Donate to Heather Morand's Medical Journey and Recovery

I'd like to start off by thanking you in advance for reading about Heather's medical journey & taking the time to think about & pray for her. Secondly, thank you for making a donation to help with her medical bills & expenses. Every little bit adds up & will make a huge difference in her life.

On July 5th, what I thought would be a minor interruption to our annual girls week quickly turned into a 16 day nightmare & for a time, a fight for my best friend's life.

Heather & I have been best friends for so long I can barely remember a time we weren't together. We've been roommates & co-workers, we've fought, laughed & cried together, gone on adventures & been pretty much inseparable for over 25 years.

If you know Heather you know she's inquisitive, funny, thoughtful, quick witted, quirky, hard working, kind, compassionate & full of life. She can confuse the daylights out of you with her way of thinking at times but always leaves you with a smile on your face & a feeling of friendship.

On July 5th that warm, bubbly, sweet girl I knew was bent over in agony. Her face contorted in pain & the spark had gone out of her eyes. She asked if this was what dying felt like. Something was definitely wrong.

The week before she felt what she thought was a boil on the inside of her upper left leg. It was hard & painful & so she was using warm compresses to try to help it drain. Due to the location she couldn't see it but could feel it. Fast forward to the 4th of July & the pain was excruciating. She could barely walk, sitting was complete agony, she started having severe pain in her abdomen, & she spiked a fever. She slept about 20 out of 24 hours on the 4th. Looking back I realize now that the infection was taking over & that a smell, the infection, was leaking through her pores.

July 5th she woke up having an appetite & a little energy but the pain was still agonizing. After talking with her mom she finally agreed to let me take her to the clinic in town. This set in motion a serious of miraculous & life saving events.

1st - the clinic I called wasn't seeing patients that day but Gretchen took the extra step to check another office who happened to have a 2pm appointment available

2nd - at the clinic we were the only people there & Heather was seen before she could finish the paperwork

3rd - the doctor at the clinic had the courage to say that what he was seeing was beyond his scope & she needed to go to the ER. He refunded her the cost of the office visit & apologized he couldn't help. He also followed through with calling ahead to the ER & letting them know we were coming. The ER had his notes on what he saw & thought was going on within the 30 minute drive to the ER. I was concerned but assumed it needed a more surgical type lancing to get infection out, maybe a couple stitches, etc.

4th - the ER was basically empty; maybe 8 people total waiting. This was on a Friday afternoon, about 3:30 pm during the biggest festival of the year, The Cherry Festival! We learned later that that was "highly unusual for that time of day." I can attest to the fact that the following 2 Fridays were packed with people & the ER was "in the red" & couldn't handle more patients.

During triage was when I started thinking this is a bit worse than we originally thought. Heather was dealing with something far more serious than we ever would have assumed & the words "gangrenous lesion" was used. Within 15 minutes she was in an ER bay & a doctor was looking at the wound, drawing fluids from it, starting meds & running tests. When he said I'm sorry if this hurts but I need to drain some the fluids, pulled out the biggest syringe I've ever seen & Heather couldn't/didn't feel it or even flinch I knew it was bad. They took her for a CT scan of her abdomen, iv fluids were started & the fluid samples went to the lab for testing.

At 6 pm 2 doctors in surgical garb - hats, coats, booties, the works - came in & introduced themselves. The head surgeon started talking. My heart fell to the floor & my head started spinning. She said 'the labs show an aggressive flesh eating infection that may have entered the abdomen cavity. I need to perform an emergency surgery.....' at this point I interrupted the surgeon & asked if I could get her mom on the phone to hear what was happening. She agreed & quickly continued to explain what was about to happen. 'This type of bacteria is extremely fast moving. I have to get you to surgery now & hope it hasn't spread too far. Do you understand that this is an emergent situation & I have to perform this surgery now?' Heather nodded she understood. The lead surgeon left & her associate remaind to answer questions we had & said as soon as the OR was ready they'd be down for her. When the surgery transport team was taking too long the lead surgeon came down to the ER & wheeled Heather to the surgery pre-op room herself. Surgery would be about 2 hours & started just after 7pm.

The surgery waiting room was empty. I was left to my own thoughts. After 2 of the longest hours in history the surgeon walked in the room. I'll never forget the look on her face, it was bad. Her eyes looked red rimmed as if she'd been crying herself & the first thing she said was "would you like to get Heather's mom on the phone?" My hands were shaking so bad I could barely hit redial. "Mrs M? The surgeon is here & wants to talk to us."

Heather was in a fight for her life. The surgeon apologized & said she "was extremely aggressive in the removal of skin & tissue in hopes of getting all the infection." She said Heather was on a ventilator & said if family wanted to see her & weren't in the immediate area they should start heading this way. She said the infection was moving so fast she could visually seeing it moving & destroying flesh & tissue. It was difficult to stay ahead of it. The one thing she was happy about was that the infection hadn't gone into the abdominal cavity yet. They were doing all they could & it'd be a couple hours before I could go to the ICU & see her. Heather's parents were several hours away but on their way. My prayer that night? "Please Lord, let Heather survive the night."

Saturday the 6th Heather was still on the ventilator & went to her 2nd surgery to look for more bacteria, infection, dead tissue & to clean up her wounds. We were told she may need skin grafts at some point & a plastic surgeon would be called in during a future surgery to make that decision. My prayer now, "Lord heal her wounds & keep the infection at bay." The surgery lasted just over an hour & the best news possible was given. Her wounds looked good, there was minimal infection seen & only a small bit of dead tissue needed to be removed. The surgeon was surprised by how minimal the wound was based on the previous surgery's notes. She had a long road to go but it was looking good thus far. The ventilator was still breathing for her & would continue to for the time being.

Sunday the 7th Heather was able to breathe on her own & the tubes were removed. She was still in critical condition & would stay in the ICU for the next few days. Her wounds were open & packed with the hopes they could start closing some of them soon. Her 3rd surgery was scheduled for Monday the 8th.

The 3rd surgery went well; still minimal clean up required but there wasn't enough surface area to close the wounds yet & so they remained open & packed.

Wednesday the 10th her 4th surgery was done & to the surgeon's surprise she was able to suture close 2/3's of the wound. 23 stitches & a drain was put in during surgery. The remaining open wound was left open & packed. This area did not have enough flesh to pull together & suture close so leaving it open & packed was the best option.

Heather's 5th surgery was scheduled for Friday the 12th but because of so many other emergent surgeries they post posed hers til Saturday the 13th. That day they were able to put in a wound vac. A sponge is placed into the open wound & a clear, thin, skin-like dressing is put over wound. A small tube comes from the sponge & into a machine that sucks all the air out, creating a tight seal & allows fluids to be drawn from the area.

The next step would be to see if Heather could tolerate bedside dressing changes with oral medications & without going into surgery again.

Tuesday the 16th was the first of 3 bedside changes & she passed with flying colors! The wound care team & her nurses were impressed with how well she tolerated the change. This was the final step to her going home.

Heather's wound care requires a home health nurse to come in 3 days a week, for the foreseeable future, & replace the sponge & dressing.

Heather is unable to work right now & all her PTO has been put towards her hospital stay. She learned she also has some long-term medical issues she'll be dealing with that require monthly medicines & frequent doctors visits. As you can imagine medical bills & personal bills are & will be adding up quickly.

From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for anything you can give.