Ryan Padgett has been an ER doctor at Evergreen Hospital
in Kirkland, Washington for 17 years,
and has treated over 40,000 patients.
Last month, after contracting COVID,
Ryan became the patient at his own hospital
and nearly lost his life to the virus.
From Seattle Washington, please welcome Dr. Ryan Padgett
and his wife, Connie.
[APPLAUSE]
Hello.
Hi, Ellen.
How are you?
Pleased to meet you.
I'm good, I'm good.
So happy to be talking to you all,
and I love that I get to say "and his wife, Connie."
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Yeah, before we got sick, we were just engaged.
And I woke up and the world had changed,
and we realized there's no time like the present.
Yup.
I think that that's the one thing that--
it puts everything in perspective when--
especially if you contract it, but even just watching
from the sidelines like this.
So much has happened to you over a month.
So you are an ER doctor.
You're exposed to all kinds of things.
I don't even understand how doctors never get sick
because you all are around everybody all the time,
and you're never sick.
So this happens to you, and I know
that you were kind of like, I'm not going to acknowledge this,
I'm not going to pay attention to this, I'm not sick.
When did you realize, oh, I'm sick?
Well, people in health care are the worst patients.
Denial is strong.
You know, first couple of days, it's a mild headache.
We were monitoring our temperatures on shifts
because we knew it was out there.
So the first couple days, just a mild headache.
And then you start having fevers and a dry cough,
and you realize something was happening.
Yeah.
But at this point, I don't think anybody realized-- because this
was in March, right?
Right.
I started getting sick about a week
after we had our first positive test back.
OK.
OK, wow.
So Connie, you were the one who said, this is enough already.
I'm taking you to the hospital.
What was happening that you said, I'm taking you?
Well, we had gone to the ER on Wednesday,
and they released him with some fluids.
And so one of our friends and his co-worker,
Brian McWilliams, said, he doesn't look good.
Go get an O2 monitor and monitor his O2 levels.
So Thursday morning, I went out to the store and found one.
Actually, my son helped me find it.
And he said, if there's a reading under 90,
we need to go back to the emergency room.
And so Ryan had several readings under 90,
which he refused to go back to the emergency room.
And so finally, one dropped pretty low in the 80s,
and I'm like, OK, I can't handle the stress anymore.
We have to go back now.
So your loved one looks you in the eye and says,
we're going to put a bag together,
and we're going to the hospital.
And we're going.
So eight hours later [INAUDIBLE]..
Eight hours later you're on a ventilator.
And that had to be, as a doctor, you knew that that was bad.
At that point, no one had come off of the ventilator.
Yeah.
So you're dealing with that, and then Connie, you weren't there,
right?
So what did the doctors tell you?
Well, when he got admitted Thursday night, they said,
do want to say your last goodbyes.
And I'm like, what do you mean?
And I didn't realize I couldn't stay with him.
I didn't realize the hospitals didn't allow visitors.
And so I actually went home.
And then about 5:41 in the morning on Friday,
I got the call that said he was going on the ventilator.
And so I panicked and ran to the hospital,
even though I couldn't see him.
And just wanted to be kind of in the area
just in case I did have the opportunity to see him.
So you're on a ventilator, and then how long before--
because then you were moved because your body was
shutting down, right?
Right.
How long was that?
When you get intubated and on the ventilator--
I was at my own home hospital initially,
and despite everything we had available-- the ventilator
to help oxygenate my blood, medicines that keep my blood
pressure up, even despite that, everything was shutting down.
And so they reached out to a hospital in our area
that had the ability to put me on a heart-lung machine that
would allow my body to rest in a machine to actually get oxygen
into my blood, and hopefully reverse the process.
So you were on life support.
Life support.
Absolutely.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
Go ahead.
For Connie, she knew I was sick and I was on a ventilator,
and it seemed to be pretty significant.
And then a friend actually mentioned the term "life
support", and it was a whole other reality hit Connie.
Yeah.
That's when I realized he was really sick.
I didn't quite put it all together
because I don't have a medical background,
and that was quite shocking.
Wow.
I can't even imagine-- because you're out of it, right?
You don't know what's going on.
You're in an induced coma or life support.
But Connie, you know, I can't imagine the fear,
and especially, I'm sure by then,
you had heard that nobody was coming off of ventilators,
that that could be it.
Yeah.
Ryan had kind of told me about this [INAUDIBLE]
and what could happen with COVID-19.
So I would meet with the doctors daily,
they would give me these updates,
and I would have a little memory of something
that he would have told me in the past.
Yeah, the reality was hitting, and it was very terrifying.
Because I couldn't see him.
For a while, when he was going downhill,
I couldn't even FaceTime with him,
even though he couldn't respond, but even to talk to him.
So it was terrifying.
I mean, there were days I didn't get out of bed.
Yeah, it was quite horrible.
Yeah.
I can't imagine because it's so helpless
that you can't be there.
I mean, his family was the doctors and nurses
that were there.
They were the ones--
all right, we're going to talk about that when we come back.
Because I'm sure that was quite an experience,
a bonding experience.
We're going to take a break, and we'll be right back.
So how long were you on that life support?
Like a week, two weeks?
I was ventilated for two weeks, and then a week of that time
was on the heart-lung machine.
And initially, I was stable, but not improving.
And my team at Swedish Hospital tried an experimental therapy
at that time, which essentially extinguished this wildfire.
My immune system had just gone out of control.
And that was actually what was killing me.
And they tried this therapy that was controversial at the time,
and I turned around, and it saved my life.
Wow.
So you said the doctors and nurses became your family
when you were there.
And they want to say hello.
So thanks for being here, everybody.
And thanks for all the work that you do.
Oh my gosh!
Hey!
[LAUGHING]
Oh, my gosh.
I love it.
Hi, everybody.
I know that you want to say something to Ryan.
Who wants to say something first?
I'll say something.
I want to say this to both Ryan and Connie.
Connie, I don't know if you remember,
but that first night after Ryan was put on the ventilator,
you had asked me whether you should postpone the wedding.
And I think up until that time, I held it together pretty well.
But when you asked that, it was pretty devastating.
Because I really didn't know if Ryan was going to survive.
And hearing that you guys have snuck out and gotten married
now has just been the biggest gift to all of us.
Not only did you not have to postpone the wedding,
but you got--
you were able to get married earlier.
So thank you.
Thank you.
I'm forever grateful.
Yeah.
Thank all of you.
I mean, we all know that people are struggling.
Everybody on the frontline is trying
to get the PPE equipment.
Shutterfly cares about supporting doctors and nurses.
They're going to make a $20,000 donation in your name
to getusppe.org.
Wow.
Thank you all for what you do.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
I know I speak for everyone when we say we could not be-- you're
our heroes.
I mean, you're going into this dangerous situation
every single day, and putting yourself and your families'
lives at risk.
It's beyond comprehension.
So thank you so, so much for everything you do.
And Ryan, I'm happy to see that you're healthy and happy,
and I'm sure you can't wait to get back to work.
Connie, so nice meeting you.
And I'm glad you didn't have to experience what could
have been just devastating.
So my love to all of you.
Thank you so much.
Hi, I'm Andy.
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[SCREAMS]
[BLEEP]