Surviving Rick's Medical Mystery
Donation protected
It all started the end of March. The day before we headed back home to Michigan from Florida, my husband and I decided to go snorkeling one more time, and by snorkeling, I mean in a small lagoon, as I am afraid of sharks. But I figured it was safe. It was mostly shallow with only one area about waist deep.
So after I was done, I decided to head back to shore. My husband said he will be back in a few minutes. We were in ankle deep water. To get back to shore, you have to go through the deeper water. To my surprise, it was now Chest high. High tide, I was ignorant and unthinking.
While in the ocean, I was collecting shells for my granddaughter. (Later you will see how this saved me). As I was just in the highest area, I heard screaming from shore. I look up and there is about twenty people standing in a group yelling, "shark!" I froze. I yelled back where?. My husband was further back in the shallow area. I turned around and yelled to him. He thought I was joking. I kept yelling. I also started running, falling, stumbling to shore. I screamed backed to the group, where, where? They pointed at me and yelled right there, jumping up and down.
The shells in many bathing suit were falling down so I wrapped my arms around me and kept "running". Doing this also kept me from flailing my arms and drawing more attention from the shark. I thought if I swim, it will think I'm a fish, so I kept stumbling, all the while asking where it was over and over again. They kept pointing right at me. I couldn't see it so I didn't know which way to run so I headed straight for shore. About a hundred yards. Felt like miles. I was screaming help as I felt like my feet wouldn't move. When I got close enough to shore, with my feet that wouldn't move, I threw my self as far as I could. Then thought, my feet are still in the water, so I crawled until I was out of the wetness.
I sat up and saw everyone right by me, facing the shore watching the shark I could now see, right where I came ashore. About three feet out. The shark was only about five feet long, but let me tell you, it could have been twenty feet as in my mind it was. But even five feet can do a lot of damage. As it turns out, it did. At that time I was scared to death. Later the next day, I could see it was a great story I had. Well it only got bad from there. You see, I am diabetic. I have neuropathy and cannot feel most of my feet. I noticed at the beach that during my panicked run, I got a small cut from coral on the bottom of my big toe. About the diameter of a pencil. I cleaned it and bandaged it when I got home.
The next day we started on our two day drive home. When we got to the hotel and settled in on our first night, I noticed that my legs were swollen. Not too surprising as we were in the car for 18 hours. Then I realized, hey it's only my left leg from my knee to my foot was pretty swollen. But not my right foot. Having worked in the medical field, I knew it was cellulitis and very dangerous. My husband rushed me to the ER. After IV antibiotics and a blood thinner, they let me go with instructions to see my Dr as soon as I got home. I did. We treated it for a week. As it worsened, the skin from the entire bottom of my toe was gone, to the tissue. I Went to the wound care Dr. After months of treatment and wearing a wedge boot, it healed. Or so we thought. Two weeks later, I developed a blister on the same toe, for no known reason. The wound care Dr ordered an mri. The infection had spread to my bone. From the original cut from the coral, running from the shark. That meant I had two choices. Have my toe cut off, or get twelve weeks of IV antibiotics. Of course I chose the latter. So off I go to get my iv at the infectious disease Dr. I was told I need to get a pick line put in surgically to handle the medicine. The Dr putting it in had trouble as he was still learning. I was a nervous wreck and not happy about it. During this time I also had to still wear this boot and change the dressings twice a day.
Two days later the pick line started gushing blood from the wound site. Artery blood. I was rushed into er. Treated and released when the bleeding stopped. I thought ok, now we should be good. 11 and a half weeks to go. Don't do much they said. Two more days later, it hurt so bad I couldn't do anything but cry. Back to the emergency room. I had blood clots. So they pulled the pick line. Hope you don't get embolisms they said. Watch for the signs, They aren't common they say. So off I go home to get iv s for a week and an appointment for one week to get another pick line put in. Hoping I don't get an embolism that could kill me. That is where I am now.
