Mary Wagner Updates

2/14/24

I can’t believe it’s been over two months since I’ve put something on here-sorry! It’s probably because ever since heading back to Havre, it has been just a slow and steady grind to get back to where she wants to be. With lots of rest and some outpatient therapy, she is working hard every day to regain her strength. She still moves a little slower than she would like, and gets extremely tired and worn out from the littlest things, but that is all to be expected. What wasn’t expected was how quickly she has gotten back to even the point she is now. We know that this diagnosis can take years to fully recover from, but we are so pleased with how far she has already come. This picture is from her first outside walk with her walking buddy in many months. It was a huge day, and we were thrilled for her. As I have always said, it is the love and prayers from people like you that got her through this. We continue to be so thankful for all you have done for our family!

12/9/23

Today was the day! To cheers, tears, and applause from the staff at the rehab facility, she did what she said she would do - and walked out of the building today. After over a month in Billings, she is headed home! It was one of the worst months of our lives, but there are have been so many hidden blessings in all of this. We have learned a lot about our mom and our family, and that the network of support that we have is vast and incredible. The amount of love and kindness our family was shown this past month is humbling. As hard as this was for all of us to watch, I don’t think we will ever truly understand the nightmare she went through mentally and physically during this ordeal. Thinking back on what we saw during those first few weeks, makes us incredibly thankful for what we see now. She has handled this with a toughness and grace that I didn’t think was possible. She blew this first part of recovery out of the water, she got out a week ahead of schedule! She still has a lot of rehab to do, as she is still using a walker at the moment, but at the rate she is going, she won’t have it for long. She will now get to do outpatient therapy, but on her time and with the comforts of being back home. Thank you will never be enough, but for now, that’s what I’ll say. Thank you for getting her through this. Onward and upward!

12/4/23

She is continuing to kick butt. She is in the wheelchair less, and using her walker more. They have her up walking in the therapy gym, even a few times without the hand rails. She also does a ton of sit-down biking. She is doing lots of occupational therapy - like getting to cook a little and do her own laundry! Her therapist asked her what she wanted to do for OT tomorrow, and you’ll never guess what she requested…. to iron!!! Of course!!! Like her favorite thing ever. If you know our mom, you will know she irons literally everything-not just all her clothes, but her sheets, dish towels, everything!!!! So this is like an early Christmas for her :) We continue to get videos from our dad (who hasn’t left her side since Nov 1), that make us hopeful and excited to get her home and back where she belongs. Thank you for the continued love and prayers.

-The Wagners

11/27/23

Im not gonna say much, because the video says it all. (But fyi she’s made SO much progress these last two weeks in rehab!) Our mom wanted to thank everyone who has helped her in any way during this process, and knowing she likely can’t get back to everyone, so she made a little “thank you” video (the part where she talks). Well, Dani then ran with that and made the attached video to document her progress. Gotta give all the credit to the baby of the family on this one. :)

11/20/23

I cannot even begin to describe the progress she has made in the last 6 days. It is unbelievable! It will come as no surprise to any of you reading this that she is doing so well, but given the situation, it is just amazing. The fact that she was in such incredible shape before this will definitely work in her favor during this intense rehab phase. She is essentially having to train her legs to walk again, and this facility has so many wonderful contraptions and people to help her work towards that goal. The therapists that she works with several hours each day are top notch, and have her doing things we couldn’t have fathomed her doing 10 days ago. The videos we receive from our dad are bittersweet - we see her working her tail off every day, and making huge gains… but we are also having to watch her re-teach her body a skill that it has excelled at for 60 + years, and that’s hard. Although this is all still difficult to wrap our heads around, we are incredibly thankful for the progress she has made this past week, and realize that things could have been worse without the amazing care she received when this all went down. We are so thankful that she can talk, smile, laugh, watch her favorite shows, go outside, FaceTime with grandkids, enjoy normal food, and do so many things that bring back her independence. One month ago, I couldn’t have imagined my mom in a wheelchair or a walking harness…. but today, I am so happy that she is, because it means she is moving in the right direction. I believe 100% that she is going to make a full recovery, in time. I always knew she was tougher than most 20 year olds, but she has blown that all out of the water these past few weeks. Pony power :)

