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“Tough times never last, but tough people do”
-Robert H. Schuller
On October 28th, Jewel went into the Winnebago Hospital with complications from Covid-19. With Jewel’s lack of ability to breathe normally on her own, she then had to be life flighted to faith Regional in Norfolk, NE. Upon her arrival she was placed on bypap as well placed in proning position to try and reduce the need for ventilation. Unfortunately, two days later on October 30th, Jewel was still unable to breathe adequately on her own and had to be intubated to be placed on a ventilator. She was placed in a medically induced coma for a week, but with several setbacks the duration turned into multiple weeks before turning into devastating news. The doctors shared that Jewels chances for survival were slim and urged the family to turn off the ventilator. Knowing that Jewel would want the family to fight for her, we decided as a family to refuse to give up! Over the next month’s Jewel suffered from a double collapsed lung, crepitus, and blood in her urine. Through this time, she had several different antibiotics trying to kick her constant fevers. Doctors once again pressured the family to consider pulling her off the ventilator sharing that continual treatment was only causing her trauma. Again, as a family we held our ground and prayed for a miracle. Going into January they started the process of working her oxygen intake from the ventilator, in hopes to get her to a safe level to perform a tracheotomy. They first attempted the surgery on January 13th but were unsuccessful with the tracheotomy due to her oxygen levels getting to a dangerous level. Fortunately, they were able to place a peg tube during that surgery and would attempt the tracheotomy again in a few days. On January 15th, they attempted the surgery once more knowing that the success of this surgery was Jewels last chance at survival. Not only was this surgery critical, but it was successful! Since Jewels tracheotomy surgery she’s still had plenty of obstacles in her way, but her will to recover is strong! Doctors are still warning us by letting us know that there is still a strong chance that she would be ventilator dependent for the rest of her life, and a nursing home would be her best-case scenario. Each day after, Jewel’s oxygen support has gone lower and lower to a point where she was able to be placed on a vent setting called CPAP. They had her on the setting for several days until one day where they decided to try and turn the ventilator off for a few hours and she was breathing on her own. She showed great progress but was still building up CO2 gasses in her lung that were hard to release so the CPAP was still used at night. A few days later and more work on weaning off the ventilator she was officially off the ventilator and moved to oxygen. Since she proved to no longer build up CO2 in her lungs the hospital started to move forward with physical therapy. She slowly started to regain her strength, on February 24th she passed her swallow test, and that same day was able have her first real meal! The next thing the doctors have on their plate is getting to take her trach out. They are working on capping the trach daily for a couple hours until she can reach 3-4 days on her own. At that point they will take the trach out and will just be on nasal oxygen! Mom has some serious physical/occupational therapy coming her way in the future, but nothing we know that she can’t overcome! Miracles happen, keep the faith! Thank you for all the prayers throughout this journey.
Due to the long stay in the hospital and the many appointments to come, there has been financial stress put on the family. Any donations made will be used for medical bills, appointments, and transportation. We appreciate your support during this tough time!
-Robert H. Schuller
On October 28th, Jewel went into the Winnebago Hospital with complications from Covid-19. With Jewel’s lack of ability to breathe normally on her own, she then had to be life flighted to faith Regional in Norfolk, NE. Upon her arrival she was placed on bypap as well placed in proning position to try and reduce the need for ventilation. Unfortunately, two days later on October 30th, Jewel was still unable to breathe adequately on her own and had to be intubated to be placed on a ventilator. She was placed in a medically induced coma for a week, but with several setbacks the duration turned into multiple weeks before turning into devastating news. The doctors shared that Jewels chances for survival were slim and urged the family to turn off the ventilator. Knowing that Jewel would want the family to fight for her, we decided as a family to refuse to give up! Over the next month’s Jewel suffered from a double collapsed lung, crepitus, and blood in her urine. Through this time, she had several different antibiotics trying to kick her constant fevers. Doctors once again pressured the family to consider pulling her off the ventilator sharing that continual treatment was only causing her trauma. Again, as a family we held our ground and prayed for a miracle. Going into January they started the process of working her oxygen intake from the ventilator, in hopes to get her to a safe level to perform a tracheotomy. They first attempted the surgery on January 13th but were unsuccessful with the tracheotomy due to her oxygen levels getting to a dangerous level. Fortunately, they were able to place a peg tube during that surgery and would attempt the tracheotomy again in a few days. On January 15th, they attempted the surgery once more knowing that the success of this surgery was Jewels last chance at survival. Not only was this surgery critical, but it was successful! Since Jewels tracheotomy surgery she’s still had plenty of obstacles in her way, but her will to recover is strong! Doctors are still warning us by letting us know that there is still a strong chance that she would be ventilator dependent for the rest of her life, and a nursing home would be her best-case scenario. Each day after, Jewel’s oxygen support has gone lower and lower to a point where she was able to be placed on a vent setting called CPAP. They had her on the setting for several days until one day where they decided to try and turn the ventilator off for a few hours and she was breathing on her own. She showed great progress but was still building up CO2 gasses in her lung that were hard to release so the CPAP was still used at night. A few days later and more work on weaning off the ventilator she was officially off the ventilator and moved to oxygen. Since she proved to no longer build up CO2 in her lungs the hospital started to move forward with physical therapy. She slowly started to regain her strength, on February 24th she passed her swallow test, and that same day was able have her first real meal! The next thing the doctors have on their plate is getting to take her trach out. They are working on capping the trach daily for a couple hours until she can reach 3-4 days on her own. At that point they will take the trach out and will just be on nasal oxygen! Mom has some serious physical/occupational therapy coming her way in the future, but nothing we know that she can’t overcome! Miracles happen, keep the faith! Thank you for all the prayers throughout this journey.
Due to the long stay in the hospital and the many appointments to come, there has been financial stress put on the family. Any donations made will be used for medical bills, appointments, and transportation. We appreciate your support during this tough time!