Kate Peterson Overcomes Covid-19 with the Lord's Help

 April 13, 2021 article:

The Petersons are pictured above. 

   Mr. Carroll Peterson and his wife, Mrs. Kate, contracted COVID-19 after Christmas 2020. Kate was hospitalized. Each lost 18 pounds during the ordeal. Folk at Faith Temple, Taylors, SC, prayed. Ms. Beatrice Whitman prayer-journaled for the couple. Folk left food outside their home door.  

“It started Dec. 28, a Monday,” Carroll says. “We felt bad. The next day we got drive-thru testing at Lowe’s. We waited 4-5 days, and Sun. evening after New Year’s, they notified Kate that she was positive. They’d lost my test.” 

On Tues. or Wed. after Kate’s news, he tested at an urgent care office. A day and a half later, they told him he was positive. 

“We don’t know where we got it,” Carroll says. “We attended family gatherings over Christmas. We’re rarely sick at the same time. Kate was getting weaker by the day.” 

Carroll called their doctor, who said, “Go to the hospital.” An ambulance took them to Prisma Health Greenville Mem. Hospital ER on Sat., Jan. 9. 

“They kept us till late Sat. night, giving Kate fluids and an EKG,” Carroll says. “They x-rayed my lungs and said go home and if we didn’t get better to call our doctor. They were not pleased we came to the hospital. At home, Kate coughed a lot and passed out three times.  Once, she passed out, and I helped her to the floor. The last time she fell, I called her doctor, who said, ‘Get her to the hospital.’”  

On Mon., Jan. 11, Gr. County EMS arrived. They checked Carroll and left him but took Kate to St. Francis Downtown hospital. (The Petersons usually use the Bon Secours system.)  

“I made sure she had everything she needed,” Carroll says. “I tried to build her confidence and let her know the Lord was involved in this and would see her through.” 

Carroll drove to the hospital but was told he could not stay.  

“An ER doctor called at 7:00 p.m. and said Kate had a little pneumonia,” Carroll says. “They admitted her and gave intravenous fluids. Only medical personnel could visit her. Kate called late that night and sounded weak, terrified — knowing she had COVID and was in the hospital. She’d call some nights and say, ‘You gotta get me out of this place.’ Her daughters, Shelia and Angie, were devastated.”

The first week, doctors did not seem too alarmed. After that week, things changed. 

“They wanted to put me on a ventilator,” Kate says. “I had already made the decision that if I got COVID, I wasn’t going on a ventilator. God gave me my first breath when he brought me into this world, and he’ll give me my last breath when I go out. It’s in God’s hands.” 

“Her breathing started down; her oxygen level got low,” Carroll says. “They put her on 100 percent oxygen, plus a booster. Her condition seemed to go from casual to serious. Oxygen was blowing and made it hard to hear. I couldn’t make out half of what she said. It sounded like she was in a cave or a hole. It was the sound of my wife leaving me, and I couldn’t do anything about it.” 

“I went through so many things in my mind,” Kate says. “I was afraid. I was sort of out of it. One nurse said that was the COVID. I couldn’t eat without my oxygen level falling. Two doctors pushed for the ventilator. The third was nice. He said, ‘We’re going to get you better.’ I sent messages to my girls through nurses.

During her second hospital week, doctors again proposed a ventilator and asked if the Petersons had “living wills.” They did. On Sat. morning, Jan. 23, a nurse called Carroll and said Shelia, Angie, and he could visit Kate. Wearing medical masks and face shields, they visited for 2-3 hours.

“Kate said she was not scared and was ready to go,” Carroll says. “She’d been spending time with the Lord. The girls were crying like all get-out. I felt like I was gonna lose it. The girls wanted Kate to fight.”

A young doctor came in, showed no emotion, and told Kate, “You know you’re going to die if you don’t go on a ventilator.”

“We said our goodbyes and all cried. I got home, started thinking, and talked with a nurse that night. I went online, and Angie and I both found ‘convalescent plasma replacement.’ That evening, I called that nurse and said, ‘I want a second doctor’s opinion and plasma.’ The nurse sounded sort of upset. They were treating Kate like a number and wanted to send her to ICU." 

On Sun. morning, Jan. 24, a lady doctor called Carroll and said she would give plasma to Kate.   

“She found fluid buildup in Kate’s lungs and prescribed Lasix, too,” Carroll says. “I believe Kate would have died, if the doctor hadn’t used Lasix. Kate was out of the hospital and went to NHC in Mauldin on Tues., Feb. 2. The lady doctor couldn’t believe the change for the better. Kate’s birthday was on Feb. 8. She came home on Feb. 14.

“I felt God’s presence during my weakest points, and I felt people’s prayers,” Kate says. “I knew God was holding my hand. If he wanted to take me home or leave me here, I was OK with it.”