First off, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to visit my Mom's LFEBridge page. My mother, Mimi, is one of the kindest people a person could meet. She has the upbeat personality of June Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver) and has always been willing to help anyone she meets. Currently, her health is on the decline, her bills are accumulating, and we (My mom and I) are hoping to gather some assistance through this webpage. I am her son Dan. I've been encouraging my Mom through her health issues and providing complete care for her over the past few months. My Mom is currently hospitalized with a left pelivc rami fracture, but that is only her most recent medical setback. If I may provide some background for you, she fell at work in August of 2014. Following the fall, my Mom bravely entered intense sessions of physical therapy, before the pain became too great, and fractures of L2 and L3 were discovered by an MRI that we had to demand be taken. She was placed into an immobilizing throacic brace for almost three months until the fractures healed enough to begin gradual re-entry to physical therapy(PT). Again, my mom persevered in physical therapy, but Worker's Compensation was slow to approve continued sessions and stopped approval for a period, leaving my Mom more sedentary with no opportunity to build strength safely. After more sessions were finally approved, my mom began four intese sessions of PT. After her third session, she had a horrible pain in her back that would not go away. Her physical therapist told her it was simply a twist muscle injury or muscle strain. At her fourth therapy session, the therapist could barely do any movements with her, and continued to tell her that it was simply a muscle strain. My mother took a week off from the prescribed home exercises she completed three times each day, to allow her muscles to rest and heal. She began them one week later slowly and cautiously. One day, after doing some of the prescribed exercises and resting, she woke up to make dinner. While in the kitchen, she felt a horrendous stabbing pain in her groin that made it nearly impossible to walk without grabbing onto the walls. When I came home from work, I found my mom using a cane we had in the house, almost in a tripod position, very bent over. The next morning, we visited an Orthopaedic's office and discovered she had fractured her right pelvic rami. The pelvis slowly healed, and she was issued a walker and some PT to show her how to use the walker. The pain in her back continued, but she figured it was just sore muscles. Finally, we brought up the back pain to her primary doctor, who ordered a chest xray, feeling she might have fractured her sternum. Instead, the xray revealed fractures in her spine at L1, L4, and L5. Essentially, her Lumbar spine was all fractured. My mom was ordered to rest, complete activity as tolerated, and continue to follow up with her pain specialist for treatments as the fractures healed. The pain specialist asked that we see a Rheumatologist for her osteoporosis. Her Rheumatologist began us on an injectable medication for osteoporosis and also ordered a blood test to invstigate if my mother had a cancer, one that affects the blood and bone, called Multiple Myeloma. The blood test returned positive for elevated proteins, suggesting cancer, so we met with a referred Oncologist. My mother then was sent for a bone marrow biopsy of her left pelvis. At a recent visit to her pain specialist, my mom was trying to adjust her body onto the acupuncture table when she strained a muscle in her left shoulder, limiting most movement, which was very painful. There were no fractures, and luckily with range of motion exercises, we were able to increase my moms mobility with that arm and decrease the pain with daily massages, creams, and medication. Her recovery from the bone marrow biopsy resulted in pain, making it hard for my Mom to get into and out from bed. On Friday night, 10/23, I was assiting my Mom out of bed to use the washroom. When her legs swung off the bed, she felt an intense sharp stabbing pain in her left leg. Because we have stairs in the home, we had to call an ambulance to bring her to the ER, thinking she might have broken a hip. To our relief, there were no broken hips, but an MRI and CT did reveal that there was a fracture now of her Left pelvic rami, and signs of multiple myeloma were now present in bothsides of her pelvis and extended into the femurs. This was not seen in any of the xrays taken previously. We feel very blessed to have an incredible team of care providers on our side as we enter the road to discovery and learning about her cancer, and hopefully a journey to remission. Currently, we are awaiting transfer to RIC (Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago) on Silver Cross Hospital's Campus, where her oncologist is only one building away. This is ideal so a formal diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment can begin, answers can be given, and anxieties can be rested. Prior to all of the fractures, my mother was a lively, upbeat, and downright jolly 66 year old woman- working part time at a card shop and walking at an outdoor and indoor walking track three miles each day. She went to lunch, visited the theater, met with friends, and was able to care for herself, bathe herself, and live independently. Sadly, her current health issues have resulted in her being homebound, with limited mobility, tremendous amounts of pain and fear, and unable to even access her laptop for social interaction. She takesa multitude of meducations for pain, anxiety, and inflammation just to make it through each day- previously, it was a big deal if Mom ever took a Tylenol. Any and all funds gathered from this page will be lovingly appreciated, and used to directly pay for my mother's medical bills, assistive devices, and any modifications to her home that may be necessary. We are hoping to gather a nice security fund before the bills come in all at once and financially deplete the life my Mom has worked her entire adult life to create. Mimi is scared, but strong and hopeful. If she could meet you, she'd hug you and offer to bake you something. This is my Mom, and I love her, but cannot do it alone. We've never been a family to ask for help from others, but now is the time I feel we would be foolish not to reach out to others. Please help if you can, and any amount is greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy introduction. From the bottom of both of our hearts, Thank you so very much for your donation.
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