ROME, Ga., Jan. 25, 2024 – The diagnosis was an end-stage cancer, and the prognosis wasn't good.
The determination to put family ahead of his own needs helped them all navigate through Christmas and New Year's Day, but the high-flow oxygen was no longer meeting his medical needs. Soon, he would need to transition to a bi-pap machine. His pulmonologist, Dr. Darshak Pandya, told him there were no more treatment options and asked an all-important question: “Are you tired?" He was.
Because he didn't want to be intubated, Mr. Michaels knew his time was short, and he had come to terms with that information. He did, however, have one final wish: He didn't want to close out his life in a hospital room. He wanted to go home to the house and the land where he had been raised and where he had raised his own family. There was only one place to close out this journey – the home where his journey began.
Austyn Todd, a clinical manager at Atrium Health Floyd, had developed a connection with Mr. Michaels. He determined then and there that his patient's final wish would be honored. Working with Dr. Pandya, Austyn employed nurse case manager Traci Thomas, Atrium Health Floyd Emergency Medical Services Non-Emergency Transport Coordinator Tracie Silvers, and the Heyman Hospice Care team to give Mr. Michaels what he wanted more than anything else.
His oxygen dependency brought with it a series of obstacles. Several in-hospital tries with various breath-giving options failed. He would need an ambulance equipped to provide breathing support, and he would need equipment at home he could immediately transition to once he arrived.
Silvers worked with Heyman Hospice Care to ensure a team, and the equipment Mr. Michaels would need, would be there. Todd worked with EMS to schedule an ambulance that could support Mr. Michael's oxygen needs on the short ride home.
Not one to accept public praise, Todd deferred credit to his team for working with our patient, but his account of the events reveals his own dedication.
“There was never a no," Todd said. “As soon as I called and told people about my patient, they said they would make it happen. They dropped everything they were doing to get everything ready."
With Mr. Michaels prepared, an ambulance waiting, and his beloved home equipped, our patient left Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center for the last time. He traveled down the country roads, up the familiar driveway, past his old red Farmall tractor and through the door he and the people he loved most had used time and again, and finally to his waiting bed and a nurse to care for him. He was home.
Todd said the news that his patient was resting at home and the teamwork it took to get her there almost brought him to tears.
“From a nursing perspective, I doubted we'd get this done," he said. “Usually there would be a lot of hard stops, but Floyd did what Floyd does and made it happen."
Casey Blankenship, program director for Heyman Hospice Care, said being home brought relief to Mr. Michaels and his family. He was more relaxed and happy to be home where he could receive quality care and be near his family.
“It's amazing what the comfort of being home can do," she said, “and it's great to be able to make these things happen."
Last week our patient transitioned from this life in dignity and in comfort, and thanks to this team's determination and extraordinary effort, his passing happened just as he had requested: surrounded by his loved ones in the only place he had ever called home.