AROUND OREGON: Vale family sheds doubts about Covid after death of father – Salem Reporter

Jerry Erstrom was always quick with a smile and loved his children and grandchildren. Recovering from a back surgery, Erstrom - a well-known local personage - contracted Covid and died from the infection. Now his family wants people to know the Covid virus isn't a hoax and it kills.

Jerry Erstrom (center with hat) poses with his son Mike (left) and other family members. Ernstrom died Jan. 21 from the Covid virus. (Photo courtesy of Niki Cutler)

VALE The nurse walked into the hospital room and then the chaplain came and they stood by as Niki Cutler kneeled next to her dads bed and held his hand and, as best she could, prepared for him to die.

His lungs destroyed by the Covid virus, Erstrom died quietly soon after.

Erstrom became one of 55 Malheur County residents who have died from Covid since last spring.

In Oregon, he was among 1,900 people who perished form Covid.

Less than a month before Jerry Erstrom died Jan. 21, he was a healthy 71-year-old man recovering from a minor back surgery. The future was wide open for the former farmer and Bureau of Land Management employee.

While the number of Covid deaths and infections continues to climb, Erstroms life and family and experiences cant be relegated to statistics.

He was a dedicated employee, a man with a ready smile who loved his children and his grandchildren.

He liked to play cards with his grandson.

He loved Oreo cookies.

He loved to travel with his family.

He loved to go to Bixbys Stopitoff Coffee in Vale.

He loved to give people a hard time, said Cutler.

Perhaps the simplest vision of Jerry Erstrom is the truest.

He was a father.

A grandfather.

A friend.

A hard worker.

He loved Malheur County.

Then one day the Covid virus invaded his body.

And it killed him.

****

When Niki Cutler first heard about the Covid virus a year ago, she didnt consider it a serious illness.

In fact, she said in an interview last week, the virus appeared to be more of an inconvenience than anything else.

I was not sure if it was actually anything worse than the flu, said Cutler.

She no longer feels that way.

I wish I still had the privilege to be that nave, said Cutler.

In mid-December Jerry Erstrom was hospitalized for back surgery. He returned to the Cutler household in Ontario afterward with Niki and her husband, Jared, helping him recover.

Covid didnt haunt the Cutlers then and the family turned to Christmas.

We had a small, quiet Christmas, Cutler said. Dad was a little sore from back surgery, but good.

Life continued normally at the Culter house after Christmas. Jerry Erstrom watched television news or old Westerns. He enjoyed his grandkids, especially playing cards with his 12-year-old grandson Brennan.

The card games were a tradition for Erstrom and Brennan.

They had the same sense of humor. They would try to one up each other with jokes. They didnt need anyone else and went and did their thing, said Cutler.

In late December, Jared Cutler, an Ontario Police Department officer, came down with a head cold.

Then we found out he may have been exposed (to Covid) at work. He went and got tested and came up positive. My daughter and I came back positive. My dad was negative, said Cutler.

Where were we exposed? We honestly dont know for sure, said Cutler.

On the second to last day of the year, Jerry Erstrom went to a hospital in Nampa because of a urinary tract infection. Erstrom was again tested for Covid. Again, he was negative.

We just needed to clear up the UTI and he was good to go to come home, said Cutler.

A few days later while still in the hospital, Jerry Erstrom tested positive for Covid.

He was having some congestion and some trouble breathing, said Cutler.

X-rays of Erstroms chest showed he had Covid pneumonia that the medical staff told the Cutlers was manageable. Erstrom would need supplemental oxygen for a while but he was ready to go back home.

Erstrom returned to the Cutler home on Jan. 7 but he was a different man.

His stamina was gone and he depended more on the oxygen each day.

Culter worked hard to keep her father moving, following the instructions from doctors to help him improve. While he needed oxygen, his levels remained in the normal range. Cutler thought her dad would beat the virus.

