Made It Through Long Covid-19! A Bed In Roswell 2020-10-18
By Karen Strickholm
Fall 2020 through 2021 – Long Covid, coupled with more severe endocrine/TBI symptoms, grinds on – An addled brain, micro-seizures, double vision, loss of bowel control, severe headache, multiple re-hospitalizations (bouncing from rehab to hospital to rehab, etc.) for cellulitis, pneumonia, UTIs and extreme sinus infections. Massive IV administration of triple antibiotics, steroids, plasma, iron, fluids, via PICC line from arm to heart to deliver. Completely bed-bound, unable to stand. Plus, trapped in Texas <ugh> since NM governor had closed borders due to pandemic.
Late 2021 – Moved via ambulance to a bed that finally opens in Roswell, NM, as pandemic ebbs. Start physical therapy, regain ability to sit upright, stand, pivot, and take a few steps. However, severe infections continue, each bout triggering heart into Afib and requiring several weeks’ stay in hospital acute care units. Kidneys crash. More massive drugs infused.
In The Ambulance
Next Episode:
Dying… Or Not. How People Die. Better Day
Previously:
Covid-19 El Paso Quarantine Death On The Ward – 2020-08-25
About this series…
Karen Strickholm had a hidden brain tumor on her pituitary gland. The tumor she didn’t know she had until she was about 50, wound up taking her health and all she had built in life. Her tumor, diagnosed in 2008, caused a tsunami of symptoms and eventually forced her into long-term care in a nursing home and a series of hospitals.This is America, the only developed nation that does not have universal healthcare, and the only developed nation where medical debt can force you into bankruptcy.
Karen became one of the financial statistics due to her medical debt, and the fact that she couldn’t get Medicare unless she was literally penniless.
What made Karen different from many other people was her relentless optimism and belief that she was going to get better, would walk out of the nursing home to build a new life. She was smart, a good writer and she left behind a number of digital artifacts, which have been collected into this series. Karen relates, in her own words, her journey through the American healthcare system and the reality living penniless in a nursing home long term.
Karen Strickholm died 6 April 2026 in a hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, of sepsis and pneumonia. She was 67.
This multimedia documentary series is her story.
Medical bankruptcy
• Approximately 66.5% of non-business personal bankruptcies in the U.S. were attributed to medical reasons in 2019.
• 1 in 10 U.S. adults (10.5 million) have experienced medical bankruptcy since 2001.
• 78% of bankrupt individuals in 2022 cited medical expenses as their primary cause.
• Medical bankruptcy rates increased by 21% from 2010 to 2020, even as overall bankruptcy rates declined
• The average interest rate on medical debt from bankruptcies is 21% (2022)
https://worldmetrics.org/medical-bankruptcies-statistics/
Nursing home stats
• On any given day, more than 1.3 million individuals receive care in a nursing home or skilled nursing facility, and a total of more than 4 million receive care each year.
• 6 out of 10 residents (64%) are short-stay patients who remain in a skilled nursing facility for an average of 25 days.
• Nearly four out of 10 residents (36%) are long-stay residents. These individuals often have multiple health conditions. Their average age is 76.
• Nursing homes employ about 1.5 million people.
• Nearly 90% are women, and 60% are people of color.
• One out of every five nursing home workers is an immigrant.
• There are around 15,000 nursing homes in the United States.
• The average size of a nursing home is 109 beds.
• Medicaid covers the cost of care for nearly two out of every three residents (63%).
https://www.ahcancal.org/Data-and-Research/facts/Pages/default.aspx