Nurse, Diane needs support--HELP DIANE SAVE HER FOOT!

We love our Nurses! Help one of them who has worked hard for us!

Our (Brenda and my) sister, Diane, is a traveling nurse. During COVID, she worked many long shifts, and continued until a few days ago, despite a recent Rheumatoid Arthritis diagnosis.

While in New Mexico, as a traveling Nurse, she noticed a painful and swollen ankle. She went to bed and didn’t wake up for 36 hours and when she did, she found her ankle exponentially worse. She couldn't sit up because her blood pressure was so low. She called an ambulance that rushed her to the hospital.

The doctors speculated a brown recluse spider or a scorpion bit her. Wednesday night she had surgery, with the understanding that all they would do was drain the infection from her ankle. She woke up and was told there was significant dead tissue which they had to remove. The worst case would be to amputate her right foot. As they say, prepare for the worst, but pray for the best. We appreciate your prayers.

They’ve worked to control the sepsis, but now the work is to get her transferred to a hospital capable of the level of care she needs for her skin/tissue grafting. We thought this would be a simple thing, but it is more complicated due to the Memorial Day Holiday. She is still waiting for a bed in at the UNM hospital in Albuquerque.

Her children, Stephanie and Valerie, left their families and jobs to fly out to New Mexico to advocate for her. The big issue is to get her to the hospital that can do the skin/tissue grafting quickly. Tomorrow's issue will be transportation and other health care costs. Upcoming issues will be months of physical therapy.

Diane leads a very active lifestyle and loves the sun and water. She loves to chat, visit new places--hence the traveling nurse gigs--and always up for a good laugh. She reads, does puzzles, and is very curious about learning anything new. But always, she has spent her life working hard as a nurse in the health care system which helped support herself and her family.

I will provide updates on this page as well.

Any help with donations will be appreciated. This is a sad thing to happen to anybody and to our beloved family member. Help protect our health care workers!

We will keep you posted. Today's goal: Get her to a larger hospital who can do the surgery she needs.

Thank you for listening to our story.