Sandra's Story
Sandra Faber has lived in many towns across New Jersey, but once she settled in Paulsboro, it became home for good. At 67, Sandra works in accounts payable and shares her home with her cousin, Sheryl. During lunch breaks and free time, Sandra loves escaping into romance novels. But one evening, she noticed her heart pounding—and it wasn’t due to a page-turning plot. Sandra turned in for the night, but when the uncontrolled fluttering persisted the next morning, she drove herself to Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden.
Expecting doctors to prescribe medication and send her home, Sandra was surprised when the hospital team ordered multiple tests and made it clear she would not be leaving any time soon. Sandra’s fast and irregular heartbeat was a sign of a mild heart attack, and it triggered a reaction called Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome—a life-threatening medical emergency affecting her breathing.
Doctors created a surgical opening in Sandra’s windpipe—a tracheostomy—and placed her on a ventilator. Surgery followed to address Sandra’s cardiac issues—doctors performed a triple bypass and aortic valve replacement to restore her to a normal heart rate. They also placed a feeding tube for nutrition.
Sandra spent the next two weeks in a medically induced coma. Even after regaining consciousness, she struggled to stay alert and make sense of her situation. After 18 days of acute care, it was Sheryl who made the decision to transfer her cousin to Select Specialty Hospital – Willingboro where she felt Sandra would have the best chance to recover and regain her independence.
Shortly after Sandra arrived, her physician-led multidisciplinary team developed a personalized plan to help her breathe, eat and walk on her own again.
“As soon as I realized what was going on, I wanted to start the healing process,” Sandra said. “I wanted my breathing to get stronger so I could get off the ventilator, get better and go back to work.”
Just one day into her stay at Select Specialty Hospital, the respiratory therapy team began daily spontaneous breathing trials with Sandra with the guidance of a pulmonologist. Under close supervision, the respiratory team dialed back Sandra’s ventilator support, exercising her lungs in the process. Sandra’s breathing steadily improved. Within five days, the team equipped Sandra’s tracheostomy with a Passy Muir valve (PMV), which allowed her to speak, furthering exercising her lungs in addition to allowing her to communicate.
Given a voice through the PMV, Sandra expressed her optimism and motivation to continue her progress. "During therapy I told the therapists, 'Well, I think I did a lot this week; it's definitely more than I was doing last week.'" Indeed, just two days later, Sandra was freed from the ventilator and five day after that, her tracheostomy was removed.
At the same time, Sandra’s speech-language pathologist worked with her to strengthen her throat muscles. Twelve days after arriving, a special study confirmed she could swallow safely, and Sandra was soon enjoying regular food and beverages again.
Now breathing and eating independently, walking was Sandra’s remaining goal. Post-surgical precautions initially limited what Sandra could do, but she worked closely with her physical and occupational therapy teams to rebuild her strength, range of motion and balance with tailored exercises. As she started her third week at Select Specialty Hospital, Sandra progressed from sit-to-stand exercises to walking 20 feet with a rolling walker and assistance. Meantime, occupational therapy helped Sandra build the upper body strength needed to perform self-care tasks such as dressing, grooming and using the toilet.
Sandra marveled at her progress. “When I first got here, I couldn’t even move my arms. I couldn’t press even press the button on the call bell. I just didn’t have the strength,” she recalled.
“Now I’m walking down the hall and combing my own hair. I definitely got stronger.”
After 17 days at Select Specialty Hospital, Sandra met her recovery goals and was ready to transfer to inpatient rehabilitation to continue building on her gains. She’s most excited about her first shower in her own home. Additionally, “I really want to be able to go back to work,” Sandra said.
Looking back, Sandra credits the entire care team at Select Specialty Hospital for helping her through every stage.
“Everyone was helpful. It wasn’t just one person, it was the whole village of people,” she said. “I’m glad it all worked out so well.”