A Community to Save Sue Pagliarulo Janeczek

On the morning of 10.10.19, I woke up at 3 AM vomiting and in excruciating abdominal pain. I called 911 for an ambulance, and off I went to Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport.

Assuming the 9.6mm kidney stone diagnosed a few weeks earlier had moved, I felt this was the cause of my agony. The E.R. doctor said it wasn't the kidney stone; a C.T. scan revealed a tear in my colon and diverticulitis. Due to the extreme inflammation in my abdomen, they chose to do multiple rounds of intensive IV antibiotics.

After one day, my P.C.P. and surgeon had me transferred by ambulance to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. I met with Dr. Cook and his amazing surgical team, and they agreed with the necessity to lessen the abdominal inflammation and better control my Type I diabetes before surgery. On 10.15, I endured an 8-hour surgery where they removed 11- inches of my colon and addressed the widespread sepsis.

All went well for a day.

My lungs, and around my lungs, had begun to fill with fluid. My oxygen levels continued to drop, and the doctors chose to intubate me. I was in a medically induced "coma" on a ventilator, a feeding tube, and several other machines for over a week. According to the caring and attentive hospital staff, my family was consistently by my side and would often talk to me for the doctors told them it was beneficial for me to hear their voices. I am so grateful for such a wonderfully loving, caring family; I know that they were, and continue to be, a vital part of my recovery.

Slowly I was brought out of the "coma," which was a great relief to my family; my eyes were open and, though I couldn't speak due to the intubation, I was able to scratch out words to communicate in a Wonder Woman notebook given to me. There were a few more dips in my recovery: severe edema of my legs, uncontrolled blood glucose levels, fevers, chills, loss of 25 lbs., pain, weakness, and being weaned off of the feeding tube and eating solid food and liquids on my own. I remained in the Surgical I.C.U. for another week.

I moved from the I.C.U. to the regular surgical floor. Here training and education on how to best handle my "new normal" occurred. I was released from the hospital three days later.

I finally made it home. It felt so good to wash my hair and take a shower, something I hadn't done for almost four weeks! Right now, I have a colostomy bag and am attached to a wound V.A.C. The VNA comes out daily, and the Physical Therapist comes out twice a week.

In 3 to 6 months, I will have to endure the reversal surgery to reconnect my colon and, hopefully, no longer require a colostomy bag. I was hoping that it will be a more comfortable and straightforward surgery, but the surgical team has informed me that it is just as involved as my first surgery with a similar recovery time.

Unexpected illness, two surgeries, and months of recovery and healing time has left me unable to perform my duties as a Medical Massage Practitioner due to the physicality of the job ... Doctors' Orders. As a per diem employee, I have minimal disability coverage, not enough to cover 6 - 8 months of a mortgage, bills, utilities, food, etc. I am reaching out to you in the hope that you can assist me in my healing by lessening the financial stress and burden that I am carrying on my shoulders. I immensely appreciate your caring donation.

I thank you!

In gratitude and love, Sue Janeczek and Team Save Sue