****

On the night of Jan. 11, a Monday, Erstrom played cards with Brennen. No one suspected it would be the last game.

The next day when Erstrom awoke he could barely get out of bed.

The most modest of movements drained him. He asked that his oxygen be turned up.

He said, I just feel like I cant get air, Cutler said.

Cutler checked the blood oxygen level as her dad sat in a chair in her living room.

It was where it should be, said Cutler.

Erstroms physical therapist was scheduled to arrive soon so Erstrom prepared to shower. He could barely move.

He had to stop about every two steps because he didnt have enough energy to walk. He would stop, sit down and then get back up. My husband helped him into the bedroom to lay down and got oxygen on him and he said, I just need a minute, said Cutler.

The Cutlers tested Erstroms blood oxygen level again and this time it had dropped into the 70s. An oxygen level between 95 and 100 percent is considered normal and immediate medical attention is recommended for a reading of less than 88.

We couldnt stabilize it, said Cutler.

The Cutlers immediately acted to take Erstrom to the hospital.

The children helped get their grandpa ready for the hospital and into the car.

They would never see him again.

At the St. Lukes Fruitland Medical Plaza emergency room, medical staff tested Erstroms blood oxygen level and alarms on equipment sounded.

They had to turn everything as high as they could just to get the alarms off, said Cutler.

Erstrom was tested for a bacterial infection.

He was tested for a blood clot.

Nothing showed up on the tests but Covid, said Cutler.

The doctors, she said, didnt waste any time.

They said he is being transported, said Cutler.

The medical staff asked Erstrom if he would allow himself to be intubated if need be.

I answered yes before dad can get a word out, said Cutler.

The ambulance arrived and Cutler was able to give her dad a hug and tell him she loved him.

That was the last time that I would be able to have a conversation with him that lasted longer than one or two minutes, said Cutler.

****

Over the next five days at St. Lukes Nampa Medical Center, Erstrom appeared to be on the long road back. He was receiving the highest amount of oxygen possible each day, but his levels stabilized around 90 to 95, said Cutler.

Erstroms chest X-rays, said Cutler, looked awful but he was improving a little bit each day.

Doctors were cautiously optimistic, said Cutler.

There was hope because they dont know with this virus. There is no pattern, no way of knowing. They cant predict. The doctor in the ICU mentioned they do their best but they sit and watch because the virus has a mind of its own, said Cutler.

Cutler was at home Jan. 18 when Erstroms doctor called.

The signs werent good.

Erstrom was suddenly declining, his blood pressure was dropping.

He needed to go on a ventilator to save his life, the doctor said.

His oxygen wasnt able to be sustained. If they did not intubate him, he would be in cardiac arrest that night, said Cutler.

The doctor said the family could talk to Erstrom over the phone before they inserted the tube that would prevent Erstrom from speaking.

So that Tuesday, Cutler and her children, Brennan and his sister Alex, 18, cradled the phone in the living room and talked to their grandfather.

The smallest thing was causing him to be short of breath, beyond being able to speak, said Cutler.

The conversation was grueling for her children, said Cutler.

She handed the phone to them, aware the conversation might be the last they had with their grandfather.

Erstrom told his grandchildren how important to him they were.

How much he loved them.

How proud of them he was and that he would always be with them.

Afterward, she held them as they cried.

Questions lingered. They were terrified. Grandpa had just been at the house. What was going on?

The next four days were a blur for Cutler and her family. They were isolated from Erstrom and could not see him because of Covid restrictions at the hospital.

So, they waited.

And hoped.

And prayed.

****

On Jan. 21, Cutler received another phone call from the doctor.

He had declined more. With the maximum amount of oxygen, he was getting it was in the low 80s. The machines were doing all the work, said Cutler.

Erstroms instruction to his family had always been firm: He did not want to be kept alive by a machine.

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AROUND OREGON: Vale family sheds doubts about Covid after death of father - Salem Reporter