11/15/23

She is all settled in at the new rehab facility, and working hard every day. She really likes it there, and we couldn’t be happier with how the transition went. Yesterday was her birthday, and Gary and my dad made it a special day for her-chocolate shake and all :)

They didn’t waste any time getting started, and she’s doing several hours of different types of rehab each day. She is a Wagner/Hasquet, so it’s in her blood to take this as a challenge. She doesn’t know how NOT to make everything a competition (with herself in this case), so she is taking this all very seriously. Her speech and facial nerves are almost back to normal, so she looks and sounds just as Mary as ever. Please continue to pray for her return to mobility and every day life.

We will never be able to say “thank you” enough for all the prayers, cards, gifts, meals, donations, and well-wishes. We knew she has touched a lot of lives, but this whole ordeal has made that very clear. The sheer number of people she has in her corner is astonishing. THANK YOU! Love to you all.

11/12/23

She had a great night, and a mostly good day. She even got to watch the Vikes game (the Vikings aren’t good for anyone’s health, but we let her watch anyway). She is all done with her GB treatment, and the next move is to the inpatient rehab facility. They did a few last tests and scans today, and if those all turn out good, she will head to that facility in the next day or so to begin the next phase in her healing. The plan there is to slowly work to get her mobility back again. Her arms and face/speech have both made huge gains this week, and now we are gonna work on those legs and the return of daily life skills. It’s gonna take some time, but I know she can’t wait to get up and moving again. She is determined to do whatever it takes, and there’s not doubt she will. We toured the facility today and know she is gonna be in great hands. I will probably only do updates once a week at this point, as there wont be much to say for awhile now. Thanks for keeping her and our family in your prayers- they are working!

11/11/23

I drove in last last night, so I missed yesterday’s update. But I cannot tell you how pleasantly surprised I was when I got here. Today has been her best day to date. She has been up and talking for the longest stretch yet, she’s in good spirits at the moment, and she looked and sounded more like herself today - I can’t tell you how reassuring that all was. She is still so her, still so on top of everything….making sure her bills are paid (she has all of that stuff memorized), checking in on her grandkids activities, making sure we keep her room clean, and making sure we don’t bug the nurses if they’re too busy. She’s also still cracking jokes - when the Dr was asking about her pain the other day, she said “it’s the most horrible pain I’ve ever felt, and I delivered this moose over here without any drugs!” (And pointed to Julie, who was over 10 1/2 pounds at birth) :) She wants to do everything herself, so we have to stay on top of her at all times. She wants to speed everything up, but that’s not how this works. We keep giving her small daily goals, but try telling superwoman that her goal today is to put her own socks on- it doesn’t go over very well. Anyways, we are all cautiously optimistic. The next step (when she’s ready), will be inpatient rehab, then outpatient rehab. As with everything she does, she’s gonna do this her own way, and we will just be there to help however we can.

11/9/23

Short little update today. More PT, pain was up and down. But the highlight and her favorite part….getting to go outside and get some fresh air and sun for the first time since all of this. There’s nothing our mom loves more than fresh air…warm or cold, she’s always opening every window in the house! So this made us all very happy for her today.

Thank you all for the prayers, positive thoughts and support. We cannot even begin to express our gratitude for the love and generosity you have shown towards our mom and our family this last week. Thank you is an understatement.

