Support for Donna and Neal

11/24 - update. Dad fell the night of 11/22, he’s currently in the hospital and expecting to get surgery tomorrow. He broke one of his ankles on both sides. Please continue to pray!

11/20 - Update on my dad: he came home yesterday and on a blood thinner. He’ll see his primary doc next week and the cardiologist in Greenville in December and January! He is a little short of breath again this evening, we’re hoping it’s just because he was more active today since he laid for 4 days, that it’s all going to take some time. But we are keeping an eye out. Thank you all for your love and support we are so grateful.

These past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind for our family.

On Oct 28th, my mother, Donna, went to the local ED because she was jaundiced and extremely sick. They found that her liver had cirrhosis. They released her that day and told her to contact the specialist the next day for an appointment. The specialist could not see her until 2 1/2 weeks out. Her sister and I decided that was too far out and took it upon ourselves to get her somewhere else because we knew she could not wait that long. Her two sisters and brother-in-law loaded up and got her to UNC Chapel Hill ER. They jumped into gear and took amazing care of her there and agreed she could not have waited that long. They did so many tests, dug deep, and also found infection and bacteria, including vitamin deficiencies. Her sister, Lisa, stayed alongside her throughout the 5-day stay and helped her so extremely much. They sent her home with a treatment plan and new medications. She had bloodwork drawn a few days after being home to check her levels, which had decreased some but were still very high at unfavorable levels. So they took her off the steroid since they said it was not working. She will go next week to recheck her levels again. She’s currently set to see her liver specialist in Chapel Hill in December.

It is incurable. If her levels stay high, they are possibly talking liver transplant, but they are being optimistic about it all and taking one step at a time to see if they can get those levels down first before they go that route!

We are so grateful for the care she received at UNC Hospital! I will never be more grateful for the teams there working on her case.

Right now, that is the latest update on my mom.

On Nov 14th, my father, Neal, was very fatigued. He has dealt with health issues and high blood pressure for quite some time, but recently his blood pressure has been all over the place, low and high. He started having burning pain in his upper stomach/chest and was very short of breath the morning of Nov 15th. So he went to the ED at the local hospital. My husband, Frankie, went to be with him. They did tests and took him to ICU to closely monitor his heart and started medication to slow his heart rate. They are currently thinking it is AFib.

He is still there and will see the cardiologist on Monday; from there, they will determine when he will come home. Whenever he is released, he’s set to see a cardiologist in Greenville.

As a family, we are trying to help as much as possible. Now with travel expenses to appointments in Chapel Hill and Greenville for both specialists, on top of household bills, vehicle fixes for transportation, household fixes for safer living conditions, and any medical expenses there may be. They’re on a very fixed income, we are trying to lessen the load on them. If you cannot help monetarily, please, please pray! We need them so much!

As their daughter, this has been extremely hard watching both parents go through this. I have prayed so hard over them and their medical teams. I never would have imagined being in this situation, with both parents at the same time. I’m holding on to my faith and hope!

Thank you all for any love and support during this time