Peleando la buena batalla por Gladys Alcazar

Historia sobre mi madre Gladys Bernadette Alcázar Rosario… madre de 4 hijos, esposa y guerrera de Dios. Con tan solo 49 años de edad està pasando por un proceso de salud muy difìcil.

Toda esta triste situación comenzó el pasado 18 de agosto del 2023, cuando Gladys presentaba dolores fuertes de cabeza, insomnio y alta presión sanguínea. Tanto era el dolor que le nublaba la vista por lo que decide acudir a sala de emergencias para descartar cualquier padesimiento. Confiada de que fuera algo leve, recibe la noticia que nos cambio el rumbo en un segundo. Le detectaron una masa en la cabeza y como consecuente tenía demasiado lìquido retenido en el cerebro, la causa de los fuertes dolores y demás síntomas. La pregunta mayor era si la masa era benigna o maligna... Pues la contestación a esa pregunta era realizando una biopsia.

Proceden a realizar la biopsia dos semanas despues, en el proceso tenian que estabilizar sus vitales y tener el espacio disponible para el tratamiento. Como saben aquí en Puerto Rico para todo hay que esperar. Llega el día para realizar la biopsia y las palabras de mi madre en todo momento era que tenia paz en su corazón, pues es mujer de Fe y nunca perdió las esperanzas de que Dios tenía un propósito grande con ella y su familia. La operación fue larga, pues el proceso de la biopsia consistia en extraer un pedazo de la masa que se alojaba en una parte bastante profunda de su cerebro y de vez colocarle un cateter en el àrea ventricular para extraer tambièn el lìquido acumulado para así aliviar sus dolores. Esto comenzó al medio día y terminó en las horas de la noche, mi madre con una sonrisa de oreja a oreja, tranquila y confiada de que todo habìa salido con éxito. Ella reaccionaba y decia "andamos en victoria". Se queda en recovery y por protocolo la familia no se podía quedar con ella… Aquí es cuando comienza la pesadilla, en la madrugada del día siguiente mi madre sufre de un sangrado interno lo que complicó su salud por completo. Afectó su vista, movilidad en su parte izquierda y poco a poco su habla. Mientras más pasaban los días, su estado iba empeorando hasta llegaron al punto de inducir un coma preventivo con entubación de oxígeno para que su cerebro no tuviera más daños. Su alimentación era por la nariz todo el tiempo…

Pasado un mes o dos luego del episodio del sangrado interno, cuando mi madre comenzó a tener mejoría leve, le fueron quitando la entubación asistida. Luego le quitaron la nasogastro hasta que pudo volver a comer y hablar poco a poco… Tambièn luego de la larga espera nos contestan la interrogante sobre què tipo de masa era, y esta estaba entre lo que es bueno y lo que es malo. Aùn así deciden no darle prioridad a esto, ya que lo primordial es que Gladys estuviera estable para entonces tomar futuras desiciones en cuanto a su bienestar. Deciden aprovechar esta pequeña recuperación para realizarle el tratamiento del "shunt" para reducir el lìquido acumulado en su cerebro. El plan era que pudieran darle de alta para que ella pudiera estar más tiempo en casa y alrededor de sus seres queridos. Para que le benficiara en su recuperación. Durante todo ese tiempo en intensivo solamente podiamos verla en horas de visita que eran dos veces al dìa, para serles sinceros fue sumamente dìficil para ella y su familia.

Proceden a realizarle la segunda operación para colocarle el "shunt" y de vez realizarle colonoscopia y gastro. Todo esto para que nuestra madre pudiera recibir y estar en casa con asistencia médica desde el hogar en lo que se seguía recuperando, ya que este proceso iba a ser más largo de lo pensado. Luego de estas segundas intervenciones Gladys volvió al estado incial, una recuperación lenta, pero el hospital decide dar de alta con lo antes mencionado. Para el día de acción de gracias, Gladys logra estar en casita y pasar esta travesía dura y dolorosa junto a su familia. Con la esperanza de ir mejorando con el paso de los días. Pero lamentablemente no fue asì.

Durante el tiempo que estuvo en casa tuvimos varios obstàculos, en ese momento su mèdico primario no quiso atenderla, basicamente le negò sus servicios por su caso lo que nos recomendò que buscaramos otro doctor que pudiera hacer sus visitas al hogar. Dos meses luego pudimos encontrar una doctora que nos dijo que sì y ha estado desde entonces dispuesta. La coordinación para sus citas medicas eran y siguen siendo un caos para poderlas agendar. La familia tuvo que alzar la voz para pedir donaciones y ayudas monetarias por sus cuidados porque el plan medico no lo cubria. Visitó a urgencias en multiples ocasiones porque presentó episodios de sudoración y altas presiones mas mi madre sin poder comunicarse verbalmente. No es hasta que ya la desesperación era tanta que suplicamos que se le realizara una intervención para verificar que el "shunt" estuviera funcionando como se suponía. Proceden a intervenir y efectivamente el "shunt" no estaba fluyendo, estaba tapado y luego de esta intervención pudimos escuchar la voz de mi madre nuevamente… La dan de alta al par de días para seguir recuperandose… Pero al momento volvió al estado inicial nuevamente… No esta respondiendo como se supone y aquí es cuando alzamos nuestra voz por ella.

