To my dearest family and friends,
It is time I publicly share with our closet family and friends the unfortunate series of events my family has experienced earlier this year.
Friday January 31, 2025, my mother unexpectedly fell in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. At around 7 pm, I received a call my mother was admitted at a local hospital in Cabo San Lucas. At first, the unthinkable came to mind and I thought the worst. Soon enough, I found out my mother broke her left shoulder and left knee and was admitted to Saint Luke’s Hospital in Cabo San Lucas.
Given my mom only has American health insurance and has not ever had a reason to purchase traveler’s insurance the doctor, the medical staff lacked the urgency to help my mom, even though she was in such bad shape and poor condition. I made the medical decision for the Mexico doctor to assess my mom and run a CT scan. 1 overnight stay, medications (which were weak and did not help ease my mom’s pain not one bit), medical exams and procedures all cost $5,000 out of pocket.
Just like that $5000 gone.
The CT scan results showed that not only did my mom suffer a fractured humerus and a tibial plateau fracture, most importantly, she suffered an arterial break in the lower left extremity.
What this meant was… at the event of the fall, the blood supply below the knee completely tore and was no longer receiving the adequate blood flow it needed to sustain the health of the lower left leg. The muscle and nerves in the lower left leg would now be compromised and fighting to survive. Without good blood flow, muscles die in about 6-8 hours and begin to turn black or “necrotic”. Muscle necrosis is life threatening and could lead to septic shock. Sepsis is a bacterial infection that causes low blood pressure and organ failure, which can then lead to death.
At the time, no one explained this to me. No one explained the severity of the situation to me. The doctor only spoke spanish so many things could have been lost in translation. And it didn’t help that she lacked traveler’s health insurance. The surgery would have costed us a fortune and a lifetime of medical debt.
At that moment, my mom needed emergency surgery. She needed her artery that serves as a main bloodline to her lower left leg to be repaired in the hopes to preserve and restore full function and mobility of mom’s left leg.
Unfortunately this is not what transpired. My mom waited 26 hours before receiving proper medical treatment. 26 hours.
What happened was my mom quickly decided she wanted the surgical operation to begin in USA (health insurance compatibility). The doctor put in a request for an airlift. As you may have guessed, airlift costs a pretty penny. The cost of the airlift you may ask? $25,000.
Just like that we are in $30,000 deep in a matter of hours.
I coordinated with the airlift coordinator where she would land and what hospital she would be transferred to. The closest stop from Cabo San Lucas and Los Angeles is San Diego. My mom landed at a small airport near the border of Tijuana. From there, an ambulance waited upon her arrival and transported her 30 miles north to La Jolla. My mom was then admitted to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla trauma center.
Saturday February 1, 2025, my mom was admitted to the ER at Scripps La Jolla at 7:30 pm. The medical team called for the on-call vascular surgeon. Dr. Al Nori, vascular surgeon, rushed over and saw my mom in less than 20 minutes. Him and his team quickly assessed her and warned us she was suffering compartment syndrome. The OR was now getting prepped and ready for emergency surgery to begin promptly at 9 pm.
1st surgery took about 5 hours. My mom was now admitted to the ICU wing.
My mom stayed in Scripps La Jolla for 33 days. Surgery #2 Dr. Smith, orthopedic surgeon, repaired my mom’s left shoulder (has hardware) and left knee (no hardware). In the remaining surgeries, Dr. Al Nori and vascular team worked on removing dead muscle tissue and eventually closed her wounds.
Being apart from my mom while she was in a hospital bed in pain and alone for 33 days were the longest days of my life. I put my life on hold just to be with her. I would drive 2-3 times out of the week to visit her and make sure the medical staff saw me present. Suregons came in daily, sometimes even twice a day to check on her foot’s pulse. Nurses did pulse checks on her foot every 4 hours. Surgeons prepared my mom and I for the worst.
