Medical Emergency for Harned Family

My mother, Song Harned has been living with Parkinson's Disease for nearly 5 years, but she wasn't accurately diagnosed with the disease until early 2017. It started out as a feeling of numbness in her writing hand which eventually spread to her arm, then her leg and then her entire right side. Over the years her condition gradually became worse to where she could no longer work or drive, but she could manage to live at home on her own fairly well and just needed assistance from time-to-time. 

Shortly after she was diagnosed, her condition worsened to where she could not walk unassisted and needed around-the-clock care which Dad and I (David, her youngest) have provided. I work during the day and Dad works at night so we've made it work. We've tried regular exercise and she's been on many different medications for Parkinson's Disease, but her physical condition has only continued to worsen. She has had to rely on the use of a walker daily, and we have a wheelchair if it's ever too difficult for her to get around. 

The occurrence:
On the morning of Easter Sunday, an unexpected turn of events occurred. For specific details, a timeline of events is posted below, but in short Dad and I found mom having a seizure, covered in sweat, hyperthermic and her body was as stiff as a board. We had an ambulance take her to our local hospital, but as hours passed her condition had not shown much improvement so our options were to either wait and hope she comes out of the seizure or to have her airlifted to St. Dominic's Hospital in Jackson, MS to seek further treatment. We chose the latter as her combination of symptoms was very unusual and we weren't sure if she was ever going to come out of it. We found out the next day that mom had a very rare reaction relating to her Parkinson's medication called Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome.

Mom would spend the next 5 nights in the ICU. She was sedated for first 2 days and put on life support on the second day and on the third day she was taken off sedation and miraculously woke up with minor complications. To this day she is still in the hospital in a regular room, but with her disease, it's making for a very slow recovery and she's having difficulty swallowing. She's using a temporary feeding tube until she can get her strength up to walk and hopefully pass a swallow test to see if she can safely eat and drink. We are ever so grateful for all the thoughts and prayers for mom's recovery, but unfortunately, at this point in time (4.11.18) we do not know when or if she will be well enough to be discharged from the hospital. We want what's best for mom's recovery, but the longer she stays in the hospital, the greater the financial burden will be on my parents. 

Purpose:
We hope to raise enough money to at least cover travel expenses and a significant chunk of the upcoming hospital bills. It would be such a blessing to raise enough money to cover all current and future expenses related to this situation, but we understand this is a great amount to ask. Donating any amount and/or sharing our story with your family and friends would be a tremendous help to our family and we would greatly appreciate the support. 

Your contribution would also help to go towards mom's future care as we have a list of items to consider purchasing to help with the caretaking at home and to provide additional mobility and standing aids around the house. 

If you're local to us and cannot contribute financially, but still want to help out, we certainly welcome any help via volunteering. 


Timeline of events:
2013 - Mom had first experienced difficulties with signing her name which slowly progressed to her losing sensation and fine motor control of her hand, then arm and then leg. Eventually, this progressed to her entire right side.

2014 - Her condition gradually worsened to the point where she was not physically able to work or drive. 

2015 - Her condition continued to worsen to the point where she needed assistance from time-to-time. Dad worked the night shift and I worked during the day so I moved back home to help around the house while dad was away. 

2017 - After years of inaccurate diagnoses and several visits with a neurologist out of UAB, mom was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. After continued efforts to manage her disease with exercise and trying new medications, her condition continued to worsen and eventually she could not be able to walk without assistance. At this point, she needed more than assistance, but around-the-clock care which dad and I could provide since our schedules still worked well together. 


Most recent events:
(4.1.18) Easter Sunday Morning: Mom was awake and got up out of bed for a short while and then went back to sleep. A few hours had passed and we heard her moaning and groaning so we went to check on her and saw her moving her arms around. Dad and I thought she was having a bad dream. We called her name, she wouldn't respond, but at this point, we thought she was still dreaming. Dad walked up to check on her up close and realized her shirt was drenched and she was lying in a pool of sweat. She was very warm to the touch from head to toe and her body was as stiff as a board. She was not responding to our attempts to wake her and we didn't know what exactly was going on so we immediately called for an ambulance. At our local hospital (OCH), hours had gone by and it was unclear what was going on with mom. She was still unresponsive and her condition had only slightly improved so our options were to have her stay and hope for her condition to improve and hope for her to wake up or to have her airlifted to St. Dominic's Hospital in Jackson, MS to seek further treatment to better her chances of waking up. We decided on the latter. We had a number of questions at this point. Was she having a stroke? What caused her to seizure? Will she have brain damage from running a high fever for so long? Would she ever wake up? Was she going to die?

(4.2.18) Monday, we were told that mom's seizure was caused by a very rare reaction to her Parkinson's medication called Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome. Mom would spend the next 5 nights in the ICU. She was sedated for first 2 days and she was put on life support for the second day and on the third day she was taken off sedation and woke up with little complication. She has improved ever so slightly with each passing day, but she has not passed a swallow test nor has she been able to walk with assistance. 

(4.6.18) Friday, she has continued to slowly improve and was moved to a regular room, but she is still in no condition to be discharged yet. 

(4.10.18) Tuesday, her second swallow test has been postponed until her physical condition improves a little more. Dad is working with her to build up her strength so she can walk with her walker. She is talking well, but she is still very weak.

(4.12.18) Thursday, mom was discharged from St. Dominic's Hospital late last night, and she is back home! Her swallowing is not 100% but strong enough to manage at home so no feeding tube! Also, she has shown that she can walk a few steps with a walker which is a huge improvement, but she is still very weak. With all things considering from the past week and a half, this has been very good news. Thank the Lord!

(4.23.18): Song, my mother, has been home for 12 days now since her 10 night stay at the hospital. This past week has been very challenging for my Dad and I as we’ve practically turned the house into a makeshift nursing home to provide around-the-clock care for mom all while re-adjusting to our work schedules.

The picture of empty boxes is the aftermath of the stuff we’ve had to get. We’ve moved furniture, changed out furniture, installed equipment, swapped ceramic and glass plates, bowls and cups for the disposable alternatives. It has been quite a task!

With your donations, we’ve been able to cover our travel expenses and lost wages along with being able to purchase equipment and supplies for my mom’s care. She has shown signs of improvement every day, but she is still very weak. We hope to get her strong enough to be a little more independent and she is optimistic that she will get better so that’s been good. I truly believe your prayers and show of concern for my mother has helped not only her, but it has helped me and my dad as well.

If you wish to help us out you can give a donation to my parent’s GoFundMe, purchase any items for us from our Amazon.com Wish List or if you’re local to us you can also help out by providing meals that can be frozen and are easy to chew and swallow.

To view our Amazon.com Wish List, please visit the following link: http://a.co/9KN97v2