My name is Nicole, I’m Sabrina’s Mom. We both flew down to Turkey from Ontario, Canada for Sabrina to receive a life saving surgery to remove a chronic infection (also known as a Chronic UTI embedded infection within her bladder) that she has been battling since June of 2020. These infections do not clear with short courses of antibiotics, patients just like Sabrina require high dose antibiotics to stay alive as they are incapable of getting rid of the infections. Also responsible for her previous hospitalizations for relapsing kidney infections and turning septic (Urosepsis).
While the surgery went extremely well, Sabrina went into shock the following day hours after being discharged from the hospital which was later confirmed to be Sepsis. She’s currently being treated in hospital by her urologist and infectious disease.
Sabrina also has SIRS (Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) which is an exaggerated defense response of the body to a noxious stressor (infection, trauma, surgery, acute inflammation, ischemia or reperfusion, or malignancy, to name a few) to localize and then eliminate the endogenous or exogenous source of the insult. Sabrina also suffers from Pericarditis (Inflammation of the Heart Pericardium + Pericardial Effusion) With an added history of Cellulitis infections to deep tissue wounds which has resulted in Sepsis.
At this time we are unsure if the infection is a result of Sabrina’s body’s poor defence mechanisms to fight off infections due to her susceptibilities to deep tissue infections or if it is due to a catheter infection post surgery.
Update: October 30th, 2021. We just received word this morning that the IV antibiotics being given to Sabrina are not working against her infection. They need to move towards a new and stronger course of IV treatment. At this time, we have no idea when she will be well enough to leave the hospital and receive outpatient care.
Second Update: October 31st, 2021. Sabrina is still currently fighting a systemic infection. She is on day two of a new Intravenous Antibiotic (Carbapenem) we are still awaiting progress.
Third Update: October 31st, 2021. Sabrina has been having an increasingly rapid heart rate and arrhythmias on account of the systemic infection. Doctor is concerned if her heart rate continues to increase could be potential heart attack and will resort to using heart medication.
Fourth Update: November 2nd, 2021. Sabrina seems to finally be making progress on her new IV antibiotic. She hasn’t suffered another systemic shock episode in the last 48hrs. We have equally seen progress with her heart. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, you are helping Sabrina’s hospitalizations costs and continuous medical treatment.
Fifth Update: November 3rd, 2021.
Sabrina has been placed into outpatient care at the medical hotel. She will continue to receive IV treatment daily at the hospital to continue fighting her systemic infection.
Sixth Update: November 4th, 2021.
Sabrina has been deemed stable enough to fly home and be transferred into outpatient care back in Canada. We will be leaving the hospital tomorrow from her treatments and go directly to the airport. As soon as we arrive, she will be met by her outpatient care nurse to continue giving her daily IV treatments at home.
Seventh Update: November 10th, 2021.
Sabrina is still very much battling a systemic infection in outpatient care. Her American Urologist and Canadian Urologist are currently working together on her extending IV treatment until December, while she awaits PCR test results to isolate the bacterias for further treatment and likelihood of changing onto a new IV antibiotic.
Eighth Update: January 7th, 2022
As most of you are aware, in December Sabrina developed an additional life threatening illness known as C-Difficile Infection due to all the antibiotics from her Urosepsis.
She began treatment on Vancomycin and quickly relapsed with C-Difficile as she needed to begin treatment for her Kidney Infection. She is now on a drug called Dificid (Fidaxomicin) which costs $2,400 for 10 days of treatment in Canada. We were fortunate enough to receive an STI rebate but the cost is still $2k for one round of treatment.
Sabrina will need to continue with Dificid medication until we can arrange for her to receive a Fecal Microbiota Transplant in the U.S. as the extensive waiting list in Canada is an ongoing year. Unfortunately with Sabrina’s poor health, we do not have that kind of time.
We as a family are forced to consume all the financial costs as Sabrina has been denied medical insurance coverage, and she is not eligible for Trillium as she lives at home.
We are also considering custom antibiotic bladder instillations for Sabrina in hopes of preventing her infections from continuously reaching her kidneys while being able to prevent future C-Difficile infection relapses. The cost of these custom antibiotic bladder instillations are $700-1400 biweekly, which is not covered by OHIP.
Please continue to share Sabrina’s story in allowing her to receive the treatments she needs. We are also hoping to bring awareness to this devastating set of illnesses that affects millions of people worldwide.
All of this has taken an incredible financial hit and financial burden on our family for all the unforeseen medical costs and medical expenses. We understand these are difficult times for all, any help at this time would be very appreciated. Please keep Sabrina in your thoughts and prayers.
We thank you for messages and prayers.
- Sabrina’s Mom, Nicole
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, for everyone who has taken the time to share Sabrina’s story and has donated. It would not have be possible without everyone’s help here. We are so thankful for each and every one of you. - Nicole
