Friday, July 25, 2008

My mom is very ill

My Mom is battling for her life; please keep her in your thoughts and prayers...

Last week was the beginning of a nightmare for our entire family. It all started on Saturday, July 12th when I took my mom into the ER in Santa Rosa where she stayed for five days. During this time she had a blood transfusion; many multiple tests ran on her and even spent her birthday in this hospital. Finally, on Friday July 18th she was told that they could not find what was wrong with her and sent her home! She came home even sicker than when she had originally been admitted.
At 4 in the morning on Saturday, July 19th I again rushed her to the ER this time in Terra Linda hoping for some better results. Much to my dismay I was told that all that was happening to my mom was psychological! I was like, are you kidding me!!!! The way that it was explained however did make sense but it just didn’t settle well in my stomach so I fought for a second opinion. Finally, an amazing doctor ran a new CT scan and found out what was happening to my poor mom. She was then set up for ambulatory transfer to Kaiser’s top neurological hospital in Sacramento. He informed me that she had a large bleed in her brain that was likely vasculitis and it was inoperable.
Mom was transferred to Sacramento around noon on the 19th where they immediately ran more tests and scans on her. We learned that in actuality she had two bleeds that were very rare because there was one on each side of the brain, the larger being on the left. I am not going to go into every detail of her trauma but I will give some of the major events that have led us to where we are now. On Monday the 21st, this nightmare became even worse when she started having continuous seizures and strokes which caused more bleeds in her brain. She's made it through 3 life threatening brain surgeries in less than 24 hours. The pressures in her brain keeps going up which is also a major problem. She has now been diagnosed with a rare disease called PACNS - Primary Angiitis (Vasculitis) of the Central Nervous System. She's currently in critical condition and is on life support but as of 3pm on Thursday we haven't had any major setbacks. She made it through another night which is more than the doctors expected. She's in a coma so at this point we have no idea how much of the brain damage will be permanent, all we can do is hope for the best.
She has started a special Chemotherapy so her immune system is completely weakened so we can’t have visitors or flowers. However, I wanted to inform you and update you about her condition. If you would like to send her any notes you can do so to her e-mail tammylarson@yahoo.com and we will print them and read them to her.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, I will try to update my blog as often as possible with any addition information.

7 comments:

Clayton said...

Hello Christie,
Thank for very much for this blog. I will pass it on to the classmates. I pray for the best. Tammy is blessed with a great family. All the best. Clayton

Kathryn said...

We love you all of you Christie and are constantly praying for your Mom. Please tell her how much we love her. All our love- Brett, Kathy and Bella

Tina said...

Christie - thanks for starting this blog, it must be impossible to keep everyone updated.

We all need to pull together for Tammy.

Love to all of you,
Tina

Patty said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Patty said...

Christie, you are such a strong phenomenal woman! Thank you for keeping us informed and thank you for all that you are doing for your mom.

My thoughts and prayers are with her and with all of you. Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything.

Give your mom a big hug for me. (I miss her terribly!!!)

Rachel said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom, Christie. I'll pass the updates on and remember her in our prayers over here in UT. You're amazing to keep it together like you are. You're in our prayers too!
-Rachel White Pierce

Camille said...

You, your mom, and your family will be in our prayers; this must be such a shock to have your mom get sick so suddenly, and horrible for her as well. It sounds like you handled the doctor situation SO well; that was smart to fight for a second opinion. Again, you all will be in my thoughts, and I am and hoping and praying for the best. Don't hesitate to call if you want to talk!