Connie's road to recovery

On December 9 my grandmother auntie and I received a frantic call by my sister and brother who told us my mother was not doing well, had fallen to the floor, turning pale and unable to function or see properly. An ambulance soon arrived and taken her to Red deer hospital where she was ignorantly told by the triage nurse that she has likely just "pulled a muscle" and told she will need to wait to see a doctor that they're very busy. During this I rushed to Red deer to be with her and my siblings. After hours of waiting and finally seeing a doctor, tests started to be run. Getting late in the evening/early in the morning my siblings and I left for her to get some rest/answers and hopefully released.

Unfortunately we got a text from her a couple hours later she was being air lifted to Calgary Hospital. I urgently rushed out of the house and hit the road. Soon after received a call from a cardiothoracic surgeon asking me very serious questions while letting me know things are not good and would be taking her in right away for surgery for a suspected aortic tear and/or valve replacement. He asked how far away I was and knowing what I now knew, I had to text my mom and tell her I love her, possibly for the last time.. as I probably wasn't going to make it to say it in person and I didn't.

My mom was in surgery for just under 8 hours before I recieved the best phone call of my life.. The surgery was a major success- but not without its serious complications. It was alot more major than initially suspected by everyone involved. Once inside they discovered she had a rare and severe case of aortic dissection.. She has been nicknamed the miracle inside of the ICU unit of Foothills hospital Calgary. Being one of very few survivors of an already complex condition and operation. She had a literal paper thin peice of artery holding on that kept her here long enough to get that life saving surgery.

Anyone who knows my mom, knows that she is the most selfless person and that It's no wonder why she chose a career in nursing. I know she will not approve of me even having made this posting because she is never one to ask for help, but only willing to give help without hesitation. Not just the "give a stranger the shirt off her back" type of person she's the give them everything she can afford to give type..

I'm her oldest son so, I know this better than anyone and I feel like at this moment, this is best way she can get recognition for who she is and all that she has done. One of the first things she asked was, what day it is and when she was told, she said "I'm supposed to work tomorrow" I want to help her delete those thoughts for a while- at least until is even practical for her to have them. She has an amazing support system and my family and I will be there to help her every step of the way to make life easier/less stressful moving forwards over the next few months as this is going to be a painful and long recovery.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any help you can give is appreciated and above all send some good healing vibes/prayers!

I also ask if you please share this as well, thank you!

-I have created an email for her for direct transfers and/or reaching out if you're wanting to go that route to avoid any transaction fees, anonymity / send well wishes- can contact me directly for this.