Help Mithla with her overseas Medical Costs
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Mithla is my Mother-In-Law, who came to visit her Son, Daughter-In-Law and Grandsons in Melbourne, Australia on February 28th 2020. Just as Mithla was about to return to her home country, Fiji in April 2020, all flights to Fiji were cancelled, due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
There was uncertainty worldwide and certainly for Mithla, who wanted to return to her home, her younger Son and responsibilities before matters worsened. And indeed matters worsened.
Due to COVID and cancelled/reduced flights, along with the worry of trying to remain safe, Mithla has been waiting for a year now to return back home. Although repatriation flights commenced to occur later in 2020, due to limited number of seats, it was very difficult to arrange a flight for her as seats were snapped up within minutes! We were also worried, that she may catch the horrible COVID 19 on a flight back home, due to numerous stories we heard over the media and other social platforms and through relatives, of how many people were catching COVID due to being on flights. Another layer of concern.
Mithla already had Diabetes and High blood pressure, for which she has been taking medication, so she was a high risk person to catch COVID 19.
As the months went by and locked down in Melbourne occurred numerous times, to fight COVID 19 in our community, Mithla couldn't see when she'd be returning home. She was happy staying with us, but she ultimately missed her home and just as any person would, became a little home sick.
It was then in October, that Mithla was first hospitalised in Melbourne, due to her sodium levels being at an extremely dangerous low level. This caused her to excessively vomit, causing her a lot of body aches and pains, along with the discomfort of vomiting.
She was kept in hospital to be monitored and to increase her sodium to an acceptable level and also to monitor her heart due to an abnormality shown in the ECG reports. After remaining in ICU and the Cardiovascular ward for around 5 days, she was transferred to the normal ward and eventually discharged on the 7th day. The hospital advised, that nothing further was required for Mithla at this stage.
In December, when the Borders between Victoria and NSW were open, we decided to go on a Family trip to Sydney, where Mithla's daughter and Family reside. As her daughter wanted to see her Mother and spend some time with her before sending her back home, we decided to go on this trip to drop off Mithla at her Daughter's place in Sydney. Since then, she has remained in Sydney with her daughter. We also thought it would be good for Mithla as it would be a change of scenery for her and she would be able to see other relatives in Sydney also. We were also able to book her a flight back home for February 13th 2020...Mithla was looking forward to returning home to the comforts of her homely surroundings.
All was well, until in the early hours of the morning of 4th February 2020, Mithla started having chest pains and shortness of breath. Her daughter and son-in-law called the ambulance who immediately took her to emergency at the nearest hospital. Her daughter went with her. As the doctors conducted tests and ECG on Mithla, they eventually advised that Mithla had experienced a minor heart attack. Mithla was kept in the cardiovascular ward for monitoring and given care by the Hospital until an angiogram could be performed to see the severity of the damage done to her heart. Once the angiogram was performed, it was determined by the doctors that she needed a heart bypass surgery due to the severe blockage in her heart.
After being in hospital for 14 days, Mithla was transferred to another hospital to have the bypass surgery performed on her on 18th February 2021. The surgery was successful and Mithla remained in ICU for 6 days, before being transferred to the cardiovascular ward. Here, she needed to become strong enough to be able to be released from hospital. On 26th February 2021, the hospital was happy to discharge Mithla, however, Mithla had to be transferred back to the previous hospital due to a shortage of beds.
Being back at the other hospital, and being a weekend, the hospital advised they couldn't discharge Mithla from the hospital and also because Mithla's sodium levels had also decreased. Along with recovering from a major heart surgery, Mithla now had to deal with having her sodium levels increased also. Her daughter was with her during visiting hours and we did all we could from our end in Melbourne, to try to assist Mithla from being discharged from hospital and making sure she was strong enough to leave the hospital.
Finally on 28th February 2021, Mithla was discharged from hospital (this date was exactly 1 year since she had been in Australia). Her daughter made necessary arrangements to ensure her house was suitable for her Mother to be comfortable during her recovery process. We also reached out to many of our relatives in Sydney to see who would be able and available to assist Mithla's daughter with the daily caretaking activities of her Mother. Many relatives were able to assist Mithla and her daughter in various ways (such as providing transport to take her to Hospital/Doctor/Rehab appointments).
With everything that Mithla has gone through, another matter to be dealt with is her large outstanding medical debt to the hospitals. Being an overseas patient, although she has insurance, this only covers the bare minimum costs as heart surgery has restricted cover. This means there is a large amount of out of pocket expenses to be paid. Mithla has always been a Homemaker and doesn't have finances to make any repayments, therefore, my Husband and I are taking responsibility of ensuring these medical expenses are repaid to the hospital. However, we need some assistance to fundraise money to repay these costs.
Who knew that she would encounter such issues and there would be a pandemic called COVID, which would change not only Mithla's life, but also everyone worldwide. Mithla is still bummed that she missed her flight back home on February 13th 2021 and is looking forward to the day when she has recovered significantly to be able to catch a flight back home (once the Doctors give her the all clear).
Until then, we humbly request you to please help Mithla, my Husband, Nilesh and I raise some funds to assist with repaying Mithla's medical expenses, so she can some day look back with fond memories of being with us in Australia and not have to think about the current outstanding medical expenses for her heart surgery.
