CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Denise and Dick Coates want what every couple wants: to be together for the holidays.
After spending nearly a month apart, taking on their own battles with coronavirus a few hospital rooms apart, the married pair of 51 years is hoping for good news from the doctors just days before Christmas.
"My kids are speaking with the doctors right now, so hopefully they tell me he's coming home on the 24th," said Denise Coates in a phone call with Local 5 on Dec. 22.
Denise was released from the hospital a few days ago, and now she waits for Dick to get the final word to come home. She was the first to get sick and go to the hospital with coronavirus, going into surgery after bowel complications.
"They said I had a 20% chance of dying," said Coates.
But Denise made it out of the operating room and began her road to recovery, which unfortunately was a lonely one. Her husband Dick was in his own hospital bed on another floor with COVID-19.
"It was so hard, I missed him so much," said Coates. "We had been together for 51 years. Never apart. It was uh, pretty bad. Yeah. We couldn't see each other was the thing...Finally, I bet it was three weeks before we got to see each other. And they brought him into OC, occupational therapy. And it was, uh, quite a moment."
Melanie Blais, a nurse practitioner in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit, said caring for the couple was a joy. She noted Denise was determined to get better.
"Really, I give a lot of credit to her," said Blais. "We have a great team here, but she was highly motivated and really wanted to work on her therapy task and she wanted to get stronger and better because she was planning on being there for Dick."
Blais said she's cared for many coronavirus patients over the last several months, each with their own ups and downs. But she noted the Coates were different.
"We do get attached to your patients, you try to have a connection with them," said Blais. "It was really an amazing journey for all of us to see how Dick and Denise supported each other and how their visits really brought a lot of sunshine into their rooms. I don't know that I have ever cared for a married couple at the same time on the same floor with the same diagnosis."
For now, Denise will continue to support her husband in any way she can. And she will celebrate him being with her again at their home.