Mary's Road to Recovery
Donation protected
Hello my wonderful family and friends. As many of you know my mom was in ICU fighting for her life. She had a rare kidney infection called Pyelonephritis which traveled into her blood causing sepsis sending 
her body into septic shock. She went into respiratory failure and she was intubated, her lactic acid was 10x the normal limit which meant her organs were not getting the oxygen they needed to survive. Her BP dropped to 50/30 and she was put on the max dose of two very potent drugs known as Vasopressors. We were told she would not make it through the night and due to COVID only one of us could go and see her for 10 minutes. I begged hospital administration to allow us to be with her because we did not want her to be alone if she did not make it. We had to make a choice of who would see her and we all decided my 21 year old sister Korina would be the one since we felt that my mom would feel her presence and she could tell her to keep fighting. We felt helpless and stayed in the hospital parking lot all night. 
We prayed and cried for hours. We had not hugged my mom in months due to the pandemic and it was inhumane to not allow us to enter to see her. Not knowing if she was still with us was the hardest part. We would have to call to get an update and we were lucky if they answered because her ICU nurse had another patient with COVID so he was full in PPE and was not allowed to take his phone into the other room. 
One Dr did everything he could to try and allow us to be with her and it went on death ears. She did make it through the night and spent 10 days in the ICU on a ventilator. It has been so hard to remain strong while seeing my 12 yr old nephew and 6 yr old son breakdown in the midst of all this. They are very close to her and as hard as we tried to hide it from them they knew what was going on. This has taken a toll on my entire family. She was released after 15 days of being hospitalized. The drugs that saved her life usually used for very short periods of time due to their severe side effects and she was on the max dose for 5 days. These drugs cut off the circulation to her hands and feet. Which is the purpose of this fundraiser.
Prior to this my mom was healthy with only diabetes as an underlying health condition (which she controlled). She has always been independent and ran her own business and was successful at it. She had gone to the ER twice before with severe pain in her lower back, an unbearable pain that had her in tears. This was all during the beginning of the COVID pandemic and because she had a cough they would isolate her in the ER even though she had no fever and she was never fully assessed how she should have been. Her primary Dr also ran tests but would only see her through Telehealth. This should not have been missed and should have been taken care of before she became septic.
Me and my siblings are taking turns helping out but we are in over our heads. We are still trying to keep our distance from my mom in order to keep her safe from COVID. I am a full time nursing student in an accelerated program and I have hospital rotations every weekend. My brother and sister work full time and the responsibility is falling on my youngest sister and it is to much for her. My mom can not walk due to the damage on her feet.
She is getting better and luckily her hands have returned to normal. Her feet are slowly healing but we need two people at all times to help get her up, she needs help showering, she needs physical therapy and wound care twice a day. She is seeing 6 doctors, is taking several medications, and she needs medical equipment to help navigate her and everything is adding up. She has not been able to work and has lost several clients. We know all her clients love her and will be back once she is recovered but she is no position to work at the moment.
We ask if anyone can donate or volunteer their time to take her to dr appointments, visit her, bring her some lunch or anything of that matter. Her hospital stay had an effect on her spirit since no one could go see her, she felt very lonely and she said the hours felt like weeks. While in ICU they never ran a brush through her hair for ten days and it was so matted most of it fell out, we had to cut alot of it off just to get the tangles out so we're looking at getting a wig.
She also has two stage 2 bed sores from not being moved every two hours while she was in a coma for 10 days. They are starting to heal but are very painful. If anyone has a shower chair, toilet seat, wheel chair or if you know where we can rent please let me know. This is all temporary and if you have faith please continue to pray. I know that our prayers kept her here and we have a long journey ahead of us. Thank you to everyone who pushed me to make the go fund me and everyone who has continued to check on us. We appreciate it and love you all. We want her back to normal and we know we have all of you.
