Go Julie!!!
Donation protected
Here we are again, on another avenue, seeking support for my Mom! For those of you just tuning in, a background story:
To start off, as her daughter, I will say that my mother’s passion was, and still is, caring for her family. As many of you may know, outside of myself, my brothers Jake & Jeff, and my dad, her other expenditure of love is Grand Haven Area Public Schools. Most recently you may have seen her at Lakeshore Middle School as a secretary, though working in the school system is not what 20-year-old Jules started off her career doing.
After my baby brother Jeff was born, my Mom left a financing career to be a stay at home Mom. Eventually, when the baby went off to kindergarten, so did my Mom! She began volunteering in the resource room at Rosy Mound Elementary. Eventually, she was offered a full time 9/12 mo career. She worked in the resource room for almost 10 years between Rosy Mound Elementary and White Pines Middle school. Unfortunately, federal funding ended this passion for her. But, she didn’t let that stop her (classic Jules, she will never stop, I swear). She SO wanted to continue to be involved in the GHAPS and keep in close contact with some of her kids, as she called them, so she accepted her final position at Lakeshore Middle School.
Memorial day 2016, Jules went to the emergency room for some terrible headaches. Numerous doctors appointments, CT scans, MRIs and blood tests later, it was discovered she had a very large aneurysm that was in need of operation. From that day forward, my Mom was forced into part time work per doctors’ orders. Even cutting back to part time was agonizing for her. She wanted to be at Lakeshore all day, all hours, involved in everything she wanted and needed to be in.
My mom underwent a gruesome 8-hour surgery on October 12th, 2016 and was in a medically induced coma for the night. Over the next few days, as my mom slowly woke, she revealed to us the damage that had been caused by the surgery. Of course we all knew that stroke was a very large possibility going into the surgery, but the cerebrovascular accident (CVA aka Stroke) was much larger than anticipated. It left my mom initially completely paralyzed on her left side.
After 10 days in ICU, and following her first bone flap removal (to relieve the swelling in her skull) she was off to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation hospital. She spent ~60 days there, where she was getting her butt kicked every day! It was great, and they were able to work with her to regain some function in her left leg. Unfortunately, her left arm continues to be flaccid and painful.
Jules had her bone flap replaced and then was essentially kicked out of MFB a short time later because of insurance limitations. MAJOR bummer. So she was sent home. Home. That being the house that we have all lived in for the last 23 years. Which, though wonderful, comfortable, and home-y was not at all practical for my mom who is now wheelchair bound. Not only that, but the hardest part for me is the fact that my mom can no longer be left alone. This fact is the reason for creating this Go Fund Me page. Her brain injury not only affected some of the motor, or muscle, parts of her body, limiting her in her ability to stand, walk, and use her arm – it also affected the way she thinks. For the most part, she is the same old caring, utterly selfless, comical, and lovable Jules. However, especially when my mom is fatigued, she becomes impulsive and does not recognize her own deficits. This can be really scary when she “forgets” that her leg doesn’t work like it should, for example, and she tries to walk independently resulting in a fall, or near fall as we are always around now to catch her. On top of that, she can only see half out of each eye, and is very neglectful of her left side. This has completely eliminated her driving skills, as well as reading skills unless of large font with lots of cueing to remember the left sided words, amongst other things. This means… she is no longer able to fulfill her duties as secretary. Poor Jules, again, getting eliminating from things she so loves.
We were fortunate enough to have my Aunt Terry come stay with my mom for a few weeks, until I was able to be home for 3 weeks. Those 5/6 weeks of my mom at home was tirelessly spent selling a house, moving 23 years of stuff, figuring out in home care for therapy, as well as Medicaid and disability to see if they will pay for caregiver services because my dad has to continue to work. It is so crazy, NO MATTER how awesome your insurance is, unless a stroke is as the result of a motor vehicle accident (auto insurance) or as a result of a work injury (workers comp), standard insurances do not pay for caregiver services. Thus, we are relying on Medicaid and disability to cover costs of caregivers for my Mom. For those of you who don’t know, it often takes upwards of 6 months for Medicaid to go through… and that is if everything is done correctly the first time. We did not want to screw this up, so my dad has consulted with lawyers and numerous social workers to get my mom set up ASAP.
As many of you know, while I was home, we ended up taking Jules back to the ER as something just wasn’t right with her bone flap incision. Sure enough, it was infected and needed to come back out immediately. Not only was it infected, but it was infected with a very stubborn strand of bacteria which has isolated my Mom to interactions with people in silly yellow gowns in the hospital. This temporarily eliminates our cheapest AND best option for care during the day for Jules, through a United Way sponsored non-profit agency.
