ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — Rick Lopez loves good food and making people happy. So he opened Igor's Bistro four years ago to share his cooking. He also loves all things Halloween and spooky.
But the 60-year-old got the scare of his life when his wife had to rush him to the hospital in March.
"I barely remember coming downstairs, out of the bedroom and headed for the hospital, for the emergency room," he says.
He says he was rushed into Trinity in Rock Island. The nurses took him away, leaving his wife Kathy behind.
"I just said, I love you. That was it," she says.
Rick was put on a ventilator to combat COVID-19. He had to lay on his stomach for 16 hours a day, a way for gravity to help his battered lungs expand. Rick also fought off pneumonia. He was sedated the whole time.
"Next thing I know I'm waking up three weeks later," he says.
Meanwhile, Kathy had to spend the early days of his treatment outside his room. She and family would visit him through the hospital windows, unable to come inside because of COVID-19 protocols.
Kathy remembers the day she could finally go into the room to see him.
"I could touch him, you know, just... he's for real here," she says. "It was amazing. It was a really good day."
Once he woke up, Rick says it was a long road to get out of the hospital. He was transferred to a rehab floor, had to be cleared as COVID-free, and started some physical therapy before he could leave.
Three weeks ago, he finally came home.
"I'm here. I'm alive. I'm getting stronger," Rick says.
He got his feeding tube out in mid-May. The hole in his trachea has healed where the nurses put in a breathing tube after the ventilator. He says his hand is numb and may have pinched a nerve after laying awkwardly in a hospital bed for so long. It could need surgery. And soon he'll have some X-rays done to see if he's kicked pneumonia all the way. But he says he's grateful to be where he is.
"I just want to make sure that everybody up at Trinity knows how much we appreciate their hard work. Without them, you ain't gonna make it."
Rick says everyone needs to take COVID seriously, wear their masks and get their vaccine.
For now, he's trying to get all his strength back so he can be in the kitchen at Igor's once again.
"Appreciate all the well wishes and the prayers and donations and everything. all our customers," he says. "Thank you very much for supporting us."
Rick and Kathy say they'll have a grand re-opening sometime in June to welcome back indoor diners. For now, they're serving up breakfast, lunch and dinner through the drive-thru. Their patio and deck are open for people who'd like to eat their orders.
