Eileen Chicos

On November 12, 2017 Mom suffered a large stroke. She was airlifted to Rochester where they were able to remove the clot from her brain. The stroke significantly impacted her left side and her speech. One week - to the day- after her stroke she developed a blood clot in her left knee that cut off blood flow to her lower leg. It was a long night in the Albert Lea ER and then on to Rochester by ambulance. The Drs were very concerned about needing to do another extensive procedure so close to her stroke but it was the only option we had for saving her leg. But our Mom is a fighter like no other. She came through the 2nd procedure with flying colors and started the long journey of physical, occupational and speech therapies. She was in rehab for almost 100 days at St John's in Albert Lea before we were finally able to move her into assisted living at the Meadows in Albert Lea on 2/16/18. We had already moved Dad to the Meadows on 1/30/18 so it was wonderful to have them together in the same facility once more. 


Mom had a good month getting settled into a new routine and her new home. Then on 3/15/18 she started having significant vaginal bleeding. After 2 ER trips and a couple of weeks waiting for test results, she received a uterine cancer diagnosis on Good Friday. The DRs in Rochester did not feel Mom was a candidate for surgery and since she had the slowest growing form of cancer they felt our best option for keeping her quality of life was with hormone therapy.


4/10/18 saw us back in the ER. Mom was having more significant bleeding again and she was throwing up, very weak and overall feeling terrible. After another long day of tests we learned that night that Mom has developed 2 fistulas.  A fistula is a growth that connects two organs. In mom's case there is one connecting her uterus to her colon and one connecting her uterus to her bladder. These connections create pathways so toxins are now traveling through her system and she is becoming septic. Surgery to fix this would have been even more extensive than a hyserectomy. On hearing this news our Mom, our great fighter, made the choice to focus her energy on the journey home to Heaven. Mom's faith is incredibly solid. She has no fear and is happy and ready to make this journey home.