Suzanne Auvil

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.  This site will also coordinate ways to help the family by providing meals.  Please click on the Ways to Help icon above.  As Suzy improves, I'll add to the Planner icon to help with appointments and schedule best times to visit her at home, etc.

Suzy is a lot of things to a lot of people. To us she is a wife, mom, nana, sister, cousin, aunt, friend, the family matriarch, our everything. She loves everyone and never has a negative thought to contribute. She is adventurous and someone people talk about with a smile.

On July 16th, a beautiful sunny and warm summer day, Dale and Sue were out for a walk around Fairview Lake. This is a walk she and Dale took on a regular basis, retracing their steps almost daily. On this day, Suzy stumbled on a small imperfection in the sidewalk, an imperfection she must have navigated 100's if not 1000's of times. As she walked, her toe caught and resulted in a fall where she struck her head and hurt her wrist. After a moment, she stood up, and continued her journey home.  

At home, Dale assisted Sue with ice for her bump on the head and she rested. After a short period of time, Suzy realized she may need medical treatment for a concussion. She called urgent care, who suggested she go straight to the emergency room. Upon arrival at Mt Hood Medical Center, the doctors realized she was suffering from a brain bleed and needed more treatment than they could assist with. She was immediately transported to Emanuel for emergency surgery. Before her transport to Emanuel occurred, Suzy slipped into a coma.

Shortly after arriving to Emanuel, she underwent craniotomy surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain and remove the hematoma (collection of blood) caused by the bleed. The surgery went well, and she continued to rest in a coma in the ICU.

The following day, family arrived offer immediate support to Dale, Darrell, Sam, Dawson, Mike, Julie and Ben. The core family was shocked at the sudden events that have changed our lives. We will be forever grateful for their immediate support. We were initially told her chances for recovery were 50/50 which was hard to comprehend.

As the next few days passed, Suzy remained in a coma and she was watched closely. She started having seizures, medications were administered to stop them, and they did. One very potent drug was removed from her regimen after a few days. This drug took a few days to leave her system and could have caused her to remain in a coma, we hoped she would awaken after the drug exited, but she remained unconscious. After a CT scan on 7/21, the family was told Suzy would not recover to a meaningful life. This was devastating and shook the family to the core. Time ticked by and Suzanne remained on a ventilator and feeding tube, and we anxiously awaited any sign that the medical staff's interpenetration of the scan was wrong.

On Sunday, 7/26, her sister Janet's birthday, the Neurologists read an MRI scan that was conducted the previous day. The Neurologist who shared the news almost a week earlier that Suzy would not regain consciousness, rescinded his comments. The panel of doctors were pleased to announce the MRI scan looked great. The scan shows good brain function and they expect her to recover including walking and talking. A miracle!

 Multiple times a day Suzy is assessed for her consciousness. For many days, she was unresponsive.

On 7/27, she could open her eye lids.
On 7/28, she could open her eyes and can track.  She can move her wrist when asked.
More miracles!

 She is not out of the woods yet but has a lot of fighting spirit which she has already proven!

 Suzanne has so many friends and family. I know we ALL want to see her and encourage her recovery, but the Coronavirus pandemic limits one person to visit in the ICU (or hospital in general). Dale has been a rock and by her side daily. If things change and she is allowed visitors, I will share an entry here. We are thankful for the Nurses, Neurosurgeon, Neurologists, Primary Doctors, and Palliative Care professionals that are helping the family and Suzy navigate these uncharted waters.

 We are so thankful she is alive and fighting (HARD). I will update the journal as Suzanne progresses through her healing journey.

 Please pray for Suzanne and sing her a song - "Wake Up Little Suzy, WAKE UP!"