Help Mom Recover After Life-Changing Spinal Surgery

January 4th

Today marks 3 months since Mom's surgery.

I have such mixed emotions writing this update. Mom has physically made some huge improvements, however her pain is still constant and horrific. Thankfully she is now able to feel and move her feet well enough to walk SHORT distances with her walker! This is a miracle in itself! We still have not taken her out of the house yet, and are still waiting for her custom wheelchair to arrive. She has a very hard time sitting in this wheelchair for too long as it hurts too much. She is still on the IV PICC line antibiotics 3x a day hopefully only for another week! Her incision is almost completely healed and we shouldn't need to keep changing the dressing every other day after this week also! She moves from her bed to the recliner and just uses the wheel chair to get around the house mostly. Just yesterday she walked from her bed to the recliner with the Walker and my dad following behind her with the wheelchair! We are still hoping and praying that one day she will not need to use the walker at all! Please continue to pray for her CONSTANT pain to subside and for her continued strength! They say the most progress for this recovery happens between 3-6 months, so we are praying for big improvements January, February and March!

There are also a few other concerns we have that we would appreciate prayer for. God knows what they are, and they don't need to be shared with the world, but if you could pray for a few unspoken requests on Behalf of my mom's recovery, we would certainly appreciate it! ♥️ Oma is still here, staying until mid February now. This has been amazing to have this time with her and mom together ♥️ we are so grateful for all the "blessings" we have gotten out of this tragic accident. We are making sure to count them every day! Thank you all SO much for the continued love, support, food, cards, calls, and visits. Our family could not have gotten through this far without all of your love and support! ♥️♥️♥️ Mom was able to spend Christmas and the new year with her mom, it was not easy without Opa, but it was a holiday season we will NEVER forget ♥️

December 10th

Mom is coming home tomorrow!!!! She's coming home on her dad's birthday ♥️ Mom and dad are moving in with Kayla, her family, and oma for the winter! We are very excited for her to come home, but there are many obstacles and things to figure out before tomorrow. Please continue to pray for strength, wisdom, and clarity for this transition. ♥️ Mom is still not walking yet, but she is working hard in physical therapy. She has been making HUGE mini improvements. (That's the best way I can describe it) Physical therapy is able to help her stand up and take small steps. She is getting great at transferring from her wheelchair to the bed and car on her own. She's working hard to build up her strength so she can walk again on her own! She still has a PICC line in until mid January for her infection. We will be getting some nursing help at home for the foreseeable future. Thank you all for your love and support!! Hopefully once she's all settled in, she will be up for a visitors after the holidays ♥️

December 1st

It's been a VERY busy week!! We believe mom is finally on the upswing! Having her entire family visit all week has made a huge difference! FAMILY really is the best medicine!! Rehab was able to take out her wound vac today, so no more tube in her back ♥️ she is gaining a little more strength each day and making improvements Grandma had decided to stay and move in with Kayla until mid January so she can be here when Mom moves in after rehab♥️ we are hoping and praying that Mom will be home for Christmas but we also want her to get as much rehab as she can! There are little improvements each day! For the first time ever, today she wheeled down to therapy without ANY cords/Iv's attached to her ♥️♥️ she still has a long way to go, but we are very hopeful mom is only moving forward from here on out!! ♥️♥️

Thank you all for your continued prayers and love!

November 26th (Day 52?)

Mom got transferred back to RIM in Detroit last night! ♥️Hopefully we can start the process of healing without any backward steps! Mom is still in a lot of pain unfortunately. She still has a wound vac and a PICC line until mid january, a small amount of fluid around her lungs, and her oxygen isn't fully back to normal yet. But she is working hard! They are getting her up with physical therapy and she was able to take a few steps today WITH assistance. Her 91 year old Mom and her brother from vermont made it to Michigan this week to see here♥️ Krista and Karie's families came to town this week as well. We are all taking turns spending as much time as we can with Mom since she won't be home for Thanksgiving. We appreciate the continued prayers♥️♥️ hopefully mom will be back home and moved in with us before Christmas!

