Grant Regional | aspire to live well | Winter 2019

Greta and Casey I again want to thank all of your staff for their love and support. It truly means the world to my family and me. Feeling blessed Forever grateful doesn’t even come close to describing how we feel about Grant Regional. There really are no words to sum up the impact the staff made on our lives. Prior to April 2018, I can’t tell you how many times driving through Lancaster I probably didn’t even pay attention or take notice of the hospital situated right there in plain sight on Madison Street. We drive by and on to our destination and probably, in our busy lives, think little of the powerful miracles that quietly happen there every day. Well, now each time I’m anywhere close, memories of what we experienced earlier this year cause me to pause, be thankful and realize the important work they do. That important work is something these incredibly skilled and experienced individuals do for our community day in and day out. What we experienced April 25 is nothing short of a miracle. We know in our hearts we have a beautiful, healthy daughter today because of the highly capable and compassionate care that we received while at Grant Regional. After hearing our story, people ask how we did it. We tell them that we could not have done it without the care, love, support and guidance from Grant Regional and High Point. We had complete faith in knowing we were in the best hands possible. Please go home tonight and hug your family because each day is a blessing, and also please donate blood. Without the unselfish actions of many people that made that choice, I would not be here today, and I will be forever grateful for them! able to leave recovery and head back to my room nearly five hours after the surgery. Of course, the first thing I wanted to know was how my baby was doing. I was told at that point that she was being transferred to either Madison or La Crosse to support her breathing because her lungs were not fully developed. I asked to see my husband, and I told him to go with her and that I would be just fine. I did not know the severity of what Greta had gone through at this point, thank goodness. She had quit breathing, and it took nearly six hours to stabilize her before she was transferred from Lancaster to Madison. I was going to see her before she was transferred, but at about 12:30 p.m., I started to mass hemor- rhage, and I had to go in for my second surgery for a complete hysterectomy. Unfortunately, my pre- via developed into what is called an accreta —my placenta had grown into my uterus, and without a hysterectomy, I would continue to bleed. During this surgery, I again lost a lot of blood. I had to have 12 units of blood, plus platelets and plasma throughout that whole day. I literally had lost almost every ounce of blood in my body. I also at one point nearly went unresponsive. Waking up in the ICU at Grant Regional will always be one of the best feelings of my life. I knew waking up to a room without windows meant things were pretty serious. After hearing what had all went on during the day, I had the choice to push myself to get through this or feel sorry for myself. The staff at Grant Regional helped support, strengthen and push me to gain my strength back so I could finally meet my daughter four days later. They comforted, cared and listened to us in one of the most challenging times in our life. By developing and following the plan that we (High Point, Grant Regional, and my family and I) cre- ated, both my daughter and I are here today, which is nothing short of a miracle. 5 WINTER 2019