Local News

Greenwood man recovering after COVID-19 diagnosis

April 15, 2020

Trending in the right direction.Those simple words meant the world to Jennifer Hussung. Her husband, Bryan Hussung, was clutching to life on a ventilator after contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. For days, doctors were unsure if he’d survive or become another statistic. They said he was in grave danger.So when the doctors at Eskenazi Health contacted Jennifer Hussung and indicated that Bryan was trending in the right direction, she had hope."Those words were golden to me. Whenever the doctor would say that, I knew we were making forward steps," she said.Bryan Hussung did survive the coronavirus, and on April 9, was released from the hospital. He had been in treatment for 14 days, 10 of those on a ventilator; his lungs were being attacked and he was unable to breathe on his own.He and his family relied on their faith to get through the most difficult two weeks of their lives. They are thankful for the compassionate care he received at Eskenazi Health, in addition to the legions of family, friends and neighbors who supported them through the ordeal. "It’s been emotional. Not for what I went through, I was never scared. But the emotional part is what people did for me and my family," Bryan Hussung said. "People are busy, people have their own lives and worlds, and to stop and reach out to my family when I’m not there, it gets to me."HomecomingAs the Hussungs’ truck turned into their neighborhood, the iconic bars of Queen’s "We Are the Champions" served as a fitting greeting. Friends had gathered with signs — and a victory anthem — to welcome Bryan Hussung back from the hospital. All through the neighborhood, balloons were festooned to mailboxes.People waited outside cheering and clapping, banging pots and pans all the way until Jennifer Hussung pulled the truck into their driveway."I was shell-shocked. It meant so much to me, for what the neighbors did, just to take the time to welcome me home," Bryan Hussung said. "It hit me pretty hard."The gesture may have been overwhelming, but it was just another showing of love from the people around them as the Hussungs weathered their personal nightmare.Meals were delivered to their home, and neighbors ran errands whenever the family needed anything. A group surprised them by landscaping and mulching their yard, ensuring that the Hussungs wouldn’t need to worry about that this spring. Another group of neighbors set up a weekly mowing schedule."This coronavirus is awful, but there has been some good that comes out of it, in terms of seeing the community rally around each other and love on each other," Jennifer Hussung said.The kindness the Hussung family were shown was appreciated, considering the rapid way their lives went topsy-turvy in late March.’We’ve got to go'Bryan Hussung noticed congestion and a runny nose about the middle of the month. The 44-year-old thought it was a sinus infection, and contacted his doctor over the phone on March 17, who prescribed him medication for his sinuses. But after a couple days of taking medication, his symptoms degraded to include a fever and cough.Even then, Bryan Hussung thought it was just the general flu; it could be cured with rest and medication. But, as time progressed, he felt worse, to the point where breathing became more and more difficult."One day, Jenny looked at me and said, ‘If you don’t feel good, we’ve got to go.’ And I said that we’ve got to go. Something wasn’t right," he said.The Hussungs drove to Community Hospital South on March 26, searching for answers. On the way, Jennifer Hussung called the hospital to determine the protocol of being admitted and how to get Bryan help quickly.She was told to pull up to the hospital, come in to the front desk and let them know they were here. The hospital staff would come out and get Bryan Hussung with a wheelchair; she would not be able to join him."They gave me a business card and said, ‘You have to leave. We’ll call you.’ It was very crazy," Jennifer Hussung said. "My mind was racing in so many different directions. I was dumbfounded — where do I go? Do I go home? Do I sit in this parking lot?"After a few moments to collect her thoughts, Jennifer Hussung decided to call her cousin who was a pulmonologist at Eskenazi Health. Her cousin recommended they have Bryan Hussung transferred to the hospital as soon as possible."That was my first step, because that’s all that I thought I could do. I felt helpless," she said.Bryan Hussung tested positive for COVID-19. Medical staff checked the oxygen levels in his blood, which was at 84%; anything less than 90% is considered low. He was given a CT scan to get a picture of his lungs, and given oxygen to help him breath.First 1 liter, then 2 liters, then 3 liters.The next day, he was transferred to Eskenazi Health. Within hours, he was on a ventilator and receiving 6 liters of oxygen."It changed so quickly, at least for Bryan. It happened overnight," Jennifer Hussung said.Once he was ventilated, Bryan Hussung doesn’t remember much of what happened due to the medication and anesthesia. He was isolated, and his family couldn’t be with him, he recalled.What got us throughThe inability to be with her husband and watch over him was