It started in November

The month of November was rough for us.  Bill and I were in a bad place, we had broken ties with friends, and then there was Jessika.  She had been quite ill with chest pain and symptoms of bronchitis. She had made two trips to the ER, but she continued to get worse.  Just before Thanksgiving, she was so weak she couldn't lift her head, let alone care for her children. Her husband was self employed and was unreachable, so I grabbed the kids and Bill took her to the ER for the third time this month.  She finally got a doctor who listened to what she was saying, of course it only took a glance at her to see she was really sick.  He admitted her for testing and IV meds.  The tests showed she had yeast and staff in her blood. She was transported by ambulance to St. John's Hospital in Springfield, about 3 hours from us.

The staff and yeast in her blood were both rare and the hospital had to develop an IV "cocktail" to treat it.  After 2 weeks they released her, she would have to report to our local hospital every day for continued IV therapy for the next 6 weeks, she did, and we thought it was all behind us.

The kids went home, at that time they ranged from 18 months to 14, 4 boys, 1 girl and 1 stepson.  Bill and I continued trying to rebuild our marriage.

Jess got better for a while, but she never got well.  She looked like she had aged 10 years.

The winter wore on, Bill and I repaired things, dealt with his father who was diagnosed with Parkinson's and kept the kids on the weekends so Jess could rest.

By April Jessika looked awful, she was in constant pain and eating little. She went to the doctor who did a chest x-ray and determined she had pneumonia. She spent 10 days in the hospital.  While there they found both the yeast and staff were back in her blood and they started the IV cocktail to treat them. She went home but was to report to the hospital every day for 6 weeks for the IV meds.

Her health seemed to improve some. She was up and about.

On May 12th she went to her hair dresser about 30 miles from us. She wanted to get the two little ones hair trimmed so she took them with her.

Then we got the call that began our hell.

She collapsed at the salon. The staff called 911 and kept the little ones when Jess was picked up by the ambulance. Her husband called and filled us in, he said he would grab the little kids and meet us at the hospital.

That was a long nerve wracking 40 minute drive.  When we got to the hospital Bill took the kids to get a drink in the cafeteria and I stayed with Jess and her husband in the ER cubicle she was assigned.  As she was undergoing tests and x-rays I mentioned to the doctor that I was an RN, she then gave me a little more information.  Finally the results came in, Jess had 2 large blood clots in her right lung and multiple small clots in her left lung. The doctor pulled me into the hall, she said you do realize what this means, I wish I didn't but I did. Her odds were less than 50/50.  She was airlifted to St. Johns again.

Jon began the trip to Springfield and we took the little kids home. We needed to pack, make arrangements for the little kids and pick up the older ones before we could head to Springfield.

Jess was first admitted to ICU to stabelize her.  Then the next day transferred to a step-down unit for treatment, testing and monitoring. That was the start of a long awful summer.