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A Life Changed Forever In Two Days
Hi, my name is Caprice Lipscomb and I’d like to tell you a little bit about
my mother, Shirley Lipscomb. My mom was born in Newark, New Jersey 79 years ago and has spent her adult life giving to others and serving her country. She is a compassionate and caring person who is committed to giving back to her community. She has spent 48 years as a Licensed Vocational Nurse, she is a member of the Black Nurses Association and served 23 years in the Army Reserves which included two deployments, one to Ecuador and another to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for Desert Storm. She is a member of the Bayview Baptist church and regularly volunteered her time and skills to provide services in Health Ministry, as a Candy Stripers coordinator and as a worker in the church’s Food Pantry, at 79 years old Shirley was still leading a very active life-style. In early February of 2019, her life took a drastic turn, one that could put an end to what she loves to do… serve her church and community.
On Feb 6th Shirley made a visit to her doctor because she wasn’t feeling well and before the day was over, she was in an ambulance on her way to the emergency room at Kaiser Zion. That night she was admitted into the hospital in very serious condition and two days later she was unable to walk or even stand. She was soon to be diagnosed with a kidney infection, sepsis and lumbar spinal stenosis which was made worse because of the massive infection running through her body. Spinal Stenosis is a narrowing of the spaces within the spine, which in my mom’s case put pressure on the nerves that travel through the spine. The infection that ravaged her body caused the inflammation around her spine to worsen and that resulted in more nerve damage thereby leaving her with minimal to no feeling below the waist and unable to move her legs.
While in the hospital a consultation was done with the neurosurgeon which confirmed that it was indeed severe lumbar spinal stenosis that was causing her immobility. Surgery was recommended, but with no guarantees because of the extent of the damage. We were told that there was low possibility that releasing the pressure from the nerves would help her walk, but by doing nothing it would only get worse. Health-wise she was getting better, but she had to build up her strength before they would even consider doing the surgery, so she had to go to rehab to prepare for it. Discussions for the surgery was started on the 4th of Mar, and preop paperwork and permission agreements were scheduled for the 28th. Unfortunately, 4 days after being released from rehabilitation my mother got sick again and had to be taken to the Emergency Room. After being evaluated by the neurologists in the ER, we were told that the damage to her nerves had gotten worse and surgery was needed promptly… it was scheduled for the 16th, the next day!
My mom came through the surgery fine, but she is still unable to walk. The doctors told us she may never walk again, but either way it would take a long time to see any favorable results, if at all. Although we are optimistic about the long-term outcome, we must be realistic. For now, she is in a wheelchair. We have been fortunate enough that her medical insurance was able to get us a hospital bed and air mattress to help prevent bedsores and special boots to keep her from getting “drop foot.” Now our job as her loved ones are to make sure our mother isn’t housebound by getting her transportation to give her a sense of normalcy.
My mom has numerous appointments ahead of her and as of now we have no way of getting her to them. So far, we’ve had to physically pick her up to place her in the van which is both hard on her and family members. We were also prepared to purchase a ramp for the van, but after testing the height with the wheelchair in the van she would have to keep her head bent down at an odd angle wherever we traveled. We have come to realize the only solution would be to buy a used wheelchair accessible van or convert the van we already have into a wheelchair accessible vehicle. She will have many new appointments, each one of them that may hopefully have her walking or at least standing on her own again one day.
Please help us get our mother back out there to enjoy a quality of life that accessible mobility would provide. Any donations would be much appreciated, and no amount is too small, every little bit would help. Thank you for allowing me the time to tell you about my mom.
Hi, my name is Caprice Lipscomb and I’d like to tell you a little bit about
my mother, Shirley Lipscomb. My mom was born in Newark, New Jersey 79 years ago and has spent her adult life giving to others and serving her country. She is a compassionate and caring person who is committed to giving back to her community. She has spent 48 years as a Licensed Vocational Nurse, she is a member of the Black Nurses Association and served 23 years in the Army Reserves which included two deployments, one to Ecuador and another to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for Desert Storm. She is a member of the Bayview Baptist church and regularly volunteered her time and skills to provide services in Health Ministry, as a Candy Stripers coordinator and as a worker in the church’s Food Pantry, at 79 years old Shirley was still leading a very active life-style. In early February of 2019, her life took a drastic turn, one that could put an end to what she loves to do… serve her church and community.
On Feb 6th Shirley made a visit to her doctor because she wasn’t feeling well and before the day was over, she was in an ambulance on her way to the emergency room at Kaiser Zion. That night she was admitted into the hospital in very serious condition and two days later she was unable to walk or even stand. She was soon to be diagnosed with a kidney infection, sepsis and lumbar spinal stenosis which was made worse because of the massive infection running through her body. Spinal Stenosis is a narrowing of the spaces within the spine, which in my mom’s case put pressure on the nerves that travel through the spine. The infection that ravaged her body caused the inflammation around her spine to worsen and that resulted in more nerve damage thereby leaving her with minimal to no feeling below the waist and unable to move her legs.
While in the hospital a consultation was done with the neurosurgeon which confirmed that it was indeed severe lumbar spinal stenosis that was causing her immobility. Surgery was recommended, but with no guarantees because of the extent of the damage. We were told that there was low possibility that releasing the pressure from the nerves would help her walk, but by doing nothing it would only get worse. Health-wise she was getting better, but she had to build up her strength before they would even consider doing the surgery, so she had to go to rehab to prepare for it. Discussions for the surgery was started on the 4th of Mar, and preop paperwork and permission agreements were scheduled for the 28th. Unfortunately, 4 days after being released from rehabilitation my mother got sick again and had to be taken to the Emergency Room. After being evaluated by the neurologists in the ER, we were told that the damage to her nerves had gotten worse and surgery was needed promptly… it was scheduled for the 16th, the next day!
My mom came through the surgery fine, but she is still unable to walk. The doctors told us she may never walk again, but either way it would take a long time to see any favorable results, if at all. Although we are optimistic about the long-term outcome, we must be realistic. For now, she is in a wheelchair. We have been fortunate enough that her medical insurance was able to get us a hospital bed and air mattress to help prevent bedsores and special boots to keep her from getting “drop foot.” Now our job as her loved ones are to make sure our mother isn’t housebound by getting her transportation to give her a sense of normalcy.
My mom has numerous appointments ahead of her and as of now we have no way of getting her to them. So far, we’ve had to physically pick her up to place her in the van which is both hard on her and family members. We were also prepared to purchase a ramp for the van, but after testing the height with the wheelchair in the van she would have to keep her head bent down at an odd angle wherever we traveled. We have come to realize the only solution would be to buy a used wheelchair accessible van or convert the van we already have into a wheelchair accessible vehicle. She will have many new appointments, each one of them that may hopefully have her walking or at least standing on her own again one day.
Please help us get our mother back out there to enjoy a quality of life that accessible mobility would provide. Any donations would be much appreciated, and no amount is too small, every little bit would help. Thank you for allowing me the time to tell you about my mom.