Conversations of the Heart: Prescriptions for Healing
This is a series of conversations that gives listeners a glimpse behind the scenes of medicine, focusing on the very human stories behind every patient and provider interaction.
This podcast is made possible by the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation and donors to the End in Mind Project.
Conversations of the Heart: Prescriptions for Healing
Covid Miracle: Walter Byrd
The Covid-19 pandemic has killed nearly seven million people worldwide. Minneapolis based filmmaker Walter Byrd beat Covid thanks to the care of his medical team, his courage and a little Divine Intervention.
By the way, Walter Byrd is an amazing animator and filmmaker. Here is his website if you'd like to learn more about his work: http://darkfall.online/
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Support for Conversations of the Heart: Prescriptions for Healing is made possible by the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation and donors to the End in Mind Project.
Prerecorded disclaimer: The producers of this podcast and their partners are careful to ensure that all stories protect patient confidentiality. The views of providers heard in these conversations are their own and not their employer.
Theme music: “Bittersweet”
You’re listening to Conversations of the Heart: Prescriptions for Healing. This is a glimpse behind the scenes of medicine, focusing on the very human stories behind every patient and provider interaction. I’m Cathy Wurzer.
When someone survives a situation when dying seemed likely, it’s said they ‘cheated death.’ In the story you’re about to hear, death walked away empty-handed, thanks to the heroic efforts of a medical team, the perseverance of a patient and perhaps a little Divine Intervention.
Let’s begin.
Nurse Dawn Lenn: He was very close to death.
When he woke up, and I was able to formally meet him and talk to him.
You know, he just seemed very humble. He was very,very grateful, and just seemed like a very spiritual person. And now that I meet him there and talk to him now, and my conversations with him now, I'm just amazed. And it really the takeaway from that, for me, is it's hard for me to think about all of the patients that I took care of, and what the ones that didn't make it, what they may or may not have done in the world.
Narrator: It is a scene that has become a heartbreakingly familiar one. It was played out in hospitals countless times over the worst of the Covid 19 pandemic. Nurses and physicians, respiratory therapists, and other professionals, swathed in protective gear, doggedly working to save very sick patients who were struggling to breathe; their bodies attacked by a new kind of coronavirus. At the time of this episode, almost seven million people have died of Covid world-wide.
For this story, we’ll go back to November of 2020. The news was grim and getting even more so as the Covid-19 pandemic had the globe firmly in its grip.
So many Americans were getting sick, facilities were converted into emergency field hospitals.
So many people were dying in November of 2020, about 50 people every single hour, refrigerated trailers were turned into morgues.
In the midst of this Covid chaos, Walter Byrd of Minneapolis, Minnesota found himself not feeling especially well one day. He was doing the laundry.
Walter Byrd: and I couldn't really breathe, I couldn't bring a basket of clothes up the stairs. And when I got up the stairs, I couldn't even catch my breath.
Narrator: Walter, a vibrant and popular film producer was young, in his mid- forties, and in pretty good shape…he would kickbox for exercise and walk every day…so when he struggled to breathe after walking those stairs, he thought something was wrong.
A call to 9-1-1 led to the emergency room of M- Health Fairview/University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis.
Walter Byrd: I don't even remember what happened when I got there. From that point on family members who were saying that I was calling on and talking to them, people said that I was posting stuff on Facebook. And I don't remember any of that.
Narrator: His long-time physician is Dr. Heather Thompson Bumm
I think I got a notification in the electronic health record that he had went to the and rapidly deteriorated to from a respiratory standpoint…edit to And I remember feeling kind of surprised because he was what 44-45 at the time, not that old. His only medical problem was high blood pressure. That was his main one. Anyway, that was what I was managing over the many years that I've been seeing it was his blood pressure, essentially. And so he didn't have a lot of risk factors.
Narrator: But that didn’t matter as the virus took hold. Walter quickly developed pneumonia and needed to be put on life support.
Nurse Dawn Lenn: He was already in the medical ICU. He was intubated. He was on sedation medication.
Narrator: That’s Dawn Lenn, a registered nurse who took care of Walter alongside the ICU team.
Lenn: He was very, very close to death.
Narrator: To make the situation even more difficult, Walter’s mother was also sick, just down the hall…
Walter Byrd: and she was trying to come and see me. And they wouldn't let her come and see me.
Narrator: With Walter on a ventilator, Nurse Dawn Lenn and her team were trying a number of things to help pull him through
He was on a very high setting, high ventilator settings and prone. which means he was laying on his stomach. And he was on multiple medications to keep his blood pressure up the basal pressors.
