Help Get Renee Home with Therapy & Medical Care

I’m hoping to be able to raise enough money to afford in-home care for my mom, Renee, as she comes home. She needs a nurse with her 24/7 and physical therapy a few times a week as she continues to get stronger everyday. We want her home as soon as we can afford it, so she’s not risking COVID exposure in a nursing facility and is comfortable in her home. She hasn’t been home in almost a month and I know that’s a huge component to her recovery...being back home!

On 12/07/2020 I had to make the call to 911. My mom was close to unresponsive as I arrived at her house to take her to the ER (my brother and I had spent the entire weekend begging her to go in, but due to COVID she wanted to hold off as long as she could).

She was admitted Monday night on 12/07/2020 and I talked to her on the phone. She had sounded tired and like she didn’t feel well, but was able to speak clearly and hold a conversation. Within less than 12 hours on the morning of Tuesday, 12/08/2020, her speech became slurred. I expressed my concern, with help from my aunt, to my mom’s doctor about her change in mentation and speech. He listened to my concerns and ordered some imaging. Within a few minutes of imaging, the radiologist called the doctor urgently as they found “multiple massive pulmonary emboli (blood clots) in both her lungs.” My mom’s kidneys were at less than 10% function and she had severe heart failure (17 liters of fluid were removed from her lungs/heart). Her blood pressure was dangerously low (close to nothing) and she was quickly transferred down into ICU. There she was put on life support among other aggressive treatments to quickly begin treating the blood clots, as well as her kidneys and heart. She spent a week in ICU fighting for her life. She wasn’t able to speak due to the breathing machine, but her amazing nurses (bless their hearts) would hold the phone up to my mom’s ear so she could hear our voices. She made it through the aggressive treatments and became more and more stable. She was then transferred out of ICU and onto another floor where they closely monitored her for almost 3 weeks. In that time we worked on a treatment plan with her care team. During her second week in the hospital, she suffered a TIA (mini stroke). She by the grace of God recovered and regained speech and mobility.

She is now considered “medically stable” and has to focus now on rehab to get her strong enough to go home safely. She has a high fall-risk and due to the blood clots can stroke and/or die if she falls. She was so de-conditioned that getting out of bed, sitting in a chair, and going to the bathroom are uphill battles for her.

She has navigated all of this while being alone in the hospital due to COVID protocols (no visitors). We were on the phone as much as we could, advocating for her and working with her care team.

We are so thankful for her entire care team at Sutter Medical Center Sacramento. They saved my mom’s life and have given her a new lease on life. Now it’s time to get her home, so she can continue to heal and recover safely.