SUPPORT LISA MIKEAL BEAT THE ODDS
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Life has slowed down a bit, which gives me some time to write this, but my family and I have a long road ahead. We don’t know where it’s going to take us. I want to say that we are a very private and proud family, but we need help this time. Here is this summer’s journey, not that I could include all of the pain we went through or the number of times a physician made our hearts sink, but I hope you get the idea.
On June 24th, the back tire of the motorcycle that carried my parents on I29 blew. As a passenger, my mom, Lisa, had nothing to hold onto as it fishtailed back and forth. She hit the ground on her right side, breaking spurs off of her vertebrae, snapping her clavicle, crushing ribs 3-10 in multiple places, and causing her to suffer skull fractures. Her neck snapped back up, left, causing the most serious damage: a brain bleed. EMTs incubated in the field to secure an airway and did 5 minutes of CPR when they lost her pulse. Mom took Eagle III flight for life to St Vincent Hospital in Green Bay where we spent the next 4 weeks in the ICU.
We listened to doctors and surgeons go back and forth on her prognosis. A tracheostomy was inserted so that she didn’t get pneumonia from the ventilator. Incisions were made front and back so that metal plates could be placed to decrease her pain every time a breath was taken because of the floating ribs caused by the multiple breaks. A feeding tube was placed, as well as a chest tube for some air leakage.
Without the terms that I have written down next to me, I’ll just tell you that the brain bleed affected speech, word comprehension, new memories, and movement. After going into a non-drug-induced a coma, I was spoken to about having to make “the decision”. Then, we saw the brain waves again. She could only open her eyes and look around, which was not very good progress for the time spent recovering. Two neurosurgeons and a neurologist told me she’d be what a vegetable is described as; we’d be lucky if she would be able to help brush her hair and, even though she’d recognize us in her head, communication wouldn’t be possible. A quarter of her brain was blackened on the CT, showing no blood flow.
As I was giving birth to my mom’s first grandchild, she was transferred to a skilled nursing facility in Two Rivers. She woke up, she began to move her right side, and she spoke. Two weeks ago, I brought her home to recover with family and do outpatient Occupational, Physical, and Speech therapies. She’s now walking with a walker and she’s made new memories; she remembers my daughter’s name.
She no longer has any tubes but she does have medical bills. We depended on her financially and she was our rock emotionally. She’s home and constantly improving but she’s not our mom again, yet. My dad had late Stage 3 esophageal cancer 8 years ago and we are still not done working off those out of network costs. My parents were so close to being out of debt and here we are again. I have now been told to prepare for the death of both of my parents.
Healing from her injuries is going to take an unknown amount of time, energy, and money. I have put down a goal amount of $15,000 because of the Tier the trauma center fell under with insurance and how high our out of pocket maximum is with this level of care. We have already met this; it’s just a matter of paying it off. We appreciate everything everyone has already done for us and anything anyone can do for us in the future.
P.S. Prayers do work & doctors don’t know everything
On June 24th, the back tire of the motorcycle that carried my parents on I29 blew. As a passenger, my mom, Lisa, had nothing to hold onto as it fishtailed back and forth. She hit the ground on her right side, breaking spurs off of her vertebrae, snapping her clavicle, crushing ribs 3-10 in multiple places, and causing her to suffer skull fractures. Her neck snapped back up, left, causing the most serious damage: a brain bleed. EMTs incubated in the field to secure an airway and did 5 minutes of CPR when they lost her pulse. Mom took Eagle III flight for life to St Vincent Hospital in Green Bay where we spent the next 4 weeks in the ICU.
We listened to doctors and surgeons go back and forth on her prognosis. A tracheostomy was inserted so that she didn’t get pneumonia from the ventilator. Incisions were made front and back so that metal plates could be placed to decrease her pain every time a breath was taken because of the floating ribs caused by the multiple breaks. A feeding tube was placed, as well as a chest tube for some air leakage.
Without the terms that I have written down next to me, I’ll just tell you that the brain bleed affected speech, word comprehension, new memories, and movement. After going into a non-drug-induced a coma, I was spoken to about having to make “the decision”. Then, we saw the brain waves again. She could only open her eyes and look around, which was not very good progress for the time spent recovering. Two neurosurgeons and a neurologist told me she’d be what a vegetable is described as; we’d be lucky if she would be able to help brush her hair and, even though she’d recognize us in her head, communication wouldn’t be possible. A quarter of her brain was blackened on the CT, showing no blood flow.
As I was giving birth to my mom’s first grandchild, she was transferred to a skilled nursing facility in Two Rivers. She woke up, she began to move her right side, and she spoke. Two weeks ago, I brought her home to recover with family and do outpatient Occupational, Physical, and Speech therapies. She’s now walking with a walker and she’s made new memories; she remembers my daughter’s name.
She no longer has any tubes but she does have medical bills. We depended on her financially and she was our rock emotionally. She’s home and constantly improving but she’s not our mom again, yet. My dad had late Stage 3 esophageal cancer 8 years ago and we are still not done working off those out of network costs. My parents were so close to being out of debt and here we are again. I have now been told to prepare for the death of both of my parents.
Healing from her injuries is going to take an unknown amount of time, energy, and money. I have put down a goal amount of $15,000 because of the Tier the trauma center fell under with insurance and how high our out of pocket maximum is with this level of care. We have already met this; it’s just a matter of paying it off. We appreciate everything everyone has already done for us and anything anyone can do for us in the future.
P.S. Prayers do work & doctors don’t know everything
Organizer
Mary Mikeal
Organizer
Two Rivers, WI