I think everything short of ECMO is what I remember. Yes, he was also on continuous renal replacement, continuous dialysis, which is a little more gentle than like your, you know, hemodialysis that you get coupled two or three times a week. He was very close to dying.
Narrator: Because he was sedated, Walter says he doesn’t remember much of this difficult time, except some of the dreams.
Walter Byrd: I was having nightmares and hallucinations and and having some of the some horrible dreams. So and some of them were related to like being on a plane where it was hijacked. Back then it just was so much different elements to what was going on. And just flashbacks. And it just was chaotic.
Narrator: But even while lost in the fog of sedation, Walter felt something else…
When I was under on and the vent, I remember a sense of calmness and from, and I know this to be a fact that not like not in a sense of like, you mean you having a conversation. But it was like subliminally someone saying you're gonna get through this, you're gonna get through this. But they weren't talking to me. It was something that I felt that energy, a positive force.
Narrator: Really?
Yes.
Narrator: God?
Walter: I believe so. And I believe that we do have angels that are surfacing around us to protect us. And I believe that that had a lot to do with it, because I felt it.
Narrator: Dawn, I was talking to Walter about any memories from being on the ventilator and he says he felt, when he was coming to the surface at times that there was a presence that was telling him he was going to be okay, does that sound familiar to what your experience has been with other COVID patients or patients who’ve been sedated for awhile?
Dawn Lenn: That's kind of what I hope my patients, I apologize, I might be getting a little emotional here.
We really don't know what our patients hear or know when they're under sedation. Until they're awake, and they're able to tell us, and a lot of times, you know, people don't have the recollection of their ICU experience for weeks or months. At a time, when they're at home, they start to have these recall, and these dreams and stuff, and they don't really quite know what is real and what isn't. Some may be really, you know, happy or exciting dream, some are very scary. And that's all part of the PTSD that people experience as being, you know, in the ICU for such an extended period of time.
Because we don't know, I always err on the side, obviously, that people do know. And so every single time I go into Walters room or any any of my patients room, I do hold their hand and I get close to their ear, and I tell them, you know, the My name is Dawn and I'm your nurse, you're safe, your family knows that you're here, you're at the hospital, and we're doing everything we can to get you well, so you can go home. And it's my hope that even if they don't quite understand everything that's going on that they hear a calm and soothing voice, that somebody is holding their hand, and that they know that somebody is, you know, taking care of their pet or you know, that they're that they're people know that they're that they're where they are, and that, you know things are medically necessary, but but we're trying to help them get back home. And I'm, I'm so happy to hear that that was some of Walters experience. And I don't know if that was me specifically or my voice. But collectively, I think as nurses, we kind of hope that that's what we can impart on our patients when they're in such a critical place.
Narrator: Dawn Lenn met Walter Byrd when he was fighting for his life. It was at a time when so many other patients were too, as the world was trying to better understand this easily spread virus that was killing so many. It was a battle that would test even the most resilient of health care providers.
Dawn Lenn: You know, we run into the fire sort of, so to speak, as healthcare providers, we are there to take care of people who are sick. And so initially, I think at first we were more in myself, you know, but also my team, we were more in, you know, go mode. It was, you know, time to do it, this is what we do. This is what our job is us and our purpose, and this is what we're going to do. But as the weeks wore on, and the months were on, it became a lot more difficult every day to walk back into the hospital, because you knew what, what it was going to be. And it was a very, very isolating time, I know for the entire world. But, you know, from from my standpoint, it was very isolating.
Driving into work, everyone obviously was distanced. But we also had PPE on so even though we were next to our co workers, there really was that loss of ability, like communication, because you can't see the face behind the mask. And then we had the pepper and the hood, and, you know, the gowns, and you know, it was really difficult for us to, you know, communicate or, or have that connection with each other, but also with our patients, I wanted so much just to take my gloves off and just hold my patients hand. And I couldn't.
I knew that when my patients arrived that, you know, nobody could come into the hospital to see them, their family members couldn't, you know, contemplate that. And so many family members early on, really believed that when their their person went to the hospital that that was a death sentence, they weren't coming back. And I had a lot of conversations with family members. And you know, just kind of taking them step by step. So that they don't to reassure them and stuff that you know, we're going to do everything that we can. it was very taxing.
Sometimes I would go outside and I could take off my mask, my PPE and just have the sun on my face and breathe some fresh air. And just, you know, sometimes I'd actually lay down in the grass just to kind of, you know, center myself a little bit and just have the quiet
Narrator: M HEALTH FAIRVIEW PSYCHOLOGIST, DR. WILLIAM ROBINER.
There was certainly talk about the importance of mental health, among staff, throughout, you know, how do we support our department, the Department of Medicine, created a program to try to figure out what do we do to help people in the department, this is the physicians and other providers and the staff during this because it was unprecedented. None of us had ever lived through a time like this. And we were trying to figure it out.
