Mary Sassatelli Mary Sassatelli

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.  As you all know, Sass had a stroke on Saturday, September 24th.  She was rushed to the hospital and was in great spirits while there.  Mary found a rehabilitation center and she was transferred to Sandalwood just a few days later on the 27th.  She was able to start PT and OT and was highly motivated and anticipating a full recovery.  Unfortunately she hit a bump in the road on October 2nd.  Mary noticed a bit of slurred speech and reported it to the nurses.  They were checking Sass's blood pressure hourly, even throughout the night, so she was extra tired and weak in the middle of the night when she needed to use the restroom.  The nurses must have mistakenly thought she was strong enough to hold her own weight, but she wasn't and she fell, hitting her head along the way.  They rushed her back to the hospital, where it was confirmed that she had suffered another stroke.  This one seemed worse than the first as there was now some facial drooping, slurred speech, and a noticeable decrease in faculties.  After undergoing more tests, she was released to go back to Sandalwood, but not with the high spirits she once had.  This past Sunday, the 9th, Sass fell out of her chair and was, once again, taken to Lutheran where she was checked out and released.  Sass is at Sandalwood for the time being and other care options are being explored.  She is doing well, her great attitude and motivation is back, and she is a star student in all of her therapy sessions.  In the meantime, though, they could use some help in a few areas.  Mary has been spending every day with Sass at the rehab center pushing for her to get her PT and OT, which is important because if she doesn't push for it, they don't always get it done.  She meticulously takes notes on every exercise, every test, every bit of medicine they give Sass, and more.  Then she runs home in between meals or therapy sessions to do a load of laundry or get a phone call in or to take care of Lily.  This is where we come in!  This site will help with updating everyone so that Mary can concentrate on other areas.   People can bring meals, play with Lily, or visit Sass, which would give Mary a break to run errands.  We know so many of you are very concerned and want to help, so this will allow us to spread out that help instead of all of it coming at once.  They are in for a long haul and we will all help to get them through it!  Thank you so much for all of the love that has been pouring in.  I know Mary and Sass appreciate it and us kids do, too.  They mean the world to us! Love to all...