Honoring Isabel's Strength and Legacy

It is with a heavy heart that I have to put this together for our abundantly loved Isabel Sanchez. Most people knew her as Nana.

As a family we are asking for a little help in this unexpected time. What was supposed to be a routine endoscopy ended up being a nightmare journey for all of us but especially her. She stayed strong and fought sooooooo hard but the Lord called her home. She was surrounded by love throughout her days in the hospital and her 3 girls were with her when she gained her wings at 12:33am February 5th.

We are comforted knowing that she is not only reunited with the love of her life Alex but all of her loved ones who have gone before her. She is now one of Gods greatest angels just like she was one of his greatest treasures here on earth.

During this time of tragedy we are trying to raise money to give her the memorial service she wanted but also deserved.

Her services will be held at

Legacy Church East Campus

Monday February 17th, 2025

at 10:00am.

LONG STORY !!!!!!

A week ago today my life forever changed...

I know I said I was a mixing bowl full of emotions but I'm more of a national disaster to be honest!

I will be real with you all I'm ANGRY!

I'm angry at our healthcare system, I'm angry at everyone involved in this.

Most of you don't know the whole story behind the passing of my nana and I'm going to share it so my pain and our families pain can maybe make a little bit of sense.

On Friday January 17th my nana went into her routine endoscopy per usual and as hourrrrrssss passed with no updates, no nurses coming out.. nothing, we all began to worry. My auntie Marna who took her to her procedure and was supposed to be her driver back home after, went asking for answers. Turns out they punctured my nanas gallbladder and caused internal bleeding.

This started it all, they admitted her and kept her in the hospital until Wednesday under "monitoring". No tests, no imaging, nothing. They said nothing was wrong with her and that she could go home. I guess her confusion, fatigue, and not being able to walk at all was completely fine!?

Arriving at home she wasn't even able to make it into the front door. We had to call the ambulance to pick her up asap because she not only didn't look okay but she wasn't acting okay either. (I right away noticed her stomach was hard and looked like she was carrying triplets.)

She was then transferred to Lovelace (because we didn't want her back at UNM because of what already had happened and because of the lack of care over the past days she was there, plus them allowing her to be discharged in the first place.)

After a few short hours Lovelace said they seen a misplaced stent in her gallbladder and she was going septic. They then needed to transfer her back to UNMH by ambulance because they were the ones who caused the complications in the first place.

After getting transferred they put her in the sub triage area where NO ONE could be with her. The nurse called my mom in Mexico after midnight asking why my nana was there....they then again called me at 3 am to go pick her up because they didn't know why she was there, I obviously refused and let the nurse have it!

My auntie Marna shows up the next morning and went back there. My nana was a mess, half off the bed, soiled and her glasses at the tip of her nose.

She finally gets a room in the ER a few days later on the 24th, and we get a call from the doctor on her case, Dr Larsen, who was just as confused as we were as to what is going on and why nothing has been done. She then runs about every test she could and got answers.

We found out she had a small bowel obstruction which can be life threatening. Palative care then entered the room and had some serious and hard conversations with us.

Treatment begins with an NG tube.

By the way she hasn't ate since the night before her endoscopy on the 17th.

As the days go by she's still in the ER and nurses and techs are being very negligent. We found her soiled in urine from her shoulders to her toes, we found her bruised, we found her with her machines off or not connected when they were ordered to be on and suctioning, we found her disoriented and upset about her care and sooooo much more.

A few days later I noticed at 8:30am her right arm looked a tiny bit red by her IV, I asked the nurse if it infiltrated and if she could take a look at it. She said she'd do it later. I thanked gave her a sponge bath on my own. Later goes by, actually allllll day goes by and she is red and swollen all the way to her wrist. The tech comes in and I asked her about her arm and she says "she'd didn't come in and check it this morning I told her she needed an ultrasound stat" I said no and that I also told her this morning and she said she would check it later. The tech than ran out furious yelling for our nurse, it was a huge scene in front of our room and how negligent she was. The charge nurse ended up giving us a new nurse and an ultrasound was done asap.

Turns out she ended up getting a blood clot in her arm and also a massive one in her lung.

To top it all off we ended up finding out she contracted Covid while being admitted. Our Pompo passed away 4 years before from Covid so this was heart wrenching for our family.

At about 11pm that night my nana calls me very upset and crying. "Destinee please, Destinee I need you to call my nurse, I've been calling for hours and I can't feel my legs" " please I need help, please"

My nana is NOT one to complain like at all so this was something serious , I called and again reaped them a new one and the excuse was we are under staffed and I'll send someone in now.

We never left her alone at all after this.

Not even one minute of the day or night.

(Little backstory, My mom rushed back from Mexico and had to leave my dad out there alone after his accident and two surgeries to be here with nana and she never left other than and hour or two to shower and right back. (I know Nana appreciated this so much)

The next day Palliative care then began to speak with us again and this time it was a bit different.

We knew she was suffering and it seemed as though anything and everything that could go wrong was going wrong for her, she fought so hard and her spirit was strong but we saw her getting tired and her body ultimately was giving up... as a family we decided comfort care was best for her.

As the days were long and slow she knew what was going on, she began getting scared and asking questions that broke our hearts.

"What happened to me" "is it something I did" "is this my fault" "why is this happening"?

We reassured her that it wasn't her fault at all and that she didn't deserve this but that in heaven she will be pain free and in her new beautiful body with our Pompo and our Lord and savior!!

This made her smile and I feel she had some peace knowing that is where she would be.

The days got closer and we slowly started losing her, her humor, her smile, her love and eventually all cognition.

She was never alone, she had music, laughter, tears, heartfelt conversations, friends, loved ones, great grandkids, Rosie (our dog) and just all of us.

Around midnight on the 5th all her three girls decided to stay the night there together because we knew the time would be close. They got their chairs ready for bed, got my nana comfy, faced the monitor light toward her so they could still see her and turned off the light to get some rest. Not even a minute after she stopped breathing and the lord took her home....no gasping, no noise nothing.

There is soooooooo much I didn't go into but I tried to hit the big moments to explain.

It's crazy for me to think three weeks ago she was her perfect Nana self went in for a routine outpatient endoscopy on January 17th and on Monday February 17th we will be having her funeral.

The anger within me is unreal, the hurt is unreal, the pain she had to go through is unreal, and this whole situation is just unbelievable.

I feel cheated, cheated out of time with you when it was no where near your time, I feel cheated out of laughter, out of "las mananitas " for our birthdays, out of hugs, out of your love , and out of your wisdom. I just feel ROBBED and nothing will make this okay!

I'm still in shock and I'm still utterly and completely broken.

I love you more than you could ever know Nana!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Lastly,

We are still raising money on GoFundMe for mondays services! If you feel it in your heart to help out we thank you, and if not please just share and that is more than enough!!! Again, thank you all!!