Hello Everyone, As many of you know, Sharon (Sonia for most of us) was recently admitted to Brigham and Women’s Neurology ICU for life-saving surgery and has had quite the journey ever since. But before we dive into her recovery, I would like to tell you a little bit about who she is. First and foremost, she is a mother to three (plus a pup), and she does not take that role lightly. Grinding her way from minimum wage to support her kids to an extremely successful career in pharmaceuticals, with the sole intention of being able to give, she is quite the role model. If you have met Sonia, it does not take long before you start to see her resilience and determination in everything that she does. If you haven't, don't worry. I am trying to convince her to write a book. If she's not donating to elephant rescues, she's donating to ocean clean-up funds. If she's not buying pastries for whoever pops up in her head, it's because she's baking for them instead. If there is one thing you can take away from this, it is that she loves to do little things for others. And now, we are hoping that others can return the same kindness and support. Sonia returned from her 50th birthday trip with what the urgent care determined to be a sinus infection. After several days of taking antibiotics, her symptoms began to worsen. Waking up in the middle of the night with a fever, severe headache, and nausea, she recognized something was wrong. She noticed her confusion as she tried to signal to her fiance for help and told him to call an ambulance. Arriving at the nearest hospital, they determined she would need a life-saving craniotomy. The family was immediately notified to get up to Boston as soon as possible, the prognosis was not looking good. Sonia was rushed to Brigham and Women's Neuro ICU, where Dr. Bi and her team fought to save her life. Two hours later, the surgery was a success. The neuro team was able to evacuate most of the blood and relieve some of the swelling. However, this raised the next question. Why did this happen to a very active, healthy, 50-year-old woman? Sonia's sinus infection was looking a lot more like meningitis. The inflammation from meningitis and the rare occasion where birth control can increase your risk for blood clots created what they called "the perfect storm". She developed Venus Sinus Thrombosis on the left side of her brain travelling from the occipital lobe to the thalamus. The left side then started to hemorrhage. The bleeding and inflammation were so severe, it created a midline shift of 12-14 mm, herniating her brain stem. Induced and on life support, we had very little idea what her outcome would be. It took three and a half weeks on the ventilator, in the Neuro ICU, for her to stabilize. Her reflexes were minimal. Her pupils slowly started to become more even, and the clot was starting to break apart due to the therapeutic levels of the blood thinner. Sonia received a tracheostomy, to wean from the sedation. Several days went by, and she started to wake up. However, her limbs were not moving as anticipated. They determined she was suffering from Critical Illness Myopathy due to laying still for so many weeks at a time, losing a significant amount of muscle mass. A week and a half after waking, she was transferred to Long Term Acute Care to start her rehabilitation. She has been in LTAC for two weeks now and like the determined and hard-working woman she is, is making a great and speedy recovery. Her trach has been removed. She walked her first steps this week, is learning to speak again, and regaining movement in the right side of her body. Some longer-term obstacles she will be tackling are aphasia and apraxia. A brain injury this severe in the impacted areas has affected her memory, her language, and her speech. She will continue to rehabilitate at the LTAC before moving to outpatient physical therapy. This tragic experience will, unfortunately, affect Sonia's ability to return to work and live her normal life. To have everything she has worked so hard for stripped away, this will no doubt take its toll. Losing that financial stability and gaining these medical bills, you can imagine how much stress this brings. We are hoping to raise money to help support our incredibly strong mom and give back to someone who has spent her lifetime giving.
Artículos relacionados