Then it got worse.
At the same time, a week before the mri, my husband became ill. He started with symptoms of bad taste of food and now, two months later he has progressed to not being able to walk. Stumbling with a walker, barely, falling a dozen times, Thinking is difficult and his speech is very slurred. His memory is also poor. He has become impulsive and has lost his sense of humor. That was one of his major personality traits. He has lost 52 pounds. I have been taking him to many Drs. and hospitals, to get tests of every sort, many specialist and they still cannot figure out what is wrong with him. He hasn't been able to work at all. He has been hospitalized twice, in addition to the many specialists. He is currently seeing an excellent neurologist that will hopefully diagnose and treat him. He is so unlike himself. He doesn't communicate anymore. He answers questions with one or two word answers. This man used to write and talk, is very intelligent with great humor, this man I married changed completely in two months. It is so scarey to not know what is wrong with him. And to loose everything at the same time. I would never have believed it could get here.
I am disabled from my diabetes and neuropathy, and spinal arthritis.
Our bills are so far behind, we will be homeless in a month, we got notice of intent to evict. our vehicle will be repossessed, it is three months behind, we have shut off notices for utilities on December 3rd. and we will have to find homes for our two dogs. This is the lowest we have ever been. I know things happen to people all the time, but I feel the lack of money is going to cost us dearly. Maybe even our life and limbs. Not to mention losing our beloved golden retriever babies. It is amazing how much life can change in a few months. We have three young grandkids that mean the world to us. But we don't see them as often partly because of all the Dr's and I don't want them to see the condition we are in.
Thank you for helping us during this time.
As always, when we are able, we pay it forward. We both love helping others in need and donate everything we can. Even so, it is very difficult for us to ask for help, if it wasn't so dire, we wouldn't. Rick would not be happy I shared all of this, he feels so bad that we are in this position, and very worried. I am sure this anxiety only worsens his condition, which worries me even more. Having the money to save our home and vehicle will allow us some time to concentrate on our health and each other.
Our deepest gratitude and love,
Rick and Cathy
So after I was done, I decided to head back to shore. My husband said he will be back in a few minutes. We were in ankle deep water. To get back to shore, you have to go through the deeper water. To my surprise, it was now Chest high. High tide, I was ignorant and unthinking.
While in the ocean, I was collecting shells for my granddaughter. (Later you will see how this saved me). As I was just in the highest area, I heard screaming from shore. I look up and there is about twenty people standing in a group yelling, "shark!" I froze. I yelled back where?. My husband was further back in the shallow area. I turned around and yelled to him. He thought I was joking. I kept yelling. I also started running, falling, stumbling to shore. I screamed backed to the group, where, where? They pointed at me and yelled right there, jumping up and down.
The shells in many bathing suit were falling down so I wrapped my arms around me and kept "running". Doing this also kept me from flailing my arms and drawing more attention from the shark. I thought if I swim, it will think I'm a fish, so I kept stumbling, all the while asking where it was over and over again. They kept pointing right at me. I couldn't see it so I didn't know which way to run so I headed straight for shore. About a hundred yards. Felt like miles. I was screaming help as I felt like my feet wouldn't move. When I got close enough to shore, with my feet that wouldn't move, I threw my self as far as I could. Then thought, my feet are still in the water, so I crawled until I was out of the wetness.
I sat up and saw everyone right by me, facing the shore watching the shark I could now see, right where I came ashore. About three feet out. The shark was only about five feet long, but let me tell you, it could have been twenty feet as in my mind it was. But even five feet can do a lot of damage. As it turns out, it did. At that time I was scared to death. Later the next day, I could see it was a great story I had. Well it only got bad from there. You see, I am diabetic. I have neuropathy and cannot feel most of my feet. I noticed at the beach that during my panicked run, I got a small cut from coral on the bottom of my big toe. About the diameter of a pencil. I cleaned it and bandaged it when I got home.
