Alexandria's Story
Alexandria “Alex” Nicosia, a 26-year-old home health licensed practical nurse, went into labor with her second daughter, Koralee. Initially admitted to the hospital for a routine delivery, her blood loss threw her into hemorrhagic shock. Next, she had acute respiratory failure, her kidneys began to fail and she went into cardiac arrest. Alex had a tracheostomy tube inserted into her airway and was placed on a ventilator for breathing support. She also began hemodialysis to take the load off of her kidneys. Despite these efforts, she remained unresponsive, leading doctors to diagnose her with an anoxic brain injury. They recommended comfort measures to her family.
Geremy, Alex’s husband, never lost hope. He believed Alex could recover and chose Select Specialty Hospital - Gulf Coast for the specialized care she needed. Upon admission, Alex was entirely dependent on round-the-clock care by the medical staff for her needs.
The rehabilitation team at Select Specialty Hospital worked with Alex daily to rebuild the muscles in her core and extremities. Though still unresponsive, physical and occupational therapists made sure that she was upright twice a day and moved her limbs through range of motion exercises to prevent atrophy.
Then, a turning point — Alex woke up. Being aware of her surroundings and capable of following directions. This allowed Alex to participate more fully in physical therapy which would help her overall recovery. With that, her respiratory therapist began to focus on liberating Alex from the ventilator.
Breathing exercises that included holding her breath, or varying the length of time she took in air helped strengthen Alex’s lungs. Her respiratory therapist began breathing trials, slowly increasing the amount of time that Alex was breathing without the machine. She continued to progress. The tracheostomy was successfully removed, and she no longer required hemodialysis.
Alex had improved significantly with the support of her family who rallied together to take charge of her care during and after her time in the hospital. Her mother-in-law, Stephanie, took the role of caregiver for Alex’s children and Geremy spent time re-teaching her how to text so she could stay in contact with everyone.
After only 18 days at Select Specialty Hospital, Alex was breathing, eating and communicating on her own once again.
Reflecting on their experience, Geremy expressed immense gratitude for the care Alex received, stating, "The team at Select Specialty Hospital - Gulf Coast was nothing short of amazing."