Donna's Story
Donna Williams vividly recalls the fluttering in her stomach as she arrived at her apartment in Lexington, Kentucky. Donna, her husband Demarcus and cousin Selina had just driven five hours from Cleveland.
“Oh my God, I made it,” Donna remembers thinking.
Exactly four months earlier, Donna, Demarcus and her sister Ann had traveled that same 330-mile trip in reverse so that Donna could undergo open heart surgery at Cleveland Clinic. Summer had just begun, and Donna expected to be home in three to four weeks. Now, the trees were brilliant with autumn colors.
Donna’s surgery to replace her aortic and mitral valves had gone well, but then she developed pneumonia that led to respiratory failure. She ended up on a ventilator and with a pacemaker.
She was hospitalized eight weeks at Cleveland Clinic, much of it fighting for her life. When Donna finally stabilized, her family chose Select Specialty Hospital – Cleveland Fairhill because of its reputation for helping patients overcome critical illness or injury.
“It was tough, really tough,” Donna said of her condition when she arrived at Select Specialty Hospital. “I was still on a ventilator, I had a (tracheostomy), I had a feeding tube.”
In other words, she couldn’t breathe, eat or talk on her own. She was also too weak to walk.
Donna set a goal to be home by Thanksgiving – three months away – and her physician-led, