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WENDY/CASPER SAYS HELLO WITH HER UPDATE 11.13.14
---- Original Message -----
From: Wendy Casper
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2014 4:53 PM
Subject: WENDY SAYS HELLO WITH HER UPDATE 11.13.14
Hello Friends,
Many of you have written to check up on me.....and asked about my health conditions.
I appreciate all the kind letters and prayers...and donations to my Pay Pal Account (WENDYCASPER777@gmail.com)
This has been a very long road of recovery. So, I decided that the best way to answer all the questions.....was in one email to you all! I hope this doesn't offend anyone....but, I have only so much time and energy......
A short overview follows for those folks that don't know my story:
I became very ill on July 2nd, 2013....and went to bed with what I THOUGHT was the flu.
I didn't get better, went to my Dr. who said "Bladder Infection/UTI and gave me antibiotics for 10 days.
14 days later, on July 16th, 2013, my husband of 39 years died in my arms of a major heart attack. He had no symptoms.....or health problems.....I guess God's Plans for GARY were much bigger than mine. God called him home, and no matter what I did to save him, CPR, and I defib'd him 3 times...I couldn't save him.
At that point....I was so ill.....I had to shut down a business that was 25+ years old...move it to my garage for storage, as I became more and more ill.
I had to move Gary's 93 year old mother into my home to care for her...as she was in a condo, and Gary took care of her. She was about 6 miles away...but it made more sense to move her into our home....as being as sick as I was...I knew someone would have to care for her.....care for my 2 dogs....her 2 cats...and my home.
A very good friend who had been an employee for 10+ years stepped forward and "demanded my car keys....my keys to the house....my checkbook....debit card....and told me she was taking over!" She moved in on that day..Oct.22nd 2013.....and is still here...tending to me......and my mother in law.....dogs and cats...laundry and cooking.....
When Gary died....at that very moment I lost all of our insurances..I was in the middle of filing for COBRA...offered by his past employer of 24 years.....The St. Pete Times .......when I ended up in the hospital.....dying.
I spent the first 12 days in ICU fighting to stay alive...I was on an Hour BY Hour Condition...."Critical Condition"...then I spent 179 days in the hospital having a major high risk surgery at the Bayfront Trauma Canter in St Pete Florida....by a Dr with healing hands.....his name is Dr. Steve Epstein.....and has the hands of God that Direct him................I then spent another 2 months in the hospital..for some recuperation....then sent home to heal.
After being in bed for almost a year.,...I had lost all my muscle mass....and my core of balance.
Upon...."Coming home".....with only 6 visits from Physical Therapy......(That is all medicaid offered).....I had to learn to sit up. The first few times of sitting up...I passed out...too much blood to the brain at one time.....
Then....I had to learn to stand on my own two feet.
Having not been able to stand up for many months.....again I passed out, several times while attempting to stand.....while the blood rushed to my feet and legs for the first time in months.....
THEN..the first time I was able to stand and the world not "spin round and round"...I found out that my feet and my brain were not connected.
My feet were literally glued to the floor. My brain said "MOVE"....but my feet didn't hear the directions.
Having been VERY athletic all my life....remember I skied semi-professionally for many years......and then became a trainer and part of the RESCUE TEAM.....so I skied to save others lives....by starting avalanches......and rescuing people who were injured while skiing.................it was frustrating to not be able to pick up my feet.
I did not want to be an invalid or confined to a bed,...and ...Of course....with the new Obama Care...Medicaid....( I'm 62 so I can't get Medicare).....it was frustrating......with no professional physical therapy...I went into 'training mode'....of what I used to do.
I lifted weights...while laying in bed,......I opened up joints that were locked/frozen...inch by inch..I stretched muscles and opened joints that were locked tight.
I am FINALLY able after doing my own PT.....to get on my feet...walk with a walker....I'm up to 30 steps now......from not being able to move....to taking 30 steps is HUGE!
I know I can push thru this,....and be able to walk again...
I just wish I could find a Professional Physical therapist that could instruct me a bit more....give me more guidance....as to what to do next! However, the cost of that is $125.00 per hour....and that doesn't fit my budget..which is Gary's SS and his Mom's SSI.....it's a fine line we walk every month financially.....just like many of you do too! I know, I hear it from many of you........jobs lost......outsourced....companies shutdown.....retirement plans gone.....
Who would have thought that our world would come to this!
However,.....I will walk again. Even if I have to do it wrong....and then correct the errors.....I will walk many more steps and be off the walker.....very soon.....this next few months would be GREAT....I hope and pray...that is my Goal!
Having ALWAYS been healthy.....this was a nightmare.
To keep this simple......( to answer those folks that didn't know what I've been thru....)
I was septic, as I had holes in my bladder....my colon....my diverticula...my stomach...all dumping their contents into my abdominal cavity. I was a toxic mess,....poisoned by my own body. 12 DAYS in ICU to clean out the poisons.....
Every tube in the world,...shoved down my nose and throat and up into my bladder,.....and into my colon...as NOTHING was containing the waste...it just dumped into my abdominal cavity.
The Surgery was 7 hours...6 surgeons.....4 attendants......etc....and God's Hands.
I had surgery to close up the holes.....take out 22" of colon.....build a "wall" between my bladder and colon so they didn't grow together........fix and close the holes in all the organs.....clean out the toxins......every organ..."my giblets and my guts" have all had "hands on".......the medical people....and God.
I met some of the most incredible people on my journey thru 3 hospitals.......
People..like Dave the helicopter pilot who was sick and "green around the gills",..made me a promise to get me to the Trauma Center for immediate surgery......no matter what it took! The Nurses, RN'S LPN'S...Doctors.....CNA'S.....even the cleaning staff.....were incredible people, who I will love for the rest of my Life. They Saved me from dying.....they all had a hand in my survival......and I appreciate each and every one of them..........and when I say I LOVE THEM...it's true!
I've been told by several people...I should write a book about my experience.
I was told long ago....that when you are faced with going thru Hell.....RUN, don't walk!
That's what I've tried to do for this whole past year,......and I really never understood allot about Life.
I thought I did....but I've learned many lessons....and probably write the book of my "RUN THRU HELL".
SO, I wish to Thank you all for your prayers, concerns and donations.
Some people who donated, scraped money together....doing without in their own lives...I know!
You are the people that change others lives.........the donations came at exactly the right time...when the power bill was past due...or the phone was about to be disconnected......those of you that contributed.....I must say.....YOU made a big difference in my LIFE.
Please folks...continue to say those prayers for me, Edith (our caretaker) AND Ida ( my mother in law)......
ALSO, please include a friend Kevin C. whose wife is dying of cancer of the lymph system.
THEY NEED OUR PRAYERS!
Again my friends....I say THANK YOU...FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART...
I LOVE YOU ALL.....AND PRAY FOR YOU EACH PRAYER OR MEDITATION......
WE WILL PREVAIL IN OUR FAVORITE AGGRAVATION........WE WILL BE THE WINNERS!
- Our "RUN THRU HELL"...WILL BE OVER...AFTER 20+ YEARS......it will soon end...and we can ALL go make a difference!
Thanks again my friends!
Wendy
PAYPAL email: wendycasper777@gmail.com