Necesitamos de tu ayuda, con lo que puedas aportar monetariamente, ese dinero serà utilizado para gastos y cuidados mèdicos como: terapias, medicamentos, alimentos, entre otros, transportes mèdicos y traslado a Estados Unidos. Gladys y nuestra familia estará eternamente agradecida contigo. Seguimos confiando en el milagro.

(Traducción al Ingles)

This is the developing story about my mother Gladys Bernadette Alcázar Rosario. She is a mother of 4 children, wife and warrior of God. At only 49 years old, she is going through a very difficult health process.

This whole situation began on August 18, 2023, when Gladys had severe headaches, insomnia, and high blood pressure. The pain was so intense that it clouded her vision so she decided to go to the emergency room to rule out any illness. Confident that it was something minor, she received the news that changed our lives in a second. They detected a mass in her brain and as a result she had too much fluid retained as well therefore the cause of the severe pain and other symptoms. The biggest question was whether the mass was benign or malignant... Well, the answer to that question was to perform a biopsy.

They proceeded to perform the biopsy two weeks later, in the process they had to stabilize her vitals and have the space available for treatment. As you may know here in Puerto Rico, everything has to wait. The day arrived to perform the biopsy and my mother's words at all times were that she had peace in her heart, because she is a woman of Faith and never lost hope that God had a great purpose for her and her family. The operation was long, since the biopsy process consisted of removing a piece of the mass that was lodged in a fairly deep part of her brain and eventually placing a catheter in the ventricular area to also extract the accumulated fluid in order to relieve her pain. This began at noon and ended later in the night, my mother had a smile from ear to ear, calm and confident that everything had gone successfully. She said "We are in victory" She remained in recovery and by protocol the family could not stay with her. This is when the nightmare began, in the early morning of the next day my mother suffered internal bleeding which complicated her health. It affected her vision, mobility on her left side and little by little her speech. As the days passed, her condition worsened until they reached the point of inducing a preventative coma with oxygen intubation so that her brain would not suffer further damage. Her feeding was through her nose from there on.

A month after the episode of internal bleeding, when my mother began to have slight improvement, they began to remove her assisted intubation. They then removed the nasal feed until she was able to eat and talk again little by little. Additionally, after the long wait they answered the question about what type of mass it was, and this was between good and bad. Even so, they decided not to give priority to this, since the most important thing was for Gladys to be stable and then make future decisions regarding her well-being in regards to the mass. They decided to take advantage of this small recovery to perform the "shunt" treatment to reduce the fluid accumulated in her brain. The plan was that they could discharge her so she could spend more time at home and around her loved ones. This would benefit in her recovery and visiting hours. During this time in intensive care we could only see her during visiting hours, which were twice a day. To be honest, it was extremely difficult for her and her family.

They proceeded to perform the second surgery to place the "shunt" and occasionally perform colonoscopy and gastro. All of this so that our mother could receive and be at home with medical assistance from home while she continued to recover, since this process was going to be longer than expected. After these second interventions, Gladys returned to her initial state, a slow recovery, but the hospital decided to discharge her with the aforementioned issues. For Thanksgiving, Gladys managed to be at home and go through this hard and painful journey with her family. Hoping to improve as the days went by. But unfortunately, it was not like that.

During the time she was at home we had several obstacles, at that time her primary doctor did not want to treat her, he basically denied her services for her case and recommended that we look for another doctor who could make home visits. Two months later we were able to find a doctor who said yes and has been willing ever since. The coordination for her medical appointments was and continues to be chaos to schedule them and obtain proper transportation. The family had to raise their voices to ask for donations and monetary aid for her care because the medical plan did not cover any of it. She visited the emergency room on multiple occasions because she had episodes of sweating and high blood pressure, but my mother was unable to communicate verbally. It wasn't until the desperation was so great that we begged for an intervention to verify that the "shunt" was working as it was supposed to. They proceeded to intervene and indeed the "shunt" was not flowing, it was blocked and after this intervention we were able to hear my mother's voice again... They discharged her after a couple of days to continue recovering... But suddenly after she returned home, she went to her initial state again without being able to communicate. She is not responding as she is supposed to and is time for us to intervene.

We need your financial help for medical expenses and care such as: therapies, medications, food, medical transportation and transportation to the United States so that she can see a specialist and for them to perform a full evaluation and correct the issues she is having with the existing shunt. Gladys and our family will be eternally grateful to you. We continue to trust in the miracle and believe she will rise and this will be her testimony of faith.