Lottie's Story
Lottie Tolliver describes herself as someone who tends to keep to herself. At 58, the Rocky Mount, Virginia, resident enjoys quiet time at home with her dog and watching old westerns. But when she started to suffer from stomachaches and headaches that grew progressively worse, even reruns of “Gun Smoke” and “Cartwright” didn’t help.
“I knew something wasn’t right,” said Lottie, who eventually called 911.
Emergency responders transported Lottie to LewisGale Medical Center where doctors diagnosed her with pneumonia and COVID-19. Lottie’s preexisting conditions including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure and diabetes contributed to her quick descent into respiratory failure, requiring a ventilator.
During her month-long hospitalization, physicians inserted a feeding tube in Lottie’s stomach and replaced her breathing tube with a tracheostomy (trach), a slit in her windpipe with a tube that connected to her ventilator. Lottie does not remember much between the trip to the emergency room and waking up weeks later with the trach.
Lottie’s condition stabilized, but she was unable to breathe, eat, talk or walk on her own. Her care team recommended she transition to Select Specialty Hospital – Richmond, where a specialized team could help her regain her independence.
Shortly after she arrived, Lottie’s physician-led multidisciplinary team developed a personalized treatment plan focused on her recovery goals: being able to walk on her own and enjoy a “good bath and soak.”
That plan began with getting Lottie up and moving again. Twice a day, her care team helped her sit on the edge of her bed or in a chair. She also began breathing trials in which a respiratory therapist lowered her ventilator settings for increasing amounts of time each day so that Lottie’s lungs would grow stronger and she could keep working toward breathing on her own.
Lottie remembers being scared in those early days. “I’d never been in a situation like that before. I didn’t know which way it was going to go, whether I was going to live or die.”
But each day, her breathing improved.
One day Lottie got a surprise – a speech-language pathologist attached a special valve to her trach that pushed air through her vocal cords.
“I was so excited,” Lottie said. “All this time I didn’t speak and now all of a sudden I’m speaking.”
Her first words?
“I’m hungry, I think it was,” Lottie said with a laugh.
Within two weeks, Lottie’s began checking the boxes for a long list of milestones.
Her ventilator was wheeled from the room.
She passed a special test demonstrating she could safely swallow and was able to eat again. Starting with soft, bite-sized foods and thick liquids, Lottie quickly progressed to a regular diet and her feeding tube was removed.
She practiced self-care tasks such as dressing, brushing her teeth and using the toilet.
And in physical therapy sessions designed to rebuild her strength, range of motion and balance, Lottie practiced transitioning from sit to stand positions and taking her first steps. Later, she rode a recumbent bike, threw and caught a ball and climbed stairs.
Throughout her recovery, Lottie relied heavily on her faith and family.
“God gave me the strength through him,” she said, adding that frequent, encouraging phone calls from her son, brother and sister-in-law hours away “gave me the courage and strength to be better for myself.”
After just 20 days at Select Specialty Hospital, Lottie had met her goals and was ready to return home. She could walk 100 feet with a walker.
“I loved the team. They were good people, fun to work with,” she said.
She was grateful to her son for the hard decision he had to make – consenting to surgery so physicians could insert the feeding tube and trach – as she lay sedated in intensive care.
Lottie is now home, walking with a cane and continuing her recovery with home health services.
Looking ahead to what she calls “a brighter future,” she offered some advice to others facing difficult recoveries:
“No matter what you go through, have time and patience,” she said. “Everything will work itself out – and don’t forget to pray.”