November 20 (Day 50)

The last couple days were probably some of the worst for Mom in pain. However today we are hoping she has turned a corner!!! She is still at the hospital, but she was accepted back to RIM in Detroit again today! So we are waiting for insurance and hopefully she will get back to the rehab tomorrow or Monday, but hopefully tomorrow!! She has a wound vac in for a while and a picc line for IV antibiotics for 8 weeks. We are praying that the worst is behind us and the REAL healing can begin!!! Thank you all for your continued support, cards, messages, food, and prayers! This has been the most difficult thing our mom AND family has ever been through.

November 17th

Mom's culture from her infection came back. She had an active growing Staph infection. They say she will have a PICC line of IV antibiotics in for 6-8 weeks, On top of the wound vac they put in with a drain tube for 5-6 months. She is in SO much pain and misery! This morning she woke up and felt short of breath. They are doing an x Ray of her stomach and chest. We are hoping this stomach pain can subside!

November 15th

Mom went back for surgery at 1pm.

She is out of surgery!

Infection was not as bad as they thought it would be! We caught it early enough! Just Waiting for her to come back to the room ♥️♥️ Hopefully now she can start to REALLY recover from this nightmare

November 14th

WE NEED LOTS OF PRAYER!!

We're are back at the hospital. Been in the ER yesterday. They still don't have a room for her yet The wash out surgery is scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday) at 12:30. She is still in constant severe pain but we are trying to make her as comfortable as we can here in the ER. Please pray she gets moved to a ROOM asap!!! And pray this surgery tomorrow is quick and simple and removes this infection from her body completely!!!

November 13th

Today has been a rollercoaster of emotion, frustration, and disappointment. Mom's infection in her incision is not getting better, it's gotten worse. She's been on antibiotics for 7 days and it's not doing enough. She's been transferred from RIM back to the hospital they are planning to open her incision again and wash it out to clean the infection. Please pray they can get this infection under control without having to do another surgery. She has endured more than anyone should these last 40 days!!

November 12

The IV antibiotics are working very very well and my mom's infection is looking so much better! Her pain in her back has been a lot better with the antibiotics as well. Yesterday she did the full physical therapy and occupational therapy and they are working hard on teaching her how to transfer to and from the car from the chair. For the last week, it feels like it's been a a backwards slide everyday.... but we are hopeful that we are turning a corner!! We are working on plans for after rehab because this is a short-term facility. They will only keep her another week or two. Please continue to pray for wisdom, direction and answers! ♥️♥️

NOVEMBER 9TH

Mom's incision is very infected still. It has gotten worse over the last 2 days so they are starting her on IV antibiotics tonight! She developed NEW sharp shooting pain right next to her incision in her back possibly from the infection. Praying these IV antibiotics work and work fast!!

November 6th

SO much is happening today! Some good some not It's overwhelming!

Mom was able to Do Physical therapy today and stand up with the parallel bars 4x!! This was HUGE and great success!!!! However, every time they get her out of bed right now , her blood pressure drops .. but we are working through it. She feels the best when she is OUT of the bed, but it's very hard to get her out and she can't stay up for too long yet.

She has had issues with her incision for 2 days now and she needs her sutures out. she has to be transported back to the doctora office to get them taken out and then back to RIM again by ambulance. She is so overwhelmed and upset as this is a TON to deal with in one day, very exhausting , and painful! Please pray she does NOT have an infection!!

We need prayers for safe transfer and NO infection in her incision when they take out the sutures! Her incision is also hurting and stinging making it very difficult to even lay in bed. She can't wait to get the stitches out!

November 4th

The last few days have been the absolute hardest so far Sorry if you tried to reach out to any of us. Mom has been in SOO much pain EVERYWHERE, but now also in her stomach. Since they had the foley in for 28 days at the hospital, her bladder/bowels are neurogenic. This is very scary, and VERY painful. She did get a good PT session in yesterday, but because she hasn't used ANY muscle in her legs for over 30 days, it brought on all sorts of "new" pain and different pain ON TOP of her horrible pain she was already having. There are no words to describe how horrific it is to watch our mom suffer in TEARS of pain for 32 days straight, but these last 48 have been the hardest by far. She is physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted!

