Recovered COVID-19 patient leaves Sikeston hospital after 30 days of treatment

Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Brandon Couch, a nurse at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, talks to Dione Blissett as she leaves the hospital Tuesday. Blissett, who has recovered from COVID-19, spent a month at the hospital recovering from the virus.
Leonna Heuring/Standard Democrat

SIKESTON — Bearing signs that read: “You beat COVID 2020,” masked doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and staff from throughout all departments lined the front lobby of Missouri Delta Medical Center Tuesday morning as they waited for COVID-19 patient Dione “Dee” Blissett to emerge from the hallway.

Then cheers and claps arose from the crowd as Blissett, who was also masked and sitting in a wheelchair, was pushed by hospital staff through the line as the song, “Fight Song,” played in the background.

Blissett, 52, was treated at the Sikeston hospital for the full course of her COVID-19 illness — from the use of the ventilator in the intensive care unit to reconditioning therapy in its inpatient rehab unit to prepare for her return home, which came one month after she’d entered the facility.

Dione “Dee” Blissett, a recovered COVID-19 patient, on Tuesday leaves Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, where she spent the past month being treated for the illness.
Leonna Heuring/Staff

On Tuesday, the Sikeston resident began to cry as she recognized the faces of people — strangers, at first — who’d been at her bedside, caring for her over the past 30 days as she fought to beat the virus that has claimed the lives of nearly 400 people in Missouri, 68,000 in the United States and 244,000 worldwide. As of Tuesday, three patients who tested positive for the virus were being treated in MDMC’s COVID ICU.

As she made her way through the line, Blissett reached her husband, Frank Blissett, and their 29-year-old daughter, Ceilia Blissett, and embraced each of them.

When she reached the doors leading out of the hospital, Blissett turned around and addressed the hospital staff.

Frank Blissett hugs his wife, Dione Blissett, Tuesday as she prepares to leave Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston.
Leonna Heuring, Staff

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart — from everybody that prayed because a lot of people talked to me about praying,” Blissett said. “I appreciate that. Thank you so much.

She continued: “I had a long speech but you all know I really appreciate it. ...I’m alive! Thank you all so much.”

“God bless you!” shouted people from the crowd.

Ceilia Blissett hugs her mother, Dione Blissett, Tuesday as she prepares to leave Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston.

Blissett’s hospitalization began around April 3.

“I started out with a fever,” Blissett said of her symptoms. “From there, it developed into a cold and I had a feeling of illness. I finally went and called the doctor and asked to be tested and it came back positive.”

Blissett said her husband also tested positive for COVID-19.

“I wasn’t breathing correctly one morning, and my husband called 911. They came and got me in the ambulance. I remember them trying to put the IV in, and that’s the last thing I remembered,” she said.

Blissett was placed on the ventilator for 12 days.

“When I did finally wake up, I had no clue as to what had happened. I didn’t know why I was in the hospital, why I was tied down and why I had this thing in my mouth and couldn’t talk,” Blissett said. “They kept telling me I’d been very sick, but I didn’t know from what, so I was very lost.”

Blissett said she couldn’t understand why she couldn’t walk or move or get up, and it was because she was too weak, which she said learned is called critical illness myopathy.

“I couldn’t do anything for myself, and from there, I went up to rehab and they helped get my strength up, and I was totally lost,” Blissett said. “It was another week before I realized I had COVID, and that was why I was on the vent.”

Blissett also shared the dream she had while she was on the vent.

“I dreamed I lived in Marble Hill and I was waiting to go wolverine hunting. I kept saying in my dream: ‘I’ll be glad when I feel better so that me and Napoleon Dynamite can go wolverine hunting. … That was my dream,” Blissett said.

Frank Blissett said his case was mild and he didn’t require hospitalization. However, he had to stay at home while he recovered from the illness and his wife was in the hospital.

“That was very stressful for us,” he said.

He said the couple’s daughter has been very helpful to them.

As Blissett and her family exited the front doors on Tuesday, another line of medical professionals from the hospital and her doctor’s office greeted her with signs and balloons outside in front of the hospital.

“I feel so special! I hate it that I can’t hug on people!” Blissett said.

Blissett also joked about not ever knowing the nurses' names and for another who helped brush her hair.

“This is the one who pulled all the knots out of my hair,” Blissett said.

Brandon Couch was one of the nurses who took care of Blissett at Missouri Delta.

“It’s just awesome to see any patient recover, yet alone our first COVID-19 positive patient that’s been recovering here,” Couch said. “She has great support in her family. We have a great team here; it wasn’t just me.”

Couch and Blissett talked a bit before saying goodbye.

“I hope I see you somewhere else!” Blissett called out to Couch as he walked away.

Blissett went on to praise the hospital and staff, which she credited for saving her life.

“Missouri Delta did a fabulous job; it’s a fabulous hospital that gave exceptional care,” she said. “They made it so personal, and I wasn’t just another patient. They made me feel like someone special, and they worked so hard at keeping me alive.”

What the hospital staff and others have done for her is so much, Blissett said, adding she’s just now hearing about some of those things.

“To the ICU, they were some of the main ones who took care of me, I found out they prayed each morning before they would start,” Blissett trailed off and began to cry. “...There were so many people out there praying for me; it was just amazing.”

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