I don’t use this site much for personal stuff, but this concerns us all. Yes, it’s about my father, but it’s also about hospitals in Nebraska and masks and the #COVID19 crisis. This may take me a bit, so buckle. But let me start with a bit about my dad, Hugh H. Genoways.

My father grew up on farms in western Nebraska but went on to become a world-class biologist, specializing in New World bats and rodents. When I was a kid, he was the Curator of Mammals at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. (Here he is with a newly taxidermied gorilla.)

Years ago, I wrote: “He had been held at gunpoint in Mexico, housed his crew in a whorehouse in Jamaica, smuggled weapons into Guatemala. In Suriname, he surmounted a remote plateau, hacking through dark jungle, returning with unknown species. The newspapers called him Batman.”

In 1986, we moved back to Nebraska, and he became the director of the University of Nebraska State Museum, housed in Morrill Hall but affectionately known as “Elephant Hall” because of all the fossil mammoth and mastodons on exhibit there.

He became one of the state’s leading advocates for science and science education—and taught at UNL until 2016. He was serious about that work but anyone who knows him can tell you: he has a quick smile and laugh and a bawdy sense of humor, honed by years of doing field research.

One of his proudest moments as museum director was when the April Fool’s edition of the Daily Nebraskan lampooned him “Huge Genitals, director of Immoral Hall.” The editor called his office, fearful he’d be offended, “How could I be offended by THAT?” he responded.

At the start of the pandemic, I was worried about both of my parents. They’re 79 years old. But my dad has had particular health problems in recent years: diabetes, high blood pressure, and recurring infections that seem to be something that he picked up years ago in the tropics.

I thought that I might have to persuade my dad to take necessary precautions against #Covid19. He’s an old-school guy in a lot of ways, but he was shocked that I thought that I felt compelled to insist that he wear a mask and isolate. “You’re goddamn right,” he said.

So, for months and months, he isolated. On the rare occasions that he went out, he always wore a mask and used hand sanitizer. But then, he got an infection in his calf. This is a regular problem spot for him. He reluctantly went to the doctor.

The doctor’s office didn’t require masks of either staff or patients. My dad was aghast at this, but he’s also nearly died from these infections twice in the last five years. So he stayed to get a prescription and went back for follow-up appointments.

On Friday, November 6, my dad started to feel flu-like symptoms. At first, he thought maybe the infection was back. That Saturday, he felt worse, and on Sunday, he started to run a fever. He didn’t want to tie up the ER, so he went to urgent care.

They gave him a Covid test, among other tests, and told him to go to the emergency room immediately if he had any trouble breathing. The next morning, Monday, November 9, he woke up struggling for breath and then had a heart attack.

Thankfully, my mother, who has worked in hospital labs for her entire adult life, got him over to @Bryan_Health right away. The chest scan showed clots in one lung, and the heart catheterization revealed multiple blockages as well.

The doctors put my dad on what he described as “gallons of Heparin,” a potent blood-thinner that prevents blood clotting. Soon after, the test results came back from the urgent care lab: he was positive for Covid-19.

Now, here’s where the story concerns you… He had what doctors believed may be Covid pneumonia. He had suffered a heart attack caused by blood clots—a common effect of Covid-19, which many researchers think may be the root cause of the illness. https://khn.org/news/clots-strokes-and-rashes-is-covid-a-disease-of-the-blood-vessels/

He was going to need bypass surgery, but there weren’t enough hospital beds at Bryan to house him until he had recovered from the virus and was well enough for the procedure. The doctors had no choice but to send him home.

So, for a week, my 79-year-old dad with a failing heart lived in the basement, wearing a mask and recovering from Covid, while my 79-year-old mom left meals outside his door and checked on him periodically. (I’m out of state right now, unable to help.)

He made it through that week, and the amazing Cardiac Care team at Bryan performed a quadruple bypass on him on Friday. (Before he went in, he wanted me to know that Frost HAD to start McCaffrey at QB on Saturday.) He’s recovering.

My whole family is deeply indebted to remarkable team at Bryan. All they are asking of our community and our state in return is that we isolate when possible, wear masks, and distance when we must go out.
 https://twitter.com/Bryan_Health/status/1327292018637287424?s=20

On Thursday, Dr. James Lawler, director of clinical and biodefense research at @unmc, said, “Our health systems are about two weeks away from being overrun in Nebraska. Three weeks from now, when you have a heart attack, I'm not sure who's going to be able to treat you."

I ache at the thought of another family facing what my family has just been through but being told that there’s no capacity in Nebraska. My dad wouldn’t have made it to KC or Denver. In two weeks, that could be your parent or child or spouse or you.

Please, please, please… This is so simple. Stay inside as much as possible. Don’t go out to restaurants or bars or anywhere else that people are maskless. If you must go out, wear a mask, keep your distance, and wash your hands. Don’t let this get worse than it already is.

And to city and state leaders, do the brave thing. Mandate masks. Shut down non-essential businesses. Close the schools. Demand more and better testing. If we’re lucky, a vaccine is on the way, but it’s at least 6 months off. Protect your constituents until then. Do what's right.

That's it. That's the thread. I'll post as my dad's recovery continues. But for now, please keep yourself and you families safe. Be well.