Gloria Ferris

Many of you know that last November began a a very long and scary adventure for my family, friends, and me. Some of you don’t know the details but know I haven’t been around much any more.  Today, I got clearance for Cardio Rehab and I believe that it is safe to say that I am out of the woods and on a long trek back.  It is time to begin the story.

Today I will begin the story of the last six months. I have decided to share my experiences at MetroHealth with my wider net of community because, if nothing else, you may see that anything is possible.  Let me say this, I have no answers only the experience itself to illustrate what is possible.  My aunts continue to say “it is a miracle”.  My doctors don’t say they are wrong.  Me, I don’t remember the first 23 days.  Tim tells me it is just as well.  As I learn bits and pieces I can only say I believe him.

On the seventeenth  day of November I traveled to MetroHealth courtesy of Cleveland EMS.  Within minutes, I was there.  Tim says he never saw so much activity, so much determination and focus in one place.  It appears that day I suffered a heart attack. Shortly after, I suffered three strokes.  Somewhere in there are a stent that became clogged calling for three more, two cardiac arrests, and after a talk with my cardiologist about just how dire my situation was, a DNR was put in place.  My friends and family were greatly impressed that my doctor included them in the status report after asking Tim if he wanted to do it or could he?  Roger later heard this same doctor tell a group of interns “this woman is the sickest patient in this 700 bed hospital”.

After they took a CAT scan,  the doctors told Tim and the girls that chances were good that I would never go home again.  There was a great probability that when I left the hospital I would enter a skilled nursing home where I would eventually succumb to pneumonia.  Tim said he wasn’t ready to seal my fate on a few fuzzy pictures of my head.  My doctors agreed.

And this is where my family, my friends, you, and many I have not met or know enter the tale.  Tim had already called people.  The girls, Geri and Teagan were there.  Many of you had already been to see me, to hold my hand, to remind me of all our good times, to thank the nurses and doctors for me because I could not.  Tim asked for help.  He asked for your prayers, your energy, whatever you had to give.  Whatever you did, however you did it, I am here to say it worked.  On December 10, the woman no one expected to live left CCU and moved to the Seventh Floor to begin Stroke Rehab.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Next:  The Beginning of the Long Road Back