Doctors kept informing us about below the knee amputation. Apparently that would have been best care scenario for better function and mobility. I fought them against this awful, gut wretching outcome. As for my mom, this was worse than a death sentence. How could my mom go on without her leg?
I looked the surgeons in the eye and said, “you are looking at a healthy 46 yo female, no underlying conditions, goes to the gym, loves to hike at Peter’s Canyon, travels on her spare time, goes out every weekend and you want to take her leg? I don’t care what is it. I don’t care if it means more surgery, more recovery time, more pain, more time away from her family, do whatever it is. But please don’t take my mom’s leg. She couldn’t live on like that – trust me I know her.”
7 surgeries later the surgeons of Scripps La Jolla saved my mom’s leg. Thank you Jesus! Hallelujah.
Next stop. Post acute rehab. Wednesday, March 6, 2025, mom was admitted to Providence Mission Hospital Mission Viejo in post acute unit. May I quickly add my mom’s health insurance (I won’t throw them under the bus – UNITED HEALTHCARE) did not want to approve my mom’s stay at rehabilitation. They thought, “46 yo female repaired left shoulder repaired left knee non-abmulatory (bedridden) does not need occupational or physical therapy.” ARE YOU SERIOUS? C’MON AMERICA. My apologies, I degress.
The prognosis is 12-18 months recovery with foot drop syndrome and this is best case scenario. According to google, foot drop syndrome is the inability to lift the front part of the foot, causing the toes to drag while walking.
Sunday March 16, 2025, mom finally came home. Since then, I take my mom to her weekly doctor’s and physical therapy appointments. The transition between hospital and home were quite challenging. My mom moved out of OC because she no longer can care for herself. My mom mom lives in LA closer to her family so I can help take care of her. For a good month or so, I changed my mom’s wound dressings daily. It taught me how hard nurses work and how I wouldn’t wish to ever clean wounds again unless it was for my family or friend.
Monday June 16, 2025 (3 months post-hospital stay) my mom is okay. My mom still is in a wheelchair. She is pending 1 more surgery. Achilles tendon lengthening surgery. According to google, it is a procedure that helps increase the length of the Achilles tendon, often performed to correct a tight tendon that limits ankle motion and causes walking difficulties.
I would like to give thanks.
Thank you Jesus – for your everlasting love and protection over my mom
Thank you grandma Maria and Vienna – for the endless support and companionship
Thank you Jaime – for lending a helping hand to a long lost friend, my family appreciates all that you do and we could not have been successful without you
Thank you Jen – for opening the doors to Vienna and I while we we down in SD visiting my mom, you gave my daughter and I warm place to sleep
Thank you Cindy – for visiting us the 1st day of ICU and opening your doors to Vienna and I
Thank you Sharon, Julie Baez and prayer team – for being spiritual warriors and calling onto Him to deliver us with good news
Thank you Christina – for helping me pack up my mom’s things
Thank you Peter – for helping me move my mom’s belongings
Thank you Patty and Giselle – for helping me cleaning my mom’s wounds when I was not able to
Thank you Liz – for coming to visit my mom every so often and helping her organize her room
Thank you to the Serrato family, Rubino family, Pompa family, Jen and Mariah, Patty and her girls, Sylvia, Miriam, Michelle, Tp, Aurora, Yvonne, Jackie and Giselle, Suki, Phil, James and whomever else that I might have missed who came to visit my mom.
Thank you to all my dearest friends whom I have confided in, without you I could not have gone on <3
A special thank you to the entire surgical team (vascular, orthopedic, plastics, sports medicine) and medical staff that helped nursed my mom back to health
Most of all, thank you Mom – for being the strongest person I know both mentally and physically <3
Thank you for reading her story. No donation is too small. Any bit helps. A simple sharing of this post would mean the world to us. Please help us share my mom’s story to reach as many people as we possibly can. Thank you so much. We love and appreciate you all.
With love,
Jiselle
