<div>Late at night on October 31st, my mom experienced a ruptured bowel and was rushed into surgery the next morning. The operation went well, but the surgeon couldn't close her back up afterwards. He decided to keep her heavily sedated in the ICU, and go back into the operating room several days later after her swelling had gone down to clean out her abdomen. Three days went by and he took her back to the operating room, cleaned out her abdomen, but she was still too swollen to be stitched shut. She remained in the ICU under heavy sedation for another week before she was finally able to be stitched back up. After about 8 days, she was sent back to the ICU for the remainder of her recovery. She was unable to breathe on her own and was on a ventilator. About 10 days after her original surgery, they decided to lessen her sedation and wanted to transfer her to a long-term acute care facility. During a CT scan, they discovered that the previous surgical work had fallen apart, and the surgeon had to go back in and re-do the procedure. 
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<div> She spent a total of 28 days in the ICU, 17 of those days intubated, and another 11 days with a tracheostomy for the ventilator. Now, more than two months post-surgery, she is still in a Long Term Acute Care Facility. She’s able to breathe on her own, talk, eat, and drink, but due to the long time in the ICU and in a hospital bed, she’s not able to walk currently. We are awaiting her transfer to a rehabilitation center where she can rebuild her strength and hopefully walk again, returning to a more normal life. My mom is a super caring person who always puts others before herself and never asks for help. Both she and her husband are on Disability with a very limited income, and the financial burden of medical bills, rehabilitation, and increased living expenses is overwhelming. 
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<div> My mom has never been the type to ask for help—she’s always the one offering to help wherever she can. It’s been a massive adjustment for her emotionally to come to terms with needing help to fully recover. Thank you so much for even taking the time to read this. Your well wishes truly mean the world to her and to us, her family. Any support you’re able to give is something we will be eternally grateful for.
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<div>Funds will be used to support the growing medical expenses, rehabilitation expenses, and cost of living expenses while we are all focused full time on her recovery in the hospital.
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Laura Parisi

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Pauline Swanson-Giard

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Lightning Cruddas

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Alisa Safari

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Anonymous

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Support Karen's Recovery after Emergency Surgery

Support Karen's Recovery after Emergency Surgery

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