OKLAHOMA CITY, Aug. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Courtney Elliott's heart stopped beating on a procedure room table three weeks after delivering her baby. Her condition was caused by a massive blood clot, a complication from a COVID-19 infection at 36 weeks pregnant.
It took more than 100 Mercy co-workers from 21 hospital departments working together over nine weeks to save Elliott's life not once, not twice, but three times.
An at-home COVID-19 test confirmed the exhaustion and shortness of breath she was experiencing weren't simply the result of late-stage pregnancy.
Elliott initially monitored minor symptoms at home until her breathing became so labored, her OB/GYN determined the safest option was to deliver as soon as possible. At 37 weeks, her baby was full term.
"If we could just deliver the baby, her uterus would decompress and allow her lungs to work more effectively," said Dr. Jennifer Strebel, Mercy obstetrician/gynecologist.
A heathy 7-pound, 7-ounce baby girl arrived January 12 during an emergency cesarean section at Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City. It was an otherwise joyous occasion, and Elliott's condition improved immediately.
"Her shortness of breath was gone, she could breathe and walk on her own," Dr. Strebel said.
Five days later Courtney was well enough to go home.
Within 48 hours, and during a highly infectious omicron wave of COVID-19 that saw hospitals stretched to their limits, Elliott was in an ambulance headed back to Mercy.
Her oxygen levels, which should be 92% or more, were at 45%.
Elliott was admitted to the intensive care stepdown unit. The care team tried everything possible to keep her off a ventilator. After a week, she continued to decline and was moved to the intensive care unit.
Eventually, she started to improve, and her caregivers considered a move back to the stepdown unit. Her nurse advocated to keep her in the ICU one more night, a decision that likely saved Elliott's life. That same day, her oxygen levels deteriorated rapidly, and she was intubated and hooked up to a ventilator that would breathe for her.
"Her blood pressure dropped so low, and the nurses immediately jumped in, but everything we tried to do to intervene medically wasn't working," said Dr. Maroun Tawk, a Mercy critical care physician and medical director of the intensive care unit.
Continue reading Courtney's story at mercy.net/CourtneysStory.
SOURCE Mercy
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