Anyone with a loved one in the hospital I urge you to advocate for them. I fought to be with my mom and I was finally granted permission once she was out of ICU but it should not be that difficult. Write your city leaders, senators and anyone who demand this to change. I will not give up until they allow patients to have someone with them cause no one should ever be alone during a time of illness. Hours in a hospital room with little contact is not ideal in anyway for anyone. We can still remain safe and take precautions with one family member being granted access at all times. Do not wait until you are on this side facing this reality, do something now.
her body into septic shock. She went into respiratory failure and she was intubated, her lactic acid was 10x the normal limit which meant her organs were not getting the oxygen they needed to survive. Her BP dropped to 50/30 and she was put on the max dose of two very potent drugs known as Vasopressors. We were told she would not make it through the night and due to COVID only one of us could go and see her for 10 minutes. I begged hospital administration to allow us to be with her because we did not want her to be alone if she did not make it. We had to make a choice of who would see her and we all decided my 21 year old sister Korina would be the one since we felt that my mom would feel her presence and she could tell her to keep fighting. We felt helpless and stayed in the hospital parking lot all night. We prayed and cried for hours. We had not hugged my mom in months due to the pandemic and it was inhumane to not allow us to enter to see her. Not knowing if she was still with us was the hardest part. We would have to call to get an update and we were lucky if they answered because her ICU nurse had another patient with COVID so he was full in PPE and was not allowed to take his phone into the other room. One Dr did everything he could to try and allow us to be with her and it went on death ears. She did make it through the night and spent 10 days in the ICU on a ventilator. It has been so hard to remain strong while seeing my 12 yr old nephew and 6 yr old son breakdown in the midst of all this. They are very close to her and as hard as we tried to hide it from them they knew what was going on. This has taken a toll on my entire family. She was released after 15 days of being hospitalized. The drugs that saved her life usually used for very short periods of time due to their severe side effects and she was on the max dose for 5 days. These drugs cut off the circulation to her hands and feet. Which is the purpose of this fundraiser. Prior to this my mom was healthy with only diabetes as an underlying health condition (which she controlled). She has always been independent and ran her own business and was successful at it. She had gone to the ER twice before with severe pain in her lower back, an unbearable pain that had her in tears. This was all during the beginning of the COVID pandemic and because she had a cough they would isolate her in the ER even though she had no fever and she was never fully assessed how she should have been. Her primary Dr also ran tests but would only see her through Telehealth. This should not have been missed and should have been taken care of before she became septic.
Me and my siblings are taking turns helping out but we are in over our heads. We are still trying to keep our distance from my mom in order to keep her safe from COVID. I am a full time nursing student in an accelerated program and I have hospital rotations every weekend. My brother and sister work full time and the responsibility is falling on my youngest sister and it is to much for her. My mom can not walk due to the damage on her feet.
She is getting better and luckily her hands have returned to normal. Her feet are slowly healing but we need two people at all times to help get her up, she needs help showering, she needs physical therapy and wound care twice a day. She is seeing 6 doctors, is taking several medications, and she needs medical equipment to help navigate her and everything is adding up. She has not been able to work and has lost several clients. We know all her clients love her and will be back once she is recovered but she is no position to work at the moment. We ask if anyone can donate or volunteer their time to take her to dr appointments, visit her, bring her some lunch or anything of that matter. Her hospital stay had an effect on her spirit since no one could go see her, she felt very lonely and she said the hours felt like weeks. While in ICU they never ran a brush through her hair for ten days and it was so matted most of it fell out, we had to cut alot of it off just to get the tangles out so we're looking at getting a wig.
She also has two stage 2 bed sores from not being moved every two hours while she was in a coma for 10 days. They are starting to heal but are very painful. If anyone has a shower chair, toilet seat, wheel chair or if you know where we can rent please let me know. This is all temporary and if you have faith please continue to pray. I know that our prayers kept her here and we have a long journey ahead of us. Thank you to everyone who pushed me to make the go fund me and everyone who has continued to check on us. We appreciate it and love you all. We want her back to normal and we know we have all of you. Anyone with a loved one in the hospital I urge you to advocate for them. I fought to be with my mom and I was finally granted permission once she was out of ICU but it should not be that difficult. Write your city leaders, senators and anyone who demand this to change. I will not give up until they allow patients to have someone with them cause no one should ever be alone during a time of illness. Hours in a hospital room with little contact is not ideal in anyway for anyone. We can still remain safe and take precautions with one family member being granted access at all times. Do not wait until you are on this side facing this reality, do something now.
Organizer
Bianca Rueda
Organizer
El Paso, TX