Still Here!

❤️⚕️❤️ STILL HERE! ❤️⚕️❤️

Greetings, my people! It's been a beat since you've heard from me - more than two years, in fact. During this time, I've been dancing a do-si-do with Death.

Things went horribly awry... There was paralysis, from the neck down. There was kidney failure. Massive IV antibiotics. Seizures. A distressed heart. In short, hanging on by a thread.

So much! If you think you know my medical story, I assure you, you do not. Until recently it was too complicated, too horrifying, too traumatizing to tell. Below is a brief ticktock, which lays out the journey completely for the first time.

Reconnecting with you is my first intention. Also, I'll be sharing with you the tales of my life as a medical vagabond, a "secret shopper" of America's convoluted medical system. This is stuff you are gonna want to know…

* The secret angels and predatory devils in the healthcare world - how to tap the former, and guard yourself from the latter.

* Adventures of the hoyer - a crane-like lift device that moves my body in a sling from bed to wheelchair.

* Walking the edge of death - What happens when things get dire, and how to make sure people don't write you off, just when the battle is most critical.

* Up close and personal - You will rarely be alone… So many people. Roommates. Doctors. Nurses. Aides, social workers, therapists, ombudsmen, business office people, schedulers, unit managers, other sick people - many with dementia.

* The darkest and best humor is found in the healthcare world. It is legendary, and ROFL funny.

* From wipe-out to new beginnings - When the past has been smashed to smithereens, how does one chart a new way forward?

Thank you for joining me as I close the book on the old, and ring in the new. I can't wait to reconnect with you, and you, and you! <3 I may be slow to respond, but I will - I'm back in the saddle. Or up on the walker, taking those first steps yet again. Thank you for joining me on this road! ~ Karen

Crushing medical expenses continue, the last of my assets long gone. Your contribution of any amount is greatly appreciated. All funds go toward medical expenses. Thank you! ❤️❤️

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

The ticktock...

KAREN STRICKHOLM AND HER

TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD THREE YEARS

1958 - Born with hidden brain tumor on pituitary gland (as determined later by interior skull bone remodeling). Note: Pituitary is part of the HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary axis). The HPA serves as the "pentium chip" running the entire body via a complex system of hormones - reproduction, thyroid, adrenals, digestion, heart rate, blood pressure, fluid levels, immune system, muscle and bone strength, sleep, metabolism, sex drive, vitality.

Age 1 to mid-20s - Sometimes I outgrew the hidden tumor, my body strong, lean, swift. Other times the tumor outgrew me, making my body fat, slow, inflamed, painful, frail. But what child has words for that?

Mid-20's to age 50 (2008) - Tumor continues to grow, compressing the HPA and causing a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A tumor of this type is considered large at the size of a marble; My tumor was the size of an extra-large egg. Most of these tumors are soft, but this one was hard and fibrous. Symptoms are increasingly severe - breaking bones (including chronic microfractures in feet), unexplained dramatic weight gain, chronic and near-constant maladies, severe chronic pain, inflammation, unexplained infections, headache, extreme fatigue, depression and more.

2008 - Diagnosis, brain surgery, and 16 magical months feeling better. Then return of symptoms, tumor regrowth.

2011 - Second brain surgery, with complications, a medically induced coma, followed by a massive pulmonary embolism shower with high mortality rate, damaging my pulmonary artery. Time in a rehab, then home on oxygen.

2012-2015 - Attempt to rehabilitate in Santa Fe, difficulty breathing, difficulty walking. Extreme back pain standing, requiring a walker to move. Ultimately relocated to Truth Or Consequences, NM for lower altitude and curative hot springs, hoping for a better chance to finally recover.

2015-2020 - All original symptoms return with a vengeance - Chronic pain, infections and illnesses, extreme fatigue, muscle weakness. Diagnosed with Secondary Addison's Disease (what JFK had). A small scratch on leg became fungally infected, blooming into six large, painful open wounds that remain to this day. Medical bills consumed all assets - the company, savings and retirement, three-unit home with detached office in Santa Fe, two investment houses in TorC, vehicles, even the dogs (re-homed). A lifetime, reduced to boxes.

May 2020 - Pneumonia evolved into septic shock. Heart rate 195 with RVR (stroke territory), followed by critical blood pressure drop in ER; Nurse brings me back. My Grand Tour of medical facilities begins - Sent from TorC ER to Las Cruces ICU, stabilized and sent to rehab, then specialty wound care hospital in El Paso, TX. Recovering nicely, then…

August 2020 - Contracted Covid-19. Bad. Sent to isolation Covid ward in hospital during that El Paso's peak pandemic moment - you may remember it in the national news. Spent one month in Covid acute care, mobile tractor trailer morgue out back, FEMA tents crammed into overflow spaces, Code Blue called near daily all around me. On bi-pap and 15 liters oxygen to breath. It's touch and go. Too weak to stand, too weak to walk. In-dwelling foley installed, remaining in place for next three years.

Fall 2020 through 2021 - Long Covid, coupled with more severe Addisonian/TBI symptoms, grinds on - An addled brain, micro-seizures, double vision, loss of bowel control, severe headache, multiple re-hospitalizations for cellulitis, pneumonia, UTIs and sinus infections. Massive triple antibiotics, plasma, iron, fluids, PICC lines from arm to heart to deliver medications. Completely bed-bound, unable to stand. Plus, trapped in Texas <ugh> since NM governor had closed borders due to pandemic.

Late 2021 - Moved via ambulance to a bed that finally opens in Roswell, NM, as pandemic ebbs. Start physical therapy, regain ability to sit upright, stand, pivot, and take a few steps. However, severe infections continue, each bout triggering heart into Afib and requiring several weeks' stay in hospital acute care unit. Kidneys crash. Massive drugs infused.

Winter 2021-2022 - In ER yet again, struck by rare neurological syndrome called "Critical Illness Myopathy Neuropathy," similar to Guillain-Barré - instantaneous and total paralysis from the neck down. Cannot feel legs, move arms. Cannot feed myself, turn myself, clean myself. A CT scan of my spine reveals a bone scar from a previously undiagnosed spinal break (!!!). Afib returns, does not resolve. Am finally medivaced to Albuquerque, NM for enhanced medical care. Cycle of infections continues.

2023 - Recovery begins anew. At last get under care of an Infectious Disease Specialist, I'm prescribed lifelong "prophylactic antibiotic therapy" - e.g. antibiotics for life. Nerves regenerate, movement slowly returns. With physical therapy, am able to stand. For the second time in three years, I have gone from completely bed bound to standing - the necessary precursor to pivoting and then walking. Those wretched painful wounds from 2019 are finally resolving. Strength is returning.

Now - Doing the daily work to heal this body, and to chart a new course for this life.

# # #

October 2023

KS@KarenStrickholm.com

505-660-9423

℅ Albquerque Heights Rehab

103 Hospital Loop NE

Albuquerque, NM 87109