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Published: Sunday, 23 December 2018 18:00

Written by Corina Clements Soria

ANA KAREN… and CHRISTMAS ON THE STREETS 2018

About 10 days ago, I got the very sweet surprise of hearing Ana Karen’s voice for the first time in 2 and a half months… Doctors had been puzzled with the difficulty that Ana Karen was having with breathing… and also the severe reaction she would have if they tried to remove the traqueotomy… 41 days after the traque had been put in, the doctors changed it for a smaller one, when they discovered that the first one was too big!!! - blocking her breathing rather than giving her freedom to breathe independently… and making it impossible for her to talk…

The new tube made a huge difference and immediately she was able to talk and breathe with ease… In less than a week her tracheotomy was completely removed… Ana Karen was moved from Intensive Care… to Medium Care… and had been in Medium Care for less than a day when they moved her into a regular room (with a lot less care…) It was so neat to hear that the ICU nurses would come down to check on her or visit her…

About a week ago Ana Karen was discharged from the hospital… but it took until this past Friday for Ana to be able to go home… Even with the original discount (because of their economic situation) the bill was still $11000 US… After a couple days, it was brought down to $2233 US, still a lot of money, but definitely more manageable…

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Urgent Update

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Published: Tuesday, 11 December 2018 22:46

Written by Corina Clements Soria

This morning we found out that last night they moved Ana Karen out of Intensive Care into a “Middle Care”… The bright side is that this means that Ana Karen is getting better… the down side is that there isn’t as high of ratio of nurses and doctors to patients so there might be gaps in Ana Karen’s care… especially because she is just recently breathing on her own, she can’t move on her own (not even enough to push a buzzer if she needs help)… and with her tracheotomy she can’t even call out on her own…

The nurses from Intensive Care told Gabriel that a family member really needs to stay with Ana Karen to help feed, move and change her… The problem is who can do that? Leyla (Ana Karen and Gabriel’s one-year old daughter) is soon going to go into the hospital herself to be operated on… and then Gabriel will have to stay 24 hours a day with her… Brenda (Ana Karen´s mom) is soon going to have a baby… so she will be unable to help too much…

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The Battle Continues

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Published: Monday, 22 October 2018 21:46

Written by Corina Clements Soria

Update on Ana Karen and Marco´s defense…
Heidi wrote an update the other day on Ana Karen… Every day there is a little improvement… She has been working hard on being able to breathe “solo”… and now the doctor said the tracheotomy might come out in the next 5 days!!!!

Ana Karen had a special treat the other day… One of the nurses facilitated a video call to her kids… It was the first time in almost 3 weeks that Matias and Leyla were able to “see” their mom… and vice versa…

It amazes me how Ana Karen, Gabriel and Brenda (Ana´s husband and mom) have such great attitudes and outlook in all of this… I know that it is God answering your prayers by sustaining and strengthening them…

We have seen amazing answers to prayer for God´s provision!! In less than 2 days, there was enough money promised for one whole set of immunoglobulin treatment (and we were able to get a “good” price)… Ana Karen’s family made food a couple weeks ago to raise money for medicines… Gabriel has been able to make that stretch by going to a group of ladies downtown that help with [medicines… giving them at almost a third of the price… you just have to go and be willing to wait in a long line to receive that help… Gabriel also has talked to the social worker at the hospital and they gave Ana Karen an official discount of 70% on all the tests… and hospital stay… I´m sure the hospital bill will add up… but 70% off will definitely help when the time comes! There are also ladies in the market who give El Jordán vegetables every Wednesday… so a big bag of vegetables gets passed along to both Gabriel and Brenda for their families… Thank you, Jehovah Jireh. God the Provider…

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Update on Ana Karen

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Published: Wednesday, 10 October 2018 21:46

Written by Corina Clements Soria

It has been a whirlwind for Ana Karen and her family… its hard to believe that two weeks ago was when she stumbled and fell for the first time… its been 13 days since she has been paralyzed from the neck down… and 10 days since she has been in the hospital diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome… Several tests later, it was narrowed down to a variant of Guillain Barre Syndrome, called AMAN (Acute motor axonal neuropathy)… There were a couple days where Ana Karen hung in the balances between life and death… a respirator allowing her to breathe… and live…

She started on high doses of immunoglobulin (very expensive) for 5 days… The doctor gave the good news that the virus seemed to have peaked… but he was careful not to offer any hope of a quick recovery… When a bed opened up in Intensive Care, the doctor asked the family to find a air mattress to help Ana Karen to be more comfortable and not get bed sores… When I asked him if we could buy a used mattress he said that we should buy one for Ana Karen… because she was going to need it for a very long time… It made me a little sad and scared to think of Ana´s future…

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