On Sunday, February 7, 2021, Dorothy Lou Hansen (Zogg), loving wife and mother of two sons, passed away at the age of 52.

Dorothy was born on Sunday, October 6, 1968, and left us on a Sunday. She was born in Phoenix, Arizona, to Ted and Georgene (Osmer) Zogg, the first of eight children. She graduated from Ottawa, KS, high school, attended Kansas State University, Ottawa University, and graduated from Baker University, KS, in 2003. She married the love of her life, Brian Keith Hansen in 1991.

She was known for her bright, curly red hair and musical talents. Her love for music was felt in the community and church. She played the flute, oboe, piano, and organ. She was a member of the Mormon Chorale, and played the organ at church. She loved crocheting, knitting, and anything crafty. Her latest love was for jewelry.

Dorothy always wanted to be a mother and welcomed two beautiful boys into the world: Rowen in 2007 and Kelvin in 2008. She dedicated her life to raising these boys.

She is survived by her husband, Brian, and their two young sons, Rowen (14) and Kelvin (12), and by her parents and siblings, Murray Zogg, Lynda Haight, Sam Zogg, Betty Zogg, Joe Zogg, Donna Gilchrist, Suzann Whiting and their spouses and numerous nieces and nephews.

Services will be held on February 15th at 1:00 pm at 8144 Holmes Rd, Kansas City, MO. It can also be viewed online at http://mywebcast.churchofjesuschrist.org/Events/kansascitymissouristake.

It is with great sadness that I report that Dorothy passed away at 4:50 pm today. She died peacefully and without pain, surrounded by her mother, father, sister and myself.

Earlier in the afternoon, several family members were able to join on a web call so they could see Dorothy and say their farewells.

Dorothy was undergoing significant organ failure, and we made the decision to remove her from the ventilator. We were able to spend some time with her both before and after that happened.

I am emotionally exhausted tonight. The boys are handling the news at this time, but I know that they will need to have some time to work through things.

No arrangements have been made at this point. I will be sure to update everyone when that has happened.

I want to especially thank Ted, Georgene, Lynda, Cathy, and all of those of you who have offered support in many capacities today.

I know that I am posting this update quite a number of hours after the doctor called at 2:50 pm today. In part, that is because I have spent a chunk of the day traveling, and in part, it is because this is going to a difficult post to write.

Dorothy did not have a very good day today. Her oxygen levels have continued to drop and her heart has begun to beat very rapidly. The doctors are at the point of “throwing the kitchen sink” at Dorothy in terms of using broad-spectrum antibiotics and “big gun” medicines. However, the doctor said that she is very, very concerned about how Dorothy has been doing today.

I am very grateful that Dorothy’s parents were with me during today’s difficult call. I know that it wasn’t easy for them, and that they were likely even more thrown by today’s news than I was. Dorothy’s parents are going to come to Kansas City tomorrow and her mother will be able to come with me to the hospital for an in-person visit with the doctor.

There was more to today’s call, but the upshot is that some very difficult days may be ahead for Dorothy. I don’t want to give the impression that all hope has been lost. They are continuing to treat her, and there remains a prospect that things will get better.

I wish that I had better news for everyone. I want to thank everyone for their prayers and notes of encouragement.

This is the second update for today; be sure to check out the previous post.

Dorothy’s nurse called this afternoon with an update that because of her difficulty breathing today, they have decided to not perform the CT scan today after all. They are now planning it for either tomorrow or Sunday.

I heard from a different doctor this afternoon, someone who has been in close touch with Dorothy’s immediate care team.

Dorothy is running more fevers again. They know that her previous infections have been bacterial in nature, and they believe that she is now experiencing fungal infections. They are beginning treatments for that.

Dorothy continues to be non-responsive to verbal instructions. Today, they are planning to do a CT scan of her brain to ensure that everything is still all right.

Unfortunately, Dorothy is having a harder time breathing while on her back, so they are keeping her on her front more than in the past to ensure good oxygenation. However, being on her stomach is a complication to performing a tracheotomy should it come to that. We are still targeting Sunday for a decision on that.

I didn’t hear from the doctor today and wasn’t able to connect with one of the nurses until fairly late today.

Dorothy ran another fever today at 101 degrees, so they are continuing to treat her for that. The nurse thought it may be a result of so much shallow breathing. They have increased her sedation to help with that. Since that time, they have put her back on her stomach, and she has been doing better, as usual, in that position.

Related to her sedation, they did bring down her levels yesterday for a few hours. She was still pretty much out of it, but Dorothy did open her eyes when they called her name. However, Dorothy neither squeezed her hand nor wiggled her toes when requested, so she still has some progress to make. They didn’t repeat the process today because Dorothy was struggling some with her breathing.

We may be able to try a video visit tomorrow, depending on how things go.

I also had a chance to speak with Dorothy’s primary care physician earlier this afternoon. She has been following Dorothy’s case closely and wanted to make sure that I was up to speed and to make sure that the boys and I doing well. (We are.)

The doctor reports that Dorothy is “pretty stable” since yesterday with a “tiny step forward” on the oxygen. They are making more aggressive efforts to pull fluid from her lungs in hopes of accelerating her oxygen situation. She remains at between 45% and 55% while on her belly, which is where she has been since about last Thursday.

They are planning to start weaning Dorothy off of the sedatives this afternoon, but because she so deeply under, she may not come up until tomorrow. As I mentioned yesterday, they are doing this in order to assess her mental status.

The doctor also said that she is going to try defer a decision on a tracheotomy until Sunday.

She also said that while this slow, steady progress can be discouraging, in her experience with COVID, this is actually a good thing. Other patients, she told me, move forward and then move backward, and these are the ones that have more long-term problems. So, while her lack of progress has at times been frustrating, it’s still relatively good news.

I did hear from the new doctor morning. She reports that Dorothy is stable and mostly unchanged from yesterday. She emphasized that recovery from COVID can be a very slow process and that being stable, while not as good as improving, is still a good sign.

She is going to start lightening Dorothy’s sedation level. Because of the fevers that Dorothy was having over the past week, they are a bit concerned about whether the infection caused any delirium. They can treat it if so, but they need to bring out some in order to make a diagnosis.

We also discussed the possibility of a tracheotomy later this week. The doctor is hopeful that Dorothy’s ventilator settings will improve over the next couple of days. Her numbers while on her stomach are looking good enough right now, but the problem is when she on her back; those settings will also need to improve. If that is the case, they are going to try to remove the intubation tube and see how she does without a ventilator at all. In any event, we won’t be any decisions on the tracheotomy until at least Thursday.

There is a new doctor in the rotation this week, but she never did call me during the day. I called this evening and spoke to Dorothy’s nurse.

Basically, no change today. Meaning that there has been no change to oxygen levels and no change to any of her medications throughout the past day. The good news is that they are no longer having to increase her oxygen levels or the blood pressure medication when she is on her back.

The nurse did promise to leave a note for the doctor to make sure that I get daily updates directly from her.

At the time Dorothy was put on the ventilator, I was advised of a possible outcome that is seeming to be an increasingly likely result. She is currently intubated – the ventilator tube goes down her throat and down to her lungs. However, they cannot leave her intubated for more than about two weeks due to complications from the pressure that it puts on the upper airway. After that point – and Dorothy is at about day 12 now – they have to remove the tube and perform a tracheotomy (Wikipedia article) in which they will have to surgically insert the tube into her windpipe just above the ribs. I’ve been hoping that this option could be avoided, but it seems likely at this point. Fortunately, from what I understand, recovery from the tracheotomy once the tube is removed is relatively quick and complete.