MARBLEHEAD — The Padulsky-Glixman family from Marblehead experienced a traumatic couple of months, when three out of the four members in the household were hospitalized at the same time due to COVID-19.
Stacey Glixman Padulsky lives with her husband, Philip, and her parents, Joseph and Bonny Glixman, and was the only one who did not get infected with the virus last May.
Her husband and father were in the intensive care unit on ventilators at the same time, which Stacey tearfully describes as the scariest time of her life.
“I couldn’t talk, I was numb. I was freaking out,” Stacey said. “My whole family was in the hospital, I was alone in the house and afraid I was going to lose them and didn’t know what I was going to do.”
Stacey said she was so scared of her phone ringing with bad news, she told the doctor to call her daughter-in-law instead.
Joe, Philip and Bonny are all still struggling with the after-effects of COVID-19. Stacey said people don’t realize its severity.
She said that after a month of constant anxiety and no communication with her family while they were hospitalized, the nightmare didn’t end when they came home. All three family members are now struggling with post-COVID-19 symptoms, including difficulty breathing, brain fog, and balance issues.
“It’s scary,” she said. “People don’t understand how bad it was. I’m so happy that the turnout was what it was, but we are far from ending this soon.”
Phil has difficulty remembering things and goes to physical therapy about three times a week, where he originally had to learn how to walk steadily again. Her parents and husband had difficulty breathing, making simple tasks, such as walking up and down the stairs, a challenge. Even after almost a year, discussing this time in their lives still makes Stacey teary-eyed, as she recalls the discussions she had with friends and family about losing the people she loved the most.
She noted that the only good thing to come out of this traumatic experience was the addition of a new family member. Stacey said that when Phil was finally off of the ventilator, the first word he uttered, over FaceTime — since she was not allowed in the hospital to visit — was “puppy.” She said that Phil had been trying to convince her to get a puppy for years, seeing this inclination in his health as the perfect opportunity to finally get her to say yes, which of course she did. They named the puppy Will, saying that it represents the willpower that their family had to survive.
The Padulsky-Glixman family hopes their story makes people understand how serious this virus is and how badly it can affect people’s lives. Stacey said that she hopes people will continue to wear masks to prevent them from going through the horror and emotional rollercoaster she experienced.