And alas, here we are… Jules just got home March 10th from Blodgett for physical rehabilitation following her most recent bone flap removal surgery. She is on 6 weeks of IV antibiotics, and at the very minimum will have her bone flap replaced 2 weeks after those are done (this time with a custom fitted German piece). Jules was again kicked out of rehab AGAIN secondary to insurance restrictions and is now back in the temporary apartment while my Dad figures out what to do.
THE NUMBER ONE focus right now is finding someone who can be with my mom full time and care for her, (because it is not an easy task physically) and HOW TO PAY FOR IT. Semi-skilled care runs anywhere between $15-25/hr. Hopefully, in a few months, Medicaid and disability will help with that payment, but until then we are at a loss. This is where, regrettably, we land. Go Fund Me pages have been a buzz in the background since the moment the doctor walked in covered in my own mother’s blood and stated “Julie had a significant stroke”. With so many unknowns, so much paperwork, and of course, familial pride Go Fund Me has been put off time and time again. However, here we are. Hundreds, possibly even thousands of people have offered to help us, but in situations like this there is only so much that can be done. We open this as an opportunity to those who have wanted to help, but have not been able to, to aid in the care of my Mom! We have created a goal amount of $15,000 which is the total of caregiver costs for 6 months, until, fingers crossed Medicaid and disability will assist in that payment. We are most definitely hoping this is short term.
Thank you to all who take the time to read this. Thank you to those who have endlessly prayed for my Mom’s recovery. Thank you for Reiki treatments that she so loves. Thank you for the BEAUTIFUL flowers that make my mama smile. Thank you to my Aunt Terry… ARE YOU AN ANGEL?! Thank you to Lakeshore staff, and generous neighbors who have been sure that my Dad and brothers continue to be fed. Thank you to everyone for the beautiful cards that are sent to my Mom (she can read some of them! We read the rest). Thank you to those of you who helped us move! <3 Thank you to my Uncle, for being an awesome brother to my Dad! Thanks to family for always checking in on us, even if we are crazy stressed! Thank you to Tammy Basil… we all know we would be lost without you. Thank you for being great people, the world needs more of you. THANK YOU!! <3
To start off, as her daughter, I will say that my mother’s passion was, and still is, caring for her family. As many of you may know, outside of myself, my brothers Jake & Jeff, and my dad, her other expenditure of love is Grand Haven Area Public Schools. Most recently you may have seen her at Lakeshore Middle School as a secretary, though working in the school system is not what 20-year-old Jules started off her career doing.
After my baby brother Jeff was born, my Mom left a financing career to be a stay at home Mom. Eventually, when the baby went off to kindergarten, so did my Mom! She began volunteering in the resource room at Rosy Mound Elementary. Eventually, she was offered a full time 9/12 mo career. She worked in the resource room for almost 10 years between Rosy Mound Elementary and White Pines Middle school. Unfortunately, federal funding ended this passion for her. But, she didn’t let that stop her (classic Jules, she will never stop, I swear). She SO wanted to continue to be involved in the GHAPS and keep in close contact with some of her kids, as she called them, so she accepted her final position at Lakeshore Middle School.
Memorial day 2016, Jules went to the emergency room for some terrible headaches. Numerous doctors appointments, CT scans, MRIs and blood tests later, it was discovered she had a very large aneurysm that was in need of operation. From that day forward, my Mom was forced into part time work per doctors’ orders. Even cutting back to part time was agonizing for her. She wanted to be at Lakeshore all day, all hours, involved in everything she wanted and needed to be in.
My mom underwent a gruesome 8-hour surgery on October 12th, 2016 and was in a medically induced coma for the night. Over the next few days, as my mom slowly woke, she revealed to us the damage that had been caused by the surgery. Of course we all knew that stroke was a very large possibility going into the surgery, but the cerebrovascular accident (CVA aka Stroke) was much larger than anticipated. It left my mom initially completely paralyzed on her left side.
After 10 days in ICU, and following her first bone flap removal (to relieve the swelling in her skull) she was off to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation hospital. She spent ~60 days there, where she was getting her butt kicked every day! It was great, and they were able to work with her to regain some function in her left leg. Unfortunately, her left arm continues to be flaccid and painful.