The next day we started on our two day drive home. When we got to the hotel and settled in on our first night, I noticed that my legs were swollen. Not too surprising as we were in the car for 18 hours. Then I realized, hey it's only my left leg from my knee to my foot was pretty swollen. But not my right foot. Having worked in the medical field, I knew it was cellulitis and very dangerous. My husband rushed me to the ER. After IV antibiotics and a blood thinner, they let me go with instructions to see my Dr as soon as I got home. I did. We treated it for a week. As it worsened, the skin from the entire bottom of my toe was gone, to the tissue. I Went to the wound care Dr. After months of treatment and wearing a wedge boot, it healed. Or so we thought. Two weeks later, I developed a blister on the same toe, for no known reason. The wound care Dr ordered an mri. The infection had spread to my bone. From the original cut from the coral, running from the shark. That meant I had two choices. Have my toe cut off, or get twelve weeks of IV antibiotics. Of course I chose the latter. So off I go to get my iv at the infectious disease Dr. I was told I need to get a pick line put in surgically to handle the medicine. The Dr putting it in had trouble as he was still learning. I was a nervous wreck and not happy about it. During this time I also had to still wear this boot and change the dressings twice a day.
Two days later the pick line started gushing blood from the wound site. Artery blood. I was rushed into er. Treated and released when the bleeding stopped. I thought ok, now we should be good. 11 and a half weeks to go. Don't do much they said. Two more days later, it hurt so bad I couldn't do anything but cry. Back to the emergency room. I had blood clots. So they pulled the pick line. Hope you don't get embolisms they said. Watch for the signs, They aren't common they say. So off I go home to get iv s for a week and an appointment for one week to get another pick line put in. Hoping I don't get an embolism that could kill me. That is where I am now.
Then it got worse.
At the same time, a week before the mri, my husband became ill. He started with symptoms of bad taste of food and now, two months later he has progressed to not being able to walk. Stumbling with a walker, barely, falling a dozen times, Thinking is difficult and his speech is very slurred. His memory is also poor. He has become impulsive and has lost his sense of humor. That was one of his major personality traits. He has lost 52 pounds. I have been taking him to many Drs. and hospitals, to get tests of every sort, many specialist and they still cannot figure out what is wrong with him. He hasn't been able to work at all. He has been hospitalized twice, in addition to the many specialists. He is currently seeing an excellent neurologist that will hopefully diagnose and treat him. He is so unlike himself. He doesn't communicate anymore. He answers questions with one or two word answers. This man used to write and talk, is very intelligent with great humor, this man I married changed completely in two months. It is so scarey to not know what is wrong with him. And to loose everything at the same time. I would never have believed it could get here.
I am disabled from my diabetes and neuropathy, and spinal arthritis.
Our bills are so far behind, we will be homeless in a month, we got notice of intent to evict. our vehicle will be repossessed, it is three months behind, we have shut off notices for utilities on December 3rd. and we will have to find homes for our two dogs. This is the lowest we have ever been. I know things happen to people all the time, but I feel the lack of money is going to cost us dearly. Maybe even our life and limbs. Not to mention losing our beloved golden retriever babies. It is amazing how much life can change in a few months. We have three young grandkids that mean the world to us. But we don't see them as often partly because of all the Dr's and I don't want them to see the condition we are in.
Thank you for helping us during this time.
As always, when we are able, we pay it forward. We both love helping others in need and donate everything we can. Even so, it is very difficult for us to ask for help, if it wasn't so dire, we wouldn't. Rick would not be happy I shared all of this, he feels so bad that we are in this position, and very worried. I am sure this anxiety only worsens his condition, which worries me even more. Having the money to save our home and vehicle will allow us some time to concentrate on our health and each other.
Our deepest gratitude and love,
Rick and Cathy
Organizer
Cathy Michelle Locke
Organizer
Madison Heights, MI