Maggie’s Story

Site created on July 14, 2019

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On May 31, Maggie landed in Peru. She had decided to go visit her in laws for a month. After the plane landed she went to get off the airplane by the ladder stairs and she fell and hit her head. I do not have much information but she did not know where she was. She was rushed to a local hospital where she spent about a week and a half. We knew something was still wrong. We were able to get her into another doctor who did an MRI and found a large blood clot. Emergency Surgery was done. She was in ICU on a ventilator for a few weeks. She is awake and no longer on a ventilator. She had a tracheotomy which they used to wean her off the vent. She is no longer in ICU, but she does have the trach still in, so she cannot talk. Prior to surgery she had difficulty with time and short term memory, as well as she lost some ability to use her right hand and when talking she would not always say the correct words. Today, she cannot talk due to the trach, which will be left in for a few more weeks. She has a large amount of brain swelling. We are not sure what she understands. When talking to her via face time we have seen some smiles, which gives us hope. She has not been able to answer yes/no questions yet. We do know that there is brain damage and that she will need rehab, but we do not understand the extent of the damage. She has limited abilities with her right hand. The doctor says that as the swelling goes down, some things will get better. This is going to be a very slow recovery. She will need one if not two more surgeries before she will be able to come home. Her husband's family, now hers, has been amazing in getting her care and being by her side every day. We pray every day for her recovery and safe return home.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Afton Gates

Good Evening, 
Maggie is doing well. She is at the long term care facility. A couple of weeks ago I was contacted as there is COIVD-19 outbreak there. The doctor and I came up with a plan on how to treat her if she got it. The next day they called and said that she tested positive.  Nestor, myself and other family started checking on her every couple of hours (via phone) to make sure, that if she started to have signs or symptoms she would get help right away. She has not had a cough, fever any other symptoms. She has had energy and is doing well.
We have learned a lot the last few weeks. Mainly with communication.  When she talks, the words that come out are a lot of the time not words, and when they are, they are not the words that she intends to say. She does not know or hear what comes out. Her brain blocks it. So when we do not understand,  she gets frustrated as she is not understand.  if using visual cues, or even small written words when you talk to her, ahe seems to understand more.  She can answer yes and no with her fingers, and she is about 90% accurate. For example if you ask her if she is sitting, she will answer yes or no correctly. We do believe that most of the time, with visual ques, she can understand what we say. We have been able to start to use pictures to communicate. It cannot be any picture, which took us long to understand. It has to be the actual picture of what she is trying to communicate.  For example, if she has a picture of a wheelchair,  she does not understand to point to that picture if she wants to sit in the wheelchair.  But an actual picture of her wheelchair,  and she can point to the picture that she wants to sit in her wheelchair. It still takes time for her to understand them, but over time we will be able to increase the number of pictures to aid in communication.  
She still cannot move the right side of her body. She continues with therapy. 
She has been assested for the possibility of being moved to a group home. Here she will receive more one on one care and can be with people who are more her age. This will take some time for placement. 
The facility and the counties have been very helpful in this process. We have lucked out to get such great people who care for others, and have gone above and beyond. Especially at a difficult time for everyone. 
Please send her cards, letters or pictures. She is at The Villa At Osseo. She has her phone with her. She does facetime with Facebook Messager or you can call her number.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for Maggie. It is great she has so many people who love her.
A reminder that she cannot have visitors as the facility is not allowing it. This is for everyone's saftey. 
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