nice. And, uh, I was in there for a day, total of eight days, but I was in there the first day, the second day, they finally put me on oxygen and I believe I was on like five liters a minute and, uh, that helped breathe better. And they started giving me, uh, something for pain, whether it was through my, I did have to Ivy.

Two IVs. And the first hospital did that in anticipation that I was going to [00:05:00] need it. So I ended up getting the, uh, pain medicine. It was either through an Ivy or an appeal. I don't remember. Cause I was in a lot of pain and I was looped. And 

Sam Sigoloff: what pain were you in? Do you remember where the pain was? 

Dean: Uh, well I have chronic pain, but mostly it was in my chest and I thought that I was having.

Uh, uh, episode of maybe possibly another heart attack or something. Cause it's been, uh, seven years, eight years. It's been at that row seven years at that point. And, uh, I didn't know what the pain was from other than it was just extremely uncomfortable and I wasn't able to breathe easy. It was hard to breathe because what I found out later was the double pneumonia and, uh, So once they put me on the oxygen and help, but they put me on some pain medicine and I'm not sure what it was, but, uh, it put me into a wonderful place.

I mean, I was in absolutely no pain [00:06:00] and every couple hours, like they do, they'd come in, take, draw my blood, uh, checked me, uh, uh, check my oxygen saturations and, uh, Uh, continue to do that every three or four hours, it was. And on the dot, I would get constantly get this pain medicine that they would just keep giving me.

And, uh, whether I asked for it or not, it was just something that they would give me. And at the, at the time I didn't care, it just made everything feel so much better. And, uh, I had this one respiratory therapist come. 

Sam Sigoloff: That could, can I pause you for a second? Cause I want to really want to shine some light on what you just said.

The respiratory therapist, I think is great. And I really want to hear what he said too, because it, or what he did was amazing. And he's probably why you're still alive. You agree? They, you said something that just, just hit me like a ton of bricks the first time and again, and I hope it hit [00:07:00] everybody else the same way.

You said they came in and gave you pain meds, whether you asked for it or. And the problem with that is I've been a doctor for about nine years now. And I've talked to some surgeons and, you know, different types of surgeons. And I asked them, because in my experience we never schedule pain meds. Like, you know, like opioid pain meds.

We always, we do PRN, which means as needed. So they'll come and ask you every four hours, would you like this? And if you say, no, I'm good, then they don't give it to you. If you need it, they'll give it to you. But we don't typically, and I've never seen this scheduling opioid pain meds. Now we'll we'll schedule Tylenol.

We'll schedule ibuprofen. Probably not a good thing to give you if you had concerns of a heart attack or kidney issues or anything like that, but to schedule opioids with someone, who's got a respiratory problem. Now, just for everybody listening, this is, this is you. I mean, this is [00:08:00] bigger than you could imagine, because we're giving you a medication that's going to slow your respiratory rate and going to knock out the respiratory drive for someone who has a respiratory issue.

So that means they're giving him medication every four hours, whether he needs it or not. And he's kind of in a mental place where he's not able to refuse it. You did not mention this part yet, but did you hav...