Any help will be much appreciated and may every helping hand be blessed with good health always! Mithla, Nilesh and I will be eternally grateful for your help and support.
There was uncertainty worldwide and certainly for Mithla, who wanted to return to her home, her younger Son and responsibilities before matters worsened. And indeed matters worsened.
Due to COVID and cancelled/reduced flights, along with the worry of trying to remain safe, Mithla has been waiting for a year now to return back home. Although repatriation flights commenced to occur later in 2020, due to limited number of seats, it was very difficult to arrange a flight for her as seats were snapped up within minutes! We were also worried, that she may catch the horrible COVID 19 on a flight back home, due to numerous stories we heard over the media and other social platforms and through relatives, of how many people were catching COVID due to being on flights. Another layer of concern.
Mithla already had Diabetes and High blood pressure, for which she has been taking medication, so she was a high risk person to catch COVID 19.
As the months went by and locked down in Melbourne occurred numerous times, to fight COVID 19 in our community, Mithla couldn't see when she'd be returning home. She was happy staying with us, but she ultimately missed her home and just as any person would, became a little home sick.
It was then in October, that Mithla was first hospitalised in Melbourne, due to her sodium levels being at an extremely dangerous low level. This caused her to excessively vomit, causing her a lot of body aches and pains, along with the discomfort of vomiting.
She was kept in hospital to be monitored and to increase her sodium to an acceptable level and also to monitor her heart due to an abnormality shown in the ECG reports. After remaining in ICU and the Cardiovascular ward for around 5 days, she was transferred to the normal ward and eventually discharged on the 7th day. The hospital advised, that nothing further was required for Mithla at this stage.
In December, when the Borders between Victoria and NSW were open, we decided to go on a Family trip to Sydney, where Mithla's daughter and Family reside. As her daughter wanted to see her Mother and spend some time with her before sending her back home, we decided to go on this trip to drop off Mithla at her Daughter's place in Sydney. Since then, she has remained in Sydney with her daughter. We also thought it would be good for Mithla as it would be a change of scenery for her and she would be able to see other relatives in Sydney also. We were also able to book her a flight back home for February 13th 2020...Mithla was looking forward to returning home to the comforts of her homely surroundings.
All was well, until in the early hours of the morning of 4th February 2020, Mithla started having chest pains and shortness of breath. Her daughter and son-in-law called the ambulance who immediately took her to emergency at the nearest hospital. Her daughter went with her. As the doctors conducted tests and ECG on Mithla, they eventually advised that Mithla had experienced a minor heart attack. Mithla was kept in the cardiovascular ward for monitoring and given care by the Hospital until an angiogram could be performed to see the severity of the damage done to her heart. Once the angiogram was performed, it was determined by the doctors that she needed a heart bypass surgery due to the severe blockage in her heart.
After being in hospital for 14 days, Mithla was transferred to another hospital to have the bypass surgery performed on her on 18th February 2021. The surgery was successful and Mithla remained in ICU for 6 days, before being transferred to the cardiovascular ward. Here, she needed to become strong enough to be able to be released from hospital. On 26th February 2021, the hospital was happy to discharge Mithla, however, Mithla had to be transferred back to the previous hospital due to a shortage of beds.
Being back at the other hospital, and being a weekend, the hospital advised they couldn't discharge Mithla from the hospital and also because Mithla's sodium levels had also decreased. Along with recovering from a major heart surgery, Mithla now had to deal with having her sodium levels increased also. Her daughter was with her during visiting hours and we did all we could from our end in Melbourne, to try to assist Mithla from being discharged from hospital and making sure she was strong enough to leave the hospital.
Finally on 28th February 2021, Mithla was discharged from hospital (this date was exactly 1 year since she had been in Australia). Her daughter made necessary arrangements to ensure her house was suitable for her Mother to be comfortable during her recovery process. We also reached out to many of our relatives in Sydney to see who would be able and available to assist Mithla's daughter with the daily caretaking activities of her Mother. Many relatives were able to assist Mithla and her daughter in various ways (such as providing transport to take her to Hospital/Doctor/Rehab appointments).
With everything that Mithla has gone through, another matter to be dealt with is her large outstanding medical debt to the hospitals. Being an overseas patient, although she has insurance, this only covers the bare minimum costs as heart surgery has restricted cover. This means there is a large amount of out of pocket expenses to be paid. Mithla has always been a Homemaker and doesn't have finances to make any repayments, therefore, my Husband and I are taking responsibility of ensuring these medical expenses are repaid to the hospital. However, we need some assistance to fundraise money to repay these costs.
Who knew that she would encounter such issues and there would be a pandemic called COVID, which would change not only Mithla's life, but also everyone worldwide. Mithla is still bummed that she missed her flight back home on February 13th 2021 and is looking forward to the day when she has recovered significantly to be able to catch a flight back home (once the Doctors give her the all clear).
Until then, we humbly request you to please help Mithla, my Husband, Nilesh and I raise some funds to assist with repaying Mithla's medical expenses, so she can some day look back with fond memories of being with us in Australia and not have to think about the current outstanding medical expenses for her heart surgery.
Any help will be much appreciated and may every helping hand be blessed with good health always! Mithla, Nilesh and I will be eternally grateful for your help and support.
Organizer
Rozilla Kumar
Organizer
Endeavour Hills, VIC