Stephanie McDonald

Our nightmare began the night of 08/25/2013. My daughter was having severe abdominal pains. I met her at the ER and a CAT scan was done showing a kidney stone. (Sepsis and Kidney Stones) The ER doctor stated the stone was low in her ureter and she should be able to pass it. He sent her home with pain meds and said to follow up in 2 days with a urologist. The night of 08/28/2013, Stephanie “crashed”. We called 911 and she was taken back to the hospital via ambulance. Her BP dropped to somewhere in the neighborhood of 53/12. I felt so helpless watching her in such pain and not being able to help.

Her kidney stone did not pass through. Instead it lodged in the ureter and blocked the urine completely. She was in septic shock. They had to do an emergency surgery quickly and put in a stent, but the damage was done. She was in respiratory difficulty, heart and kidney failure, and she had a clotting problem. She was intubated (a breathing tube was inserted) and put into a drug-induced coma to help her body fight this infection throughout her body. She was receiving so many drugs, it took four stands to hold them all. My daughter was 44.

Sometime during this, Stephanie also suffered a stroke because of the low BP and platelets. She was given a 10% chance of survival. I have worked in the medical field all of my life, I knew what they were telling me and trying to prepare me for, but as a mother, I could not accept what I was hearing.

Stephanie was extubated (the breathing tube was taken out) once after a week or so, but she had to be re-intubated because she could not breathe that well on her own yet. They said she had no reserve. Every day I would talk to her about anything and everything hoping she could hear my voice and know that I was there. We waited anxiously for her to be able to communicate with us as we did not know if she suffered any disability from all that she had been through.

Stephanie had kidney dialysis and at one time they were talking about open heart surgery because of the infection and heart damage.

When they finally started to gain some ground and they brought Stephanie out of the coma, she was paralyzed on her right side, but mentally she was intact. She did have problems forming the words but knew what she wanted to say. She tried to educate herself to eat with her left hand, and she did not want help.

One of the first things she said to me was “Where is my phone?” I cried… I had her phone turned off and had to scramble to have it turned back on.

So after four weeks in the CVICU Unit, she was discharged to an IP rehab facility.

Stephanie has gained the use of her right side. She is walking and talking, driving and just released back to part time work.

She was so lucky to have had the awesome care that she received. She was admitted to the heart unit because of the heart failure. The nurses became our family and were thrilled to get to know her personality, after so many weeks of her “sleeping.”

Today, six months after her hospitalization Stephanie is truly doing well. She still has some problems speaking like she once did, and that bothers her. Her hair is falling out, but the doctors feel that and other problems are still related to the drugs and stress her body suffered. But those drugs kept her alive and we can live with these minor things.

All this because of a kidney stone. We have learned so much from her illness. At first, she was afraid to sleep. She was afraid of having anesthesia to remove the stent. She had to take insulin for diabetes and meds for high blood pressure. These no longer are a problem. So many side effects, but so many are no longer a problem.

She fought hard and I am so proud and thankful to have my daughter back!

Source: by Sam Bradford (Stephanie's mother)