Support for Linda Gilbert & family

Linda Gilbert is a hardworking, selfless, Christian women. She is the type of women that puts anyone and everyone before her self. During a simple overnight surgery my families world has been turned upside down. Our mom was scheduled to have surgery on January 2, 2018 to repair a hernia and esophagus surgery that was completed a year ago. After the surgery was completed she was in a lot of pain. However all the doctors and nurses advised us that it was caused just by scar tissue, and that the pain medicines would help her out more. Saturday January 6, 2018 I went to visit my mom for the day to see her. However that was the day everything went down hill. Our mom started breathing extremely heavy and complained about how painful it was. The nurse advised our mother that she needed to walk more and she needed to take deeper breathes. and that she didn’t think there was an issue. Finally after hours of waiting ( which come to find out was based on the nurses feelings, which was that she only needed a breathing treatment) a respiratory therapist came into the room to preform the route breathing treatment. She preformed the treatment, however she also called the rapid response team, as she realized our mother was under a lot of distress and a simple breathing treatment would do nothing. The nurse stated to the doctor that our mom was reluctant to take deep breathes due to the surgery and that was the issue. Within a matter of 45 minutes, she had a chest x Ray, 3 doctors, a room in the ICU and was being prepped for a chest tube. At that moment our hearts dropped and we were honestly scared and a little confused. The doctor explained that her right lung had collapsed causing a lot of damage. They explained that they needed to move quickly to try and prevent further damage to that lung. They rolled her away to begin the process. We were unaware In that moment what was about to unfold. Since Saturday night we have not been able to hear our mothers voice, or see her beautiful smile. She was brought into ICU was intubated and a chest tube was placed. Completely shaken up and unaware why this was happening we all began to pray. Later that night we got a call that her heart was now not performing at the rate it should. They stated her heart muscles were to weak and only working at 50%. The doctor went on to explain that our mother would need to go under a third surgery in order to repair a leak they believe had formed from the surgery on Tuesday, however her vital signs needed to improve before hand. She was no longer breathing on her own, her oxygen levels have decreased, her blood pressure was either to high or two low and needed to be placed on two pressures( blood pressure medicine to try and keep her blood pressure stable). They explained that her heart rate was very low and needed rest. Monday January 8th she finally was suppose to have the repair surgery, however 30 minutes before they were suppose to prep her, the labs came back and the potassium levels were way to low and she would run the risk of having a heart attack while in the operating room. They had started her on an Iv drip to try and Increase her levels however after 2 bags the levels only increase by .10. So they had to continue the bags ( it takes 2 hours per bag). Finally it’s now noon time and her levels were still to low, however she became very dependent on the ventilator. She went from being 70% dependent to 90-100% dependent in less than a full two hour period. At that point it became an emergent situation. The doctors and nurses ran into the room and advised they needed to take her in for emergency surgery and that they would have to take the risk of a heart attack in order to save my mother. Truthfully at this point our emotions were extremely high, the fear of losing our mother, my best friend, my fathers wife was a very high possibility. The doctor explained that he would have to redo the surgery from Tuesday in order to get to the leak, and the surgery would take 2 hours. Our mother had been back for 15 minutes already and our pastor showed up at the perfect time. We began to pray as a whole, we were in a circle and just prayed, prayed for a good 10 or 15 minutes just asking God for the guidance and the Doctors to have the knowledge to repair my mom! As we all said Amen, moments later the doctor was walking out, our hearts dropped as it was only an hour and 15 minutes since we saw him. He advised he had good news, the leak was found and it was in a different place and the need to redo the part from Tuesday was no longer needed. He said That she did amazing during surgery, her heart was good and so was the oxygen levels. Since the surgery our mom has been making very good progress however as the doctor continues to say we are not out the woods yet. She is still sedated, intubated and on 8 different IV pumps through a central line as the medicine would blow a normal vein. My family is not one to ask for help, they are a little stubborn that way. However this was unexpected and truthfully they need help. Our father has been out of work since January 2nd as he has not left her side. The daily bills are the last of their worries however they are starting to pile up, as well as this large hospital bill they will have. Truthfully we don’t want our dad to be worried about the finances as he will need to Be concerned with her recovery. We ask for prayers as well! The power of pray is amazing!