There are SOOO many people mom wants to say thank you to♥️Please know that all of your texts, messages, or cards eventually DO get read (even if they are not responded to) we are just trying to take it day by day, but honestly it feels like hour by hour right now. Please continue to pray for strength and healing of her nerves so she can get rid of this pain and regain some movement and feeling back of her own she is asking for NO visitors right now until further notice I will update when she is ready for visitors. Again, Thank you all for your love and support!! It means more than we could ever express ♥️

October 30th

Mom has officially been transferred to RIM in Detroit!!!!!

She will be there for a few weeks

October 27th

It feels like we keep hitting brick walls Mom was denied to go to in patient rehab because she isn't "mobile" enough. We thought she could get into a different one, but someone gave us wrong information.

The new current hospital plan is to send her to a skilled nursing facility (nursing home) for a few weeks to work on getting her stronger and able to STAND on her own or at least with only 1-2 person assist.

After some improvement, we can reapply for in patient rehabNONE of us want this, but we are running out of options

THIS Wednesday is her birthday it's going to be a hard one on many levels, but especially since last year we were celebrating in California with her mom and dad

We are SO SO SOOOO grateful for all who have donated!!! ♥️ THANK YOU!!!!!

♥️♥️ please continue to pray for healing and strength for us all ♥️

October 23rd- (Day 20 in the hospital)

Mom is still recovering from her second surgery. her pain is being managed well. The surgery Monday did not immediately relieve the new weakness in her right leg like we hoped and She is still unable to move either feet. We are hoping to get her moved to the in-patient rehab early next week. Today is incredibly hard on ALL of us. Last night Mom's Dad went home to heaven. He has been a HUGE pillar in our family for 95 years and is already missed beyond belief. Please keep our ENTIRE family in your prayers.

October 20th PM

Mom is out of surgery. She is in a LOT of pain again. It feels like we are starting all over again They were able to remove the fluid on her spine and fix the screw that was out of place. We are praying hard for her to regain some of her strength back in her right leg right now she still can't move either feet. This will be a long recovery, but if anyone can do it, our Mom CAN!! Thank you for all the continued love and support. ♥️♥️♥️

October 20th AM

Mom is going back into surgery today at 12pm.

She has developed more weakness in her right leg the last few days. MRI showed some fluid that could be compressing some nerves on her spine. We're Praying that draining the fluid will help her regain some of that weakness she's lost in the last few days.

THANK YOU ALL for your continued support, love, prayers, and messages. We can't thank you all enough!

On Friday, October 3rd, our mom underwent an intense spinal fusion surgery. During the procedure, there were unexpected complications, and she lost signal to the nerves in her legs and feet. Unfortunately, that signal did not fully return.

When she woke up from surgery, she could move her legs a little, but could not feel or move her feet. This has been a heartbreaking and frightening experience for her and for our entire family.

She has already been in the hospital for 11 days and is now facing a very long and uncertain road to recovery. Hopefully, next week she will be transferred to an extended intensive inpatient rehabilitation hospital 2 hours away from her home. Once she is able to come home, specialized equipment, home modifications, and continued medical care will be needed for an uncertain amount of time. We are doing everything we can to support her, but the costs are overwhelming.

We are raising funds to help with:

- Rehabilitation and physical therapy costs

- Medical equipment and mobility support

- Home health care and accessibility needs, such as making their home ADA accessible

- Travel expenses for our Dad and family while she is in rehab

Everyone who knows our mom has been touched by her kindness and love. She is strong, but she needs a community around her right now.

We know many people have reached out asking how they can help. This is one meaningful way to lend your support.

We are deeply grateful for all your prayers, love, cards, and encouragement! Please keep them coming ♥️

❤️ With love and gratitude,

Krista, Karie & Kayla