Muggle-Angel

Around 1:00 AM my Sister asked for help... I took care of her for about a half hour before waking our Mom. My Mom took her to the hospital about an hour and a half ago. It's now 4:36 and my Dad just left for the hospital too. My Sister is unresponsive... Her bloodthinner has caused a major bleed on her brain. I'm so scared thaat she's not coming home this time.


Edit 8:24 A.M.
My Sister was born August 29th, 1984 and died today at the age of 35... She suffered a massive stroke a couple of hours ago and there was nothing that could be done. I'm so sorry, but right now it's like this is just not real. It hurts, but it doesn't feel real!

This is my first time posting on my cellphone, but my computer is broken and I don't think it can be fixed... Three years ago my younger Sister Vanessa had Open Heart Surgery, due to a bad UTI (Urinary Trac Infection) that cased Sepsis (blood infection). If you don't know what happened then, it's all in an other journal entry.

About a month ago she started feeling a fluttering in her chest and had trouble breathing when that happened. After a couple of weeks, her Dr. ordered an at home Heart Monitor to see what's going on. Normally that kind of monitor is only used about a week or so, but he wanted her to use it for a month instead. It's a good thing too! After a week and a half she started to have flutters and breathing problems. After just 2 or 3 days of that, her Dr. had her admitted to the hospital for observation.

Turns out the Heart Valve is infected. They started giving her medication to clear up the infection, so they can do surgery to fix the damage from this infection. She was sent down to San Francisco a few days ago and planned on doing the surgery today, it has been suspended... It's so much worse than I realized!

My Mom called me this morning, to tell me that the surgery would not be done today. She said that the infection was worse than we knew. My Sister had a Stroke last night, because the infection has spread to her Brain. The Dr. told her that the infection has been going on for a while, up to 7 months. The infection is so bad, if they did the surgery to fix her Heart, it would kill her... This is so much worse than last time. There is a high chance she won't make it... Um, I've got to go. I'm starting to cry.

I'm sorry for the late update, I've been very sick and things have been more then a little crazy where my sister is concerned...

My Sister had surgery on February 8th and all went well. Just before the surgery to replace a scarred valve (caused by Sepsis, that was caused by a U.T.I.), the Dr. noticed that she also had a birth defect of the Aortic Branch. So not only did they have to replace the bad Valve they also had to do reconstructive surgery to the Aortic Branch... As I said though, "all went well." Her Dr. said she would be in Intensive care for at least a week, but she was only there for one day. She had a drainage tube the went to the part of her chest that was around her heart, just in case of infection or the new Valve leaking. I think they removed the tube after only two days since she was doing so well. She still had traces of infection and the Dr. decided to keep her for a while before sending her back home, just to be safe. She was transferred back to our local Hospital on the 18th and stayed there just a day before finally coming home.

Everything went really well after that. She had started to do things for herself, but had to be careful. If she does too much, the muscles in her arms could cause her Breastbone to separate and if that happens the only way to fix it is to have another surgery... She really doesn't want that, so she has no choice but to let us help her with anything that weighs more then a pound or so.  She had to get a lot of I.V. Antibiotics to get rid of the infection that still remained. She got the last of her I.V. meds on the 22nd and left the same day to go back to San Fransisco to have a check-up with her Heart Surgeon the next day. Wednesday the 23rd, my Mom and Sister went to the Dr. and he said that everything looks fine and that everything should be fine for the next 10 to 20 years. Good news right!?! Well this is where this go a bit crazy.

The two of them decided to stay at my Aunt's house for at least a day, since doing too much really drains my Sister's energy right now. They stayed the night on Tuesday, then went to the Dr. on Wednesday and stayed that night too. On Wednesday night my; Mom, Aunt and Uncle all went to bed, but my Sister wanted something to drink. She doesn't really remember everything that happened (which is understandable when you hear what she does remember)... All she knows is she wanted something to drink and knows that our Aunt had Juice in an extra refrigerator in the Garage. So she went downstairs, through the Kitchen and into the Garage. She turned around to turn the light on, then turned back to walk to the refrigerator. This is where she's not sure what happened... The rug was a little wrinkled, so she isn't sure if she tripped or if she passed out due to low blood sugar (as both are possibilities). About 20-minutes later she woke up on the cement floor of the garage crying. She had a horrible headache and tears poring down her face. She sometimes cries like that when she has a Migraine, so she didn't think anything of it. She went back upstairs and climbed into bed.

The moment her head was on her pillow she realized that her face was wet, thinking it was just tears she wiped them away. But it was too wet to just be tears, she lifted her hands and saw they were bloody. She thought "What the hell!?! That's blood!" She got up and walked to the bathroom and turned the light on. Her head, body, arms, hands and upper thighs were all covered in blood. Confused she went back downstairs and looked into the garage, only to see the wrinkled rug and a very large puddle of blood. She said, "Oh shit, I think I need help!" and went upstairs to get our Mom. She said that our Mom's face went white and she asked her, "What the hell did you do!?!" They rushed to the Hospital and found out that she had cracked her skull and also had a minor bleed on the brain, she got nine stitches over her left eye... Honestly she's really lucky! If she hadn't woken up, or if she had fallen asleep when she went upstairs, it could have been a lot worse. She stayed in the Hospital till the 27th. While in the Hospital my Mom's car broke down and wasn't able to get fixed till last-night. My Mom and Sister got to come home today and everything is going well finally... Crazy, right!?!

My sister's surgery started a about three and a half hours ago... The Dr. still wasn't sure what kind of Valve they were going to use; a Pig Heart Valve, a Cadaver Valve or an Artificial Valve. He said that it depended on what he saw once the surgery actually began... He also said the surgery would take at least five to eight hours, so my Dad and I still have some time before we hear anything. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, that everything goes right.

My Sister has been in the Hospital for a week now. My Mom took her in because she had been really sick and we were all starting to worry. I should of realized how bad it really was, when she went without complaining as she normally would. It turns out that she had a U.T.I. (Urinary Tract Infection), that ended up causing Sepsis and Kidney problems... They gave her a PICC Line to give her, Pain Meds and Antibiotics but it became infected. It was removed when the Dr. took notice of the infection and they thought that she was finally getting better. They were going to give her a new PICC Line today, but realized there was a new problem.

A PICC Line leads to one of the Heart Valves and the infection has caused scarring of her Valve... The Dr. is now saying that they need to do Valve Replacement Surgery. God I'm scared to death... She's had surgery before, but I can't help but be scared.

I know you don't know my Sister, but please pray for her... I have to go, I'm starting to shake...