Mary Kaneta

Aloha,

If you’ve seen my last post about mom, mom came up to Arizona about a month ago for Rylana having to go to the er. The next day mom was feeling shortness of breath and wasn’t able to walk far, took her to the hospital and she had a five day stay. docs and staff took great care of her and the plan was to do a mitral clip, sending her home with a life vest being that her heart was pumping at 20-25% and she was at risk for a sudden heart attack. Had her last cigarette when she got out of the hospital, eating healthier, working towards a healthier lifestyle.

July 30th we came in planning to do her mitral clip the following day but there was no anesthesiologist so the procedure was rescheduled to the next day. Mom suddenly started having staring spells, where she’d be in and out, staring for periods of times and when I would talk to her she was able to answer but her speech was very delayed. Nurse and doc came in and noticed the delay, so he ordered a ct scan, but before they could take her, things got worst and moms head started shaking and at this point she was no longer able to respond but was continuously repeating herself, she then started having a seizure, I ran out of the room yelling for help, she started going into cardiac arrest. The life vest shocked her so they intubated her, put her on a ventilator and was rushed to icu. Waiting in the waiting room, over the intercom I hear code blue and I ran to the icu and I asked is that my mom? the nurse said yes it is your mom. My heart sank. the anticipation had me pacing up and down the waiting room. That same nurse came and shared, They used the defibrillator but was able to get her vitals stable, a few hours of worrying, praying, calling all of my siblings to ease my mind, while they’re booking the first flight out from Hawai’i to Arizona, I was finally able to go in her room. On Tuesday they weened the sedation and she slowly started waking. when she was less groggy the doctor explained to her what happened and she was in disbelief with tears rolling down her face. she thought she was just waking from her procedure, little did she know, she gave us all a scare.. she’s doing much better now, and drs are shocked at her resilience and the speed of her recovery. Today she got the mitral clip and is in recovery. Being that her heart is now pumping at 15% she will need a AICD (automatic implanted cardioverter defibrillator) which will be done next week.

Because she’s out of state, there were obstacles insurance wise, We have had to pay for bills from her last hospital stay and medications that the medical doesn’t cover, and I know there’s more to come..

it’s been taking a toll on the ohana, financially, mentally, physically and spiritually. if your heart pulls you to donate please do, if you can say a prayer for mom please please please do. we need all the prayers we can get. If you know me, the hardest thing for me is to ask for help, so this takes a lot, but the last thing I want mom to worry about is finances, we’ve been helping as much as we can, but this was the scariest time of my life and something is giving me the strength to ask for help. Mahalo, we appreciate everyone.