Nancy’s Story

Site created on June 25, 2021

Welcome to Nancy's CaringBridge website. Lisa and Michelle (her daughters) are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place.  Here’s her story so far:

One June 24, the morning after our Mom (Nancy) & Dad’s (Denny) 42nd wedding anniversary, Nancy had an accidental fall. We’re not sure what happened because hasn’t been able to clearly remember, but dad discovered her on the floor,  in tremendous pain and unable to move her legs. She was rushed to Saint Anthony’s hospital in Gig Harbor via ambulance. At the time, Denny thought she had suffered a stroke, but after being evaluated by the hospital team they discovered that she had a severe acute injury to her spine. It was quickly determined that Nancy's needs required a higher level of trauma care and she was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle  for emergency neurosurgery.

After a quick 10 minute helicopter ride, Nancy arrived at Harborview and the Emergency team immediately got to work.  We learned that as a result of mom's fall,  she had fractured her C7 vertebra and had a severe spinal cord impingement at the C6 vertebra, right at the base of her neck. You can think of this kind of like a garden hose with a kink; signals from her brain couldn't travel past C6 to the rest of her spine, leaving her unable to consistency move or feel anything below that point in her body.  After the Neurology team reviewed her CT scans, they formulated a plan to fuse her spine from C4 to T1. She was immediately scheduled for surgery as soon as an operating table was available.

Around 1:45 pm Nancy started to struggle with breathing, so she was intubated and put on a ventilator; this was a result of both her injury and her anxiety at the time. The surgery, which started around 5:30 pm that night, lasted about 2.5 hours and went without complication. During the surgery, the team ended up fusing only C5 through T1 (good news! shorter fusion = better range of motion down the road).  Afterwards, Nancy was admitted to the ICU, where she remains as of this writing (June 26). She is still in recovery and the team has been hard at work keeping her comfortable and calm while also trying to conduct the assessments needed to move forward. We are trying to ensure that she regularly has visitors to keep her company, but as many of you are aware COVID has severely restricted visitation. As long as Nancy remains at Harborview, she is only allowed one visitor per day.

The bad news: We still don't know what Nancy's long term prognosis will be. As of writing, she was still intubated, which is currently our biggest concern. (It's hard to communicate with a tube in your throat!) We're hopeful that she can overcome this and breathe independently, and that she will regain some movement and sensation below her injury site, but we're also trying to prepare for the possibility that she may have long term respiratory limitations and permanent mobility deficits. We have a long road yet to travel.

The good news (at this time):  Nancy has regained movement and sensation in her arms! This is a HUGE deal, as you can imagine that down the road, maintaining mobility in your arms creates a lot more opportunity for autonomy. She has also (at different times) had movement and sensation in her feet. Things may get worse before they get better, but this is a promising sign that at least the connections are there. That gives us something to work with!

We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Newest Update

October 01, 2021

Journal entry by Lisa LeClaire —

Apologies for the delay, we’ve been busy!! Mom discharged on Wednesday, September 29, almost 90 days to the day after her accident. The difference between this discharge and her initial discharge back on 7/30 is stark: the first time she came home, she was heavily medicated, required a Hoyer lift to transfer from bed to chair, and really didn’t have the knowledge or wherewithal to effectively direct her care. We had to hire a specialized transport service to bring her and her chair home, and she relied on a catheter, injections, and a litany of pills to maintain day to day functionality.

Now? Well, for one, we brought mom home ourselves! Dale and I were able to purchase a lift for our truck that is able to carry mom’s 400 lb chair, and mom slid into Michelle and Brent’s car via transfer board like a pro. Once we got home, mom got right to work reorganizing and tidying up the house, and telling us exactly how she’d prefer to have everything set up. She’s getting accustomed to the accessibility modifications we’ve made to the bathroom and laundry room (including the addition of a downstairs shower) and she’s figuring out how best to use her chair’s features to support her daily activities. This morning she even made French toast for breakfast!

Michelle and I have been out every day to keep an eye on mom while dad works, and while we’ve helped with reorganization and her daily exercises, mom is largely independent. I don’t feel the same anxiety about leaving her unattended as I did before, and she and dad are working hard to adjust and problem solve as they figure out their new routine. (They have definitely appreciated the meals folks have provided, so if you’re interested please check out the meal train Michelle posted!!)

Today, we had mom practice transferring into my SUV (which she did beautifully) and we took a little field trip to Taco Time for a late lunch, and over the Fox Island bridge for some pretty views.

It’s been very different this time around, and it makes me happy to see mom attack her return to home with such gusto. I can’t wait to see what she does next!!
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