You know if my mom agreed to this, it must be bad! Following intense pain and two falls in her home, my mom was transported to the hospital on June 1st. After a few days in the hospital, and lots of tests, we discovered she had a bacterial infection that was significantly impacting her hip replacement. Her levels were considered "toxic" at the time and this required immediate surgery to remove her hip replacement. Following the surgery, she spent several days in the ICU.

During surgery, my mom's hip was replaced with an antibiotic cement blocker where her hip should be and she was prescribed an IV antibiotic for 6 weeks. This all occurred just under three weeks prior to a scheduled knee replacement that has now been postponed indefinitely.

With no actual hip in her right leg, just a cement block, and a very weak left knee, my mom was placed in skilled nursing because she is unable to walk or stand on her own. She needed and still needs around the clock care.

Since my mom's infection numbers were so high, they did not come down enough after 6 weeks and she was placed on an oral antibiotic, which she remains on still. She cannot have her hip replacement surgery until her numbers are considered within a "normal" range. More than three months after her surgery, her numbers remain too high, although they are coming down gradually.

Recently, she experienced another health setback: she had a bowel obstruction requiring her to return to the hospital for a week. She thankfully has recovered well from this.

As you can imagine, the medical bills and the bills from the skilled nursing stay are high. Our first statement is estimating $20,000. And this is after insurance.

To add insult to injury, my mom was planning on working one more year and then retiring; however, due to her ongoing health issues, she is being forced into early retirement.

All of this has led us to be incredibly vulnerable and jump onto this platform to ask for help within our community. I don't want this to be my mom's "financial ruin" as she puts it. We want to be able to continue to care for her and her two dogs (which have been at my house since June 1st...yes, that is four dogs under one roof with small children! There are a lot of feet!)

At this time, please send out good, healing vibes, donate to help my mom recover from this, and/or share within your circles. We appreciate it all. Thank you for taking the time to read and help.