11/8/23

Our mom had a busy day. Lots of therapy today and a few scans. In addition to praying for her mobility to fully return (it will happen, it will just take time), we have been praying so hard for a decrease in the daily pain-and we saw that for the first time today! We are incredibly thankful and happy for her, and hope the trend continues. She continues to be the smartest person in the room, and is working her hardest to speed up this process. We are reminding her that yard by yard, this will be hard - but inch by inch… a cinch. For anyone that doesn’t know, that was her “go-to saying” as a math teacher, and she uses it as a life motto, too (she modifies that saying for any situation!) That’s the mentality through all of this-it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Well, as you likely know, she was a distance runner, not a sprinter, so she’s got this. :)

11/7/23

Today was IG treatment day 2. These are the once-a-day treatments that are supposed to work against this Guillain-Barre (GB). There was so much good today, that I'm gonna start with that. She sat up, she let us move her over to the recliner, she moved both her legs, she ate some sherbert, she talked with all of us for like a full hour (in small doses, she still can't move her mouth all that great at the moment), and not shockingly - asked us to find a Dateline on her TV. And.... of course, she had already seen it and could tell us the ending. :)

For some reason, though, this very intense head and back pain will not go away. We are finding out that this is a rare, but possible side effect of GB. So, to counteract that, she is given lots of heavy pain meds during the day, which knock her out for long periods of time. But once that pain starts to subside, I would say we are taking little tiny steps in the right direction.

Although she doesn't really look like herself or sound like herself, she's 100% Mary. She wants coffee, she doesn't want us driving on the highway, and she just wants to get up and go for a really long jog. Her memory, her personality, and her wits are completely in tact, and we cannot wait for her body to catch up. We're calling today a win.

Your prayers are working. Please keep them coming. Love to you all!

11/6/23

Hello friends and family -

Let us start by saying this is NOT a plea for money, we are just trying to keep everyone updated, and this seems the best way to do that. Also many have asked how they can help...so although this is a bit long, please read on...

As you likely know, our mom (Mary) had some pretty scary, out-of-nowhere, health stuff happen this past week, and she is now in Billings at St. Vincent’s Hospital. They believe that she has something called Guillain-Barre Syndrome. She has lost all feeling in her arms and feeling/movement in her legs. She is also in an incredible amount of pain, which has been the hardest part of all of us to watch. The most healthy, active, lively person we know is suddenly unable to do anything for herself, and we are trying to get the answers to fix that. There were many tests run in Havre and many things ruled out (this was all so out of nowhere and so confusing), but once a diagnosis was made, she was flown to Billings to start IG treatment. We have heard great success stories about these treatments, and plan for nothing less than a full recovery.

All of that said, we know this is going to be a lot emotionally, physically and financially for our dad. We have no idea if she will be here for days, weeks, or months…but from the stories we have heard, this recovery process takes quite a bit of time. We don’t know if she stays here or goes back to Havre for treatment and/or therapy, as there are so many unknowns at the moment. We have received an incredible amount of love and support already, and we are so thankful for all of the calls, texts and prayers. We are also incredibly thankful for all of the help and care she received in Havre – the people of that town are truly special. If you know her, she is the absolute last person to ask for help, and the first person to help when someone is in need (for example: in the few words she could get out today, she asked the nurses if she could bake them cookies when she gets better to thank them. But let’s get real, it will be scotcheroos). Because we have had so many people ask how they can help, here is what we recommend:

1) Keep the prayers coming! We all feel them and truly believe they are the best thing for her. Her faith has not waivered, and neither has ours. Add (+) up the prayers for everyone’s favorite math teacher!

2) While my dad is away, the neighbors will take care of the house and the yard… but when he returns, we know he would appreciate any help with meals or grocery/pharmacy runs. (Just don’t know when they’ll be home).

3) This last part is hard, and our parents would be furious if they knew we were doing this, but because so many of you have asked - if you would like to help financially, you can donate here.

As she always said in her classroom, “yard by yard, life is hard – inch by inch, life’s a cinch!” And that is what we are going to do – take this thing one little step at a time and hope questions get answers, pain goes away, and this treatment and therapy get her back where she belongs. Thank you for your love and support.

-The Wagner Kids