Tonie Rojas

Survivor

When I was 21 in 2018 I had what was supposed to be a “minor intervention.”  Everything seemingly went well, except I was in extreme pain. I told everyone around me that the pain was unbearable and that I was nauseous all the time. My family thought I was just being weak, I even went to get my stitches removed and told my doctor about it. He brushed it off because my mother had told him that I was overreacting.

A week later, while in severe pain, I started hallucinating and then threw up blood. My sister immediately insisted they take me to the hospital. On the way there I almost passed out twice but my sister made me smell her perfume bottle to keep me awake.

Once I arrived at the hospital, that’s when I passed out. I was immediately intubated and taken to surgery. My doctor told my family we were in God’s hands. I arrived dehydrated and with multiple organ failure. I was in a coma and at the ICU for 12 days, had multiple surgeries and procedures. Eventually I made a full recovery, leaving my doctors baffled. I had only a 20% chance of survival and even then I would have some kind sequel/relapse. None of that happened, I was truly born again after that and now every January 28th I celebrate my other birthday. But I can’t help but think all of that could have been avoided with more information and had the people around me trusted me when I told them I wasn’t feeling good.

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