Sue Bell

For those who were not aware Mary (A.K.A. Sue/Mother Bell/GMa Bell) was even going in for surgery, we decided it would be best to start from the beginning and hope not to confuse anyone by going back in time. We have missed a couple of “things”, but she has had so many tests, tubes, nurses, Dr.'s, you name it, it is ok if we missed a couple. I'm sure she won't mind. We love you Mother Bell.







Friday, March 31, 2017



Sue went to the ER at Lakeview because she was having very sharp chest pain. The Doctor said her heart looked ok, however her O2 level was low and her left lower leg was swollen so they ran some tests and did a CT scan. The results of those tests were she has a hiatal hernia. Her stomach and intestine had grown together over a number of years. Looking back, that explains why she may have had a hard time swallowing some of her foods and was short of breath closer to her visit in the ER. Sue would be looking at surgery.




Thursday, May 18, 2017




Bright and early in the morning, Sue is brought to Lakeview and ready for her surgery. Her surgery was about 2 ½ hours. The Dr. came out and talked with us and said things were more complicated that they expected. The esophagus and stomach (E/S) were so grown together that they had never seen anything like it. There was a complication with detaching the E/S which resulted in a puncture in her esophagus and her stomach. We were told that they had stitched them up and it should be ok.










Friday, May 19, 2017




Dr. said she had a rough night. Early that afternoon, Sue was moved to the ICU in Lakeview. Her oxygen was low and her kidneys were not keeping up with the dilaudid. She was also experiencing septic shock at this point. By early evening, we were getting very nervous about her condition. She was able to communicate with us and her spirit was trying to hang on with her. Several nurses had come in and tried to get blood for labs or start IV's and she was so cold that they could not find her veins. They decided to insert a PIC LINE in her neck so they wouldn't have to poke her so much. Then the decision was made to send her over to United once they had her stabilized at Lakeview.




Saturday, May 20,2017




She arrived at United around 1 AM this morning. They got Sue comfortable over the weekend in preparation for a surgery set up for Monday. So that night in United, Sue was on Dilaudid for pain. Well, let me tell you, she was feeling pretty good, but was having some pretty crazy reactions to this medication. She was slurring quite a bit as I sat by her bedside, Mike by the window and Lori in the corner. Lori being farthest away from the bed would ask what she said after she got done attempting to say something because she couldn't hear from afar. So I would kind of make it up as I went along and Mother Bell would agree with everything I said. Let me share some of the things Mother Bell and I came up with....She was walking down Strawberry Street which we both decided was somewhere in Kansas. She was also talking about having a rubber tree somewhere in the yard. The best was when she was talking to Donald Trump in her back yard and when the nurses came in and asked where she was she said she had been at home talking to Donald.




Monday, May 22, 2017




This surgery Sue is going to have is to put a stint in the opening of the esophagus that did not take to the stitching. The stint will be wrapped with a cotton type material to close the hole completely. The hope is that the esophagus will heal on its own. She now has 3 chest tube drains to remove all the bile and other acidic secretions from her body. From the day of this surgery, things have been so crazy and unsettling for Sue and her family. At one point, they found blockages around the stint. They had started a tube feeding one day and stopped it later that night because it was going right out one of the three chest tubes she had. On Tuesday, June 6, 2017, they transferred her over to Bethesda to start some rehab and therapy. She had only been out of bed once since this all began.  In between now and the 15th entry, there is just a lot of waiting, tests being done, and Sue getting as much rest as she can until  we see if the esophagus healed on its own. 




Thursday, June 15, 2017




Sue was complaining that her chest hurt and was not feeling well. At Bethesda, they did a CT Scan and it showed fluid around her heart and she spiked a fever. So at that point, Bethesda decided she should be transferred to St. Joe's ER for an echo-cardiogram The results of the echo-cardiogram did not show that much fluid around her heart. She would remain in St. Joe's until her Dr. at United returned from vacation. While at St. Joe's, one of the ER Dr.'s called this surgical procedure she had done at Lakeview as “horrendous.”










Thursday, June 22, 2017




She has been transferred back to United and that is where we began the other journal entries. Sorry for any confusion, but we wanted to let everyone know when and how this all began. What was to be a 2-3 day surgery has turned out to be a much longer stay than any of us could ever have imagined.