Jules had her bone flap replaced and then was essentially kicked out of MFB a short time later because of insurance limitations. MAJOR bummer. So she was sent home. Home. That being the house that we have all lived in for the last 23 years. Which, though wonderful, comfortable, and home-y was not at all practical for my mom who is now wheelchair bound. Not only that, but the hardest part for me is the fact that my mom can no longer be left alone. This fact is the reason for creating this Go Fund Me page. Her brain injury not only affected some of the motor, or muscle, parts of her body, limiting her in her ability to stand, walk, and use her arm – it also affected the way she thinks. For the most part, she is the same old caring, utterly selfless, comical, and lovable Jules. However, especially when my mom is fatigued, she becomes impulsive and does not recognize her own deficits. This can be really scary when she “forgets” that her leg doesn’t work like it should, for example, and she tries to walk independently resulting in a fall, or near fall as we are always around now to catch her. On top of that, she can only see half out of each eye, and is very neglectful of her left side. This has completely eliminated her driving skills, as well as reading skills unless of large font with lots of cueing to remember the left sided words, amongst other things. This means… she is no longer able to fulfill her duties as secretary. Poor Jules, again, getting eliminating from things she so loves. We were fortunate enough to have my Aunt Terry come stay with my mom for a few weeks, until I was able to be home for 3 weeks. Those 5/6 weeks of my mom at home was tirelessly spent selling a house, moving 23 years of stuff, figuring out in home care for therapy, as well as Medicaid and disability to see if they will pay for caregiver services because my dad has to continue to work. It is so crazy, NO MATTER how awesome your insurance is, unless a stroke is as the result of a motor vehicle accident (auto insurance) or as a result of a work injury (workers comp), standard insurances do not pay for caregiver services. Thus, we are relying on Medicaid and disability to cover costs of caregivers for my Mom. For those of you who don’t know, it often takes upwards of 6 months for Medicaid to go through… and that is if everything is done correctly the first time. We did not want to screw this up, so my dad has consulted with lawyers and numerous social workers to get my mom set up ASAP. As many of you know, while I was home, we ended up taking Jules back to the ER as something just wasn’t right with her bone flap incision. Sure enough, it was infected and needed to come back out immediately. Not only was it infected, but it was infected with a very stubborn strand of bacteria which has isolated my Mom to interactions with people in silly yellow gowns in the hospital. This temporarily eliminates our cheapest AND best option for care during the day for Jules, through a United Way sponsored non-profit agency.
And alas, here we are… Jules just got home March 10th from Blodgett for physical rehabilitation following her most recent bone flap removal surgery. She is on 6 weeks of IV antibiotics, and at the very minimum will have her bone flap replaced 2 weeks after those are done (this time with a custom fitted German piece). Jules was again kicked out of rehab AGAIN secondary to insurance restrictions and is now back in the temporary apartment while my Dad figures out what to do.
THE NUMBER ONE focus right now is finding someone who can be with my mom full time and care for her, (because it is not an easy task physically) and HOW TO PAY FOR IT. Semi-skilled care runs anywhere between $15-25/hr. Hopefully, in a few months, Medicaid and disability will help with that payment, but until then we are at a loss. This is where, regrettably, we land. Go Fund Me pages have been a buzz in the background since the moment the doctor walked in covered in my own mother’s blood and stated “Julie had a significant stroke”. With so many unknowns, so much paperwork, and of course, familial pride Go Fund Me has been put off time and time again. However, here we are. Hundreds, possibly even thousands of people have offered to help us, but in situations like this there is only so much that can be done. We open this as an opportunity to those who have wanted to help, but have not been able to, to aid in the care of my Mom! We have created a goal amount of $15,000 which is the total of caregiver costs for 6 months, until, fingers crossed Medicaid and disability will assist in that payment. We are most definitely hoping this is short term.
Thank you to all who take the time to read this. Thank you to those who have endlessly prayed for my Mom’s recovery. Thank you for Reiki treatments that she so loves. Thank you for the BEAUTIFUL flowers that make my mama smile. Thank you to my Aunt Terry… ARE YOU AN ANGEL?! Thank you to Lakeshore staff, and generous neighbors who have been sure that my Dad and brothers continue to be fed. Thank you to everyone for the beautiful cards that are sent to my Mom (she can read some of them! We read the rest). Thank you to those of you who helped us move! <3 Thank you to my Uncle, for being an awesome brother to my Dad! Thanks to family for always checking in on us, even if we are crazy stressed! Thank you to Tammy Basil… we all know we would be lost without you. Thank you for being great people, the world needs more of you. THANK YOU!! <3
Organizer and beneficiary
Jodi Rickfelder
Organizer
Grand Haven, MI
John Rickfelder
Beneficiary