incredibly frustrating, Jennifer Hussung said. But she credits the staff at Eskenazi Health for their extraordinary efforts to keep her informed.The hospital has a group called its supportive care team, a team of doctors assigned to keep family members informed about a patient’s condition. These doctors weren’t the ones caring for Bryan Hussung, but were informed of how he was doing, and took time to pass that on to the family."I’d get a phone call every day from the doctor, and she’d call me with his blood work numbers, his liver function, his kidney function, what his ventilator was set at, what the goal for the day was," Jennifer Hussung said. For her and their daughters, Kenna and Ally, it was a small but important comfort. They had been forced to isolate themselves at home. At one point, they all developed symptoms of COVID-19, but none had contracted the virus.Both of the girls were struggling with the statewide stay-at-home order and uprooted school years — Kenna an eighth-grader and Ally a senior at Greenwood Community High School. They would miss the ends of two important years that are usually filled with traditions and memories.Adding the uncertainty about their father made it even more difficult, Jennifer Hussung said.But the care team at Eskenazi did their best to keep them connected. Nurses and staff members asked the family to send photos so they could post those around Bryan Hussung’s room. They set up FaceTime sessions, where the family could talk to him; even if he wasn’t able to speak, Bryan Hussung would blink and nod, or sometimes give a thumbs-up.One time, his physical therapists FaceTimed with the family as Bryan Hussung stood up for the first time, still on his ventilator."Things like that. These people are dealing with a crisis, and they’re taking time to FaceTime me and show me him," Jennifer Hussung said. "It was incredible how they reached out and made us feel as close to him as we could. For them to be there to hold our hands through this, it got us through."’Baby steps'For the first week, Bryan Hussung’s condition remained dire. But by the eighth day on a ventilator, his breathing had improved. His doctors reduced the oxygen he was being given, letting his lungs work more on their own each day. On April 5, they recommended taking him off ventilation."It was baby steps," Jennifer Hussung said.Bryan Hussung’s condition gradually improved. His medical team warned him that he was going to be breathing on his own, and told him his body was still so weak he had to be very, very careful.Any sign that his lungs couldn’t take it, and he’d be put back on the ventilator."I didn’t want it there, so I was determined to listen to what they said," he said.The following days were very lonely, as Bryan Hussung stayed in his room by himself. His only visitors were the nurses giving him medication or checking his vital signs. What got him through was thoughts of home and his family.He also wanted to show the medical staff his appreciation. The day before he was released from the hospital, he concocted a plan. He used his phone to remotely order 25 breakfast sandwiches and 25 breakfast burritos from McDonald’s, to be delivered to those working his floor. "It was just something I did from my bed watching TV. It was something I could do for them; these people kept me alive for two weeks," he said. "I saw them walk past my window from the hallway with the bag. It kind of turned into bees in a beehive, you could see people swarming around it."Together againThe next day, Bryan Hussung went home. Nurses and doctors swarmed the hallway again, this time cheering as he was taken by wheelchair out of the unit. Someone played "We Are the Champions," just like his neighbors would do later that day.The whole response was overwhelming, he said. Then he got to his truck, where his wife, daughters and brother were waiting. It had been more than week since he’d seen any of them in person."I was just so glad to have him home," Jennifer Hussung said. "Though at first, I felt like I had a newborn at home the first couple nights — I’d watch him breath at night and listen to him cough, jumping up and cough. But some of that has settled down a bit."Even though Bryan Hussung is in recovery, the aggressive disease is still taking its toll on him. A simple task such as getting up out of the chair to walk to the bathroom and back leaves him winded. His voice is still raspy and his jaw hurts, aftereffects of the ventilator.He initially thought that he’d be feeling back to normal after a couple weeks. That’s not realistic, he said."When I was sitting in the hospital, I thought I’d go home and sit around for a few weeks, go on some walks and everything would be fine in two or three weeks," he said. "But the goal for me has been set for June 1. That’s the recovery road we’re planning on."Still, the Hussungs are thankful just to be together again.Jennifer Hussung plans to have a decorative piece made to hang in her house. The plaque will feature the words that got them through it all: "Trending in the right direction.""We all just feel very complete now that we have him home," she said. "The next step is figuring out how to get him one step closer to being healthy."

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