Help Trish provide life-saving care for her sister Louise

Longtime devotee Patricia (Trish) Ryan, who works for SRF Membership Services, took an emergency flight to Costa Rica to care for her sister, longtime devotee and former Encinitas resident Louise Dickson, who was found on the floor of her home in Samara. Unable to get up, she was in severe pain, delirious, and suffering from severe dehydration because she hadn’t been able to reach water or food for a couple of days.

Louise had been waiting for hip replacement surgery for well over two years, and was just a couple of weeks away from the getting the surgery. In the meantime, the pain in her hip had started causing excruciating pain, which in turn created an extreme limp that evolved into issues with her opposite leg and foot because she was putting all her weight and pressure on the good side. Ultimately, she could not bear her own weight, which is how she ended up being found on the floor.

When Trish arrived on August 12, Louise was unable to move her legs more than an inch without severe pain, could not bear her own weight, and was partially delirious from the pain and trauma.

A nurse took a video of Louise and sent it to a doctor to get stronger pain medication. When the doctor saw the video, he reported back that Louise had a serious infection and to get her to emergency immediately! Trish came very close to losing her. The closest hospital was in Nicoya, almost an hour away, and some of the roads to get there are dirt roads that are deeply rutted. By the time they got her to the hospital in Nicoya, she was in excruciating pain and was completely delirious. She stayed that way for five days until she was finally moved to a room. The emergency conditions were appalling. There were 15 people in one room with a very small nursing staff and no air conditioning. There were only a few ceiling fans and it is very warm and humid there.

The conditions were much better when she was moved to a bed In the hospital. Louise regained her mental clarity and a good deal of her strength, but was still unable to move her legs, and only slightly move her left arm. After being in the hospital for a month, the doctors decided they needed to do colostomy surgery. However, because of the location of a severe pressure wound, the wound kept getting re-infected.

Louise also had two different staff infections, both very serious — one in her blood and one in her tissues — and needed two different antibiotics to fight the infections. They said Louise would need a double negative on the test results for the infection before they could do surgery to close the wound, which at this point was too big and too deep to close on its own.

I'll let Trish take it from here...

We finally got the double negative and were waiting for a surgical date when, just yesterday, September 27, we were told that they are not going to be able to close the wound surgically because of its location, which would cause the skin graft to break down and it would be the same problem all over again. They also said that it is very unlikely that she is going to recover the use of her legs. This was a very hard blow, which you can imagine. My original flight home was set for September 12. That had to be changed to October 15. After this news I am going to have to change it again because I can’t in good conscience leave my sister while she is still in the hospital.

There is a very nice Residential Care facility nearby that she can afford on her Social Security to recuperate at and regain her strength once she’s out of the hospital. In the meantime, we are going to be putting her house on the market. Once it is sold, She will be able to return to the U.S. Her current residency is Costa Rica so she doesn’t have Medicare in the U.S.

I am running out of money to be able to stay and advocate for my sister‘s care and in this case it's an absolute necessity. The hospital here is not like the hospitals in the United States. You have to be on top of everything all the time or it doesn’t get done.

The costs have been medical, transportation, food, and gas. It is close to an hour's drive one way to the hospital and I have been going almost every day. Friends have donated through this time, but now the money is running very low and it’s almost certain that I’m going to have to extend my stay until at least mid-November.

I am very blessed that SRF Membership Services has graciously given me three months extended leave (with doctors 'documentation), which I’m deeply grateful for.

I was blessed that a friend of my sister donated the airfare in August so I could get to her immediately. I didn't expect to be in a position where I needed to ask for help, but I need to be here for my sister, and will be deeply grateful for any assistance.