Battling the virus in Kingman: Local woman shares her story

KINGMAN – A Kingman woman who’s been battling the coronavirus for about six weeks is grateful to be out of the hospital and home for Easter. Xochilt Estrada Kelly said she is sharing her frightening ordeal hoping that her experience may help others who already have, or might contract COVID-19.

Kelly said she developed a persistent cough in late February. She said she thought she had a cold or the flu during a March 5 visit at a Kingman Regional Medical Center (KRMC) Urgent Care clinic where she was prescribed medication and sent home to rest.

Kelly said she felt better for a few days but eventually returned to Urgent Care on March 17. Again, Kelly said, she was prescribed medication and sent home, this time with a diagnosis of acute bronchitis.

“My symptoms started getting worse. I was having trouble breathing, so it was on the night of March 23, when I told my husband I couldn’t lay down because I could not breathe,” she said. “That’s when he called 911 and they took me to the hospital.”

“She couldn’t breathe anymore,” said Alvina Johnson, Kelly’s sister. “It was like an elephant was on her chest.”

Following her admission at KRMC, three days passed before testing confirmed that Kelly was COVID-19 positive. She was placed on a ventilator within a couple of hours, the start of a terrifying isolation span that lasted almost two weeks.

“My anxiety was overwhelming and continues to be overwhelming,” Kelly said. “I was separated from my husband and family and had no contact with anybody,” Kelly said. “I was facing my illness by myself and it was very, very difficult.”

It was subsequently clarified that Kelly was afforded opportunity for brief, remote communications with family members, including her husband and mother.

Kelly said she was put “into a coma” at one point and that she doesn’t really remember portions of her time in the ICU. Johnson used her Facebook page to keep friends, family and others updated on her sister’s status and fight for survival.

“I am very thankful and grateful to the good Lord that I’m alive today,” she said. “I’d like to thank the first responders who took me to the hospital and the doctors, nurses and staff at Kingman Regional Medical Center.”

Her ventilator was removed and Kelly was transferred from the ICU to another unit on April 3 before she was  discharged home on April 7.

Kelly said she didn’t feel like she had a good roadmap to follow for care upon her hospital exit. That changed, however, given an update Johnson provided Friday on Facebook.

“I’m happy to report that finally, three days after discharge, several phone calls, emails and a radio interview, my sister Xochilt not only received a phone call and reference services, but a very thorough visit from a provider and all needed services,” Johnson said. “Referrals are now in place.”

Johnson urged the public to comply with social distancing directives and for some to lose their assessment that the health scare is being blown out of proportion.

“That’s actually quite offensive when someone shares that with me,” she said. “This is serious. This is not the flu. This is not somebody else’s problem, somewhere else. We need to act like I have it and act like you have it and I protect you and you protect me.”

• Dave Hawkins