Support & Efforts for Betty Trahan

Hi, my name is Melissa Trahan, daughter of Betty Trahan. Many of you know that my mother has been in Baylor St. Luke’s Hospital located in Houston, TX since November 1, 2022. She was led there because no doctors here in LA could provide a specific open heart surgery & speciality care that she needed to survive. That is when it was decided to travel out of state to a strategic & speciality hospital for an Aortic Heart Valve replacement for the SECOND time “as a redo” who specializes in this rare case. Unexpectedly, the surgery lasted 10 & 1/2 hours yet initially seemed to finish strong. However, it didn’t end there as intended. Accepting the gamble as a high risk, other areas were compromised causing extreme swelling & compression which started a series of complications. Since then, she has been critically ill in CCU while being in an induced coma due to her body having to be paralyzed with no movement for the need of her organs & brain to stay fully asleep receiving a more adequate recovery process. This includes full Life Support, Ecmo, Bypass, Kidney Dialysis, Ventilators, numerous Blood Transfusions, a recent Permanent Pacemaker, etc. in the midst of around the clock testing, X-rays & some procedures involving her main lines with multiple tubes or IVs. We have been strictly allowing her organs to fully rest with the machines doing all the work for her in hopes of her heart becoming stronger. She is on Dialysis to extract fluid from her lungs & body. Her blood pressure is having difficulty maintaining sufficient levels & requiring extremely high doses of medications while extracting fluid at the same time. She’s also lacking proper blood circulation and good oxygen to her hands & feet due to the powerful medications or severe swelling which could possibly lead to future amputation of some sort. Disappointingly that has also delayed the process of getting a picc line to help prevent infections. It has been overwhelming trying to balance it all & trying to prioritize each need of each organ at which time. These doctors deal with these type of rare situations daily & specialize in these rare occurrences. They are optimistic & believe organs can recover. She does have full brain activity which is a good sign & the sedation is keeping her comfortable. The doctors want to give her the opportunity of a fighting chance to use her new heart valve as we all do. The point of her going there was to survive & live longer. Everyone’s body is different, her body just needs more time & she’ll have a longer recovery process. I was very fortunate to be aside her the first 10 days with the help of her 2 best friends giving her some peace of mind & making it possible for me to be there. Unfortunately, I had to leave her bedside to return home for saving my job to support myself & my child. The travel expenses are too much to bear on my own as a single parent. I’ve been under tremendous stress while being on the phone multiple times a day with doctors or nurses in regards to my mother’s care. I’m asking for assistance with traveling expenses back & forth to Texas to spend the much-needed time with my mother at the hospital during significant concerns or changes with her progress while also putting her affairs in order to set her up with a stress free homecoming that includes cleaning & saving her apt for her at the elderly assisted living facility here where she resides. Thank you for your understanding & support. If anything, please pray for her recovery. She can really use all the prayers she can get. Love to all.