Narrator: Let’s go back to what was happening to Walter Byrd, who was sedated, with a ventilator breathing for him and fighting Covid.
Generally speaking, the longer someone is critically ill, the more likely they are to have complications and the less likely they are to recover. But that’s not true for everyone, including Walter Byrd.
He spent 59 days on a ventilator. 59 days.
Dr. Heather Thompson is Walter’s long-time physician.
If you had like a COPD patient who got bacterial pneumonia, and was on the vent that long, you would almost think you would probably, you'd be having goals of care discussion, or the patient would have to be transitioned to a trach, for example, they would require long term ventilatory support. But with with COVID, it was just so unpredictable. And as far as who got better and who didn't.
Dawn Lenn: Well, I gotta agree with Dr. Thompson Buum that it's, you know, usually, so the course, of course of care is after typically, pre COVID. If somebody is intubated for like, two weeks is kind of the threshold, then we start having conversations about goals of care, and vent weaning, which is, you know, once we place it, we talked about getting a trach.
Once a trach is placed, then we can better do some vent weaning, and then the patient may actually discharge from the hospital and go to a rehabilitation facility for additional
respiratory therapy and vent weaning.
Narrator: But apparently, Walter Byrd had other ideas the day staff tried to wean him off the ventilator.
Dawn Lenn: He woke up really quickly, and he had a lot of questions. And, you know, his speaking voice was very clear. And he had a I remember, you had a deep resonating voice. I was like, wow, there's your voice. There you are, I always say, you know, Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Dawn, I've been taking care of you. And it's so good to hear you. And I just remember that. And those moments for me is particularly with Walter but all of my patients, that's just, that's my, my, my special time. That's why I do what I do. And it was, yeah, I was surprised that he was extubated.
Walter Byrd:
What was difficult was when I woke up, and just seeing a reflection of myself, it was like, I was a shell of myself. I had full hair, you know, I had a full mustache. I just was I lost 80 something pounds. And I just was a shell of myself, just looked in the mirror and started crying. And, you know, it was, it was definitely hurtful to see myself like that.
Narrator: What Walter didn’t realize at the time was the impact his survival made on the staff…a rare win in a time of so much loss.
I do remember there were people that just kind of kept walking in as the day went on. There were people that kind of just peeked their head in the room. And then they then they’d leave, and they pick their head and again, and Walter looked over. And he asked me, he said, Why? Why is everybody so interested? Why is everyone coming in? And I said, Walter, you don't understand you beat COVID You beat COVID. And I had tears in my eyes, he started crying. And he said, I didn't realize that it meant that much that I meant that much to people. And I absolutely, we've all been pulling for you. And it was, yeah, it was emotional for all of us.
,Walter: I kind of felt like, in a way, God was saying I did what I needed to do. Now it's time for you to do what you need to do. And I just remember, like, with physical therapy, they got me up right away, not too long after that. And I was saying to myself, you know, I don't really feel like getting up, but I got up. And that's one thing that I never did. I never, like turn physical therapy away, not once, not ever. And when I first got up in wall come in, I woke I was walking to a standing ovation, you know, man, it was, it was amazing.
Dr. Thompson-Buum: I think, for me, one of the most emotional moments was the first time I saw him in the outpatient clinic in person after he was discharged from home or to home from the rehab. And I read through his chart, and I'd had pored through all this information. And in my mind's eye, I still remembered him as this kind of big, athletic strapping guy. I mean, he would go to the gym, and he would lift weights, and he was, you know, a tall, big man. And when I walked into the room, he had lost so much weight, and he had a walker in front of them. And he just burst into tears. And so did I, because it was so emotional. It's like, oh, my gosh, you know, yes, you made it, look what you've been through. But I can tell that this has been a huge toll mentally and physically.
So a lot of that was just talking, you know, and listening and giving him encouragement. And he had a lot of determination to be working hard with physical therapy and get his strength back because that was the main, you know, the main factor in his recovery was just this extreme debilitation to the point of needing a walker at his young age, right. But the next time I saw him, he was ambulating with a cane. And I was like, yeah, look at you. And then the next time I saw him, he was had no assistive device to ambulate and we were high fiving.
Narrator: But the road to full recovery hasn’t been easy.
Walter Byrd: Yes, it was it was difficult. And it was grueling. But, you know, I was like, I'm gonna do this. And I did it. And I just looked at myself and I said, I'm gonna take just one day at a time with this and, and process it in a way where, hey, this is a test, you know, and you have to fulfill and complete that test. You know, and if I don't complete if I've failed at that test, you know, that's okay, long as this completed. So that's kind of how the mindset that I went into getting back to where I was at and is the physical therapy componentAnd I went to a couple of rehab facilities and the last one that I went to, I ended up having blood clots in my legs. And that sent me back to the hospital. And I was in there for I say about nine days or so. I ended up coming home and I collapsed and I had a pulmonary embolism. So I ended up going back into the hospital So it was a it was a roller coaster ride up and down, to get through all of that, but I have to say out to be where I'm good from a physical, spiritual, mental standpoint. And for even my, my future endeavors, I think it works out. And if I could get through that, then I can get through anything.
Narrator: And he’s gone through a lot. He’s had help recovering both physically and emotionally from doctors Buum and Robiner.
Dr.Robiner: And, you know, most of us don't really think about what's going to happen at the end of our lives, but when you go through something like that, it forces you to question that and then to wonder, now what now that I'm here what I'm going to do, I think he's he's channeling a lot of his energy into doing the things that he considers important to do. But there's a fragility to it, I think that there was already some fragility to the sense given that he that his father had recently died just before he got sick, and other members in his family had COVID as well. So, you feel blessed, and you feel curious, and you feel uncertain about what's, what's going to happen, you realize that there aren't any guarantees. And you do feel some kind, sometimes a little guilty that, hey, I got through this, and the person in the ICU room next to me didn't.
Dr. Buum: Yeah. Survivor's guilt.
Robiner: and you see what went right, and you see what went wrong in, in healthcare and how much control you have, and how much lack of control you have, I think, for some people, that makes them take their health very seriously. And I'm going to do the best that I can, and other people, you know, develop more frustration with their health, I'm not quite the person I had, then I don't have all of the same kinds of options I used to have. And I'm a little weaker now, where things are a little harder now. And so there, there are a lot of things to adapt to, following this kind of thing.
But, you know, he has a story to tell about if I can come through this, you can come through what you're going through. So he's got a lot of credibility among people who are really in those difficult positions. And, and he knows that and he's using that he wants to use it and share that.
Narrator: Nurse Dawn Lenn:
it's hard for me to think about all of the patients that I took care of, and what the ones that didn't make it, what they may or may not have done in the world. Yeah. Walters, like as you all know, a force to be reckoned with. And he had a lot of life's work that he was in the process of doing, when when he was struck with COVID and the things that he's been able to overcome and not accomplish and be successful with, with his, you know, his production company and his his books and his animation. It just gives me joy that
I had a small part in helping the world experience, you know, his life's work and
you think of that on a on a multiple scale level and it's it's overwhelming.
Narrator: Walter is sharing his hard-won lessons in a unique way. Now that Walter’s lung function is back to normal and he’s feeling good, he’s working with many of the same people who saved his life. Walter is a patient transport worker at M- Health Fairview/University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis.
Walter Byrd: And the reason why, because I have access to the patients, I have access to the staff, and even some of the staff that have taken care of me. And when they see me, they're always excited. And one of the nurses recently said, when we see water that makes us happy. And to me, that's important. And I'm doing my job to help patients that might be going through it. And some of them be down and out. And I give them words of encouragement. And they really change a whole perspective really changes. You know, so I just, my words is, hey, just hang in there. It's not over yet. Just Just hang in there and might feel difficult. But you know, you could get through this just it just takes one day at a time. One day at a time.
I just want to be there to give those words of encouragement and support. And, and, and let people know that it's not over. It's not over. Life is not over. You might be down today. But keep on fighting the fight because tomorrow is another day.
Music: “To be Human”
Dr. Robiner: I think he's just sort of a walking reminder about how important the work is that we do. And we all need some wins. And it's hard not to look at Walter and think we're all winners and his health and his continuing on. He really is the kind of person who draws people in and you know, then has a cheering squad and I'm just so fortunate that I've met him.
Narrator: Walter Byrd’s COVID battle and its successful outcome is quite a story. It reflects hard work and commitment by Walter’s medical team and his deep faith, courage and resilience. Thank you to Doctors Heather Thompson Bumm and William Robiner, RN Dawn Lenn and the entire M- Health Fairview/University of Minnesota Medical Center team in Minneapolis for the work they do and for participating in this podcast. A special thanks to Walter Byrd for telling his story.
Thanks to you for listening to Conversations of the Heart: Prescriptions for Healing, We wouldn’t be here without the support of the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation and donors to the End in Mind Project.
You have a million podcast choices out there and you’ve chosen to spend some time with us. Thank you! If you liked this, share the episode or tell a friend about us.
I hope you’ll download our next episode, where we meet an ICU doc who leaves room for miracles in the midst of the medicine she practices. Until then, I’m Cathy Wurzer. Be well.
Music fade out