Mary’s Road to Recovery

Hello everyone! As most of you know, my best friend Mary has had quite a rough time these past few months. In February she found out she had a blockage in an artery in her leg. Soon after, she had an angioplasty that didn’t work so a stent was placed. About two months later, the stent failed and the next step was to place a graft in her leg to bypass the blockage. Luckily, there’s an extra vein in your leg that can be used. In April they used that vein as the graft to restore blood flow. This surgery took 4.5 hours. It worked for the first few hours then failed. They immediately rushed her back in for another 4 hour surgery to fix the graft. There was now a pulse in her leg so she was discharged about a week after that surgery.

In early June Mary had a pain in her leg again and immediately went to the doctor. They said that the graft was failing and she needed another angioplasty to open the graft and restore blood flow. They took her in for surgery yet again, and came out with great blood flow because they placed two stents within the graft.

A few weeks later, Mary ended up with an infection in her leg that required strong antibiotics. She was prescribed 2 rounds of antibiotics to clear the infection. She finished the second round of antibiotics on Sunday, July 17th after her trip up north with her mother and kids to visit family. On Wednesday the 20th around 1pm she started to feel faint and cold at work. She knew something was wrong because she had to turn the HEAT on in her car on an 85° day. And if you know Mary, she is always hot!! After arriving home around 4:30pm, her son and daughter rushed her to the ER because she spiked a 101° fever, her leg was swollen and red, and was hot to the touch. Since Wednesday night she was transferred to Froedtert hospital in Milwaukee where they poked and prodded her for hours for more lab work while she laid in the hospital bed uncomfortable and dazed from pain medication. Her son and daughter were allowed to be with her and were scared beyond words because their mother was not doing well. She now had a 104° fever and would not break. Due to her high heart rate, high fever, and low blood pressure, they deemed the infection as sepsis. This is a very aggressive blood infection that can kill somebody. Her daughter, Rebecca, just graduated with a vascular degree, so she knows too much about these kind of things. They took Mary into emergency surgery to drain her leg and attempt to clear the infection. They left the leg open with a wound vac to continue to drain the leg. She was still in and out of consciousness. She finally broke the fever and was taken into another surgery. This being surgery number 7 in since February. This surgery was done to clean the leg out yet again. She came out with the wound vac replaced. She was finally doing a little better so they transferred her out of the ICU and to a normal recovery unit where she will remain unless things change. As of today, things are finally looking up. Mary was able to talk to her kids and carry on a conversation with me. She still has “Victor” her wound vac, that she named, attached and it sounds like she will be going in for surgery again tomorrow (July 26th) and hopefully they will be able to close her leg.

Throughout the past few months, Mary and her kids have been through hell and back to recover this leg. With countless amounts of medical bills and unable to work, she is without a doubt struggling. Her kids and her dog are stuck home without their mother.

Anything donated would be greatly appreciated and will go towards her medical bills and regular house bills. She is not out of the woods yet and will have a long road to recovery. Prayers are appreciated!

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me or her daughter, Rebecca, who is updated and educated on what is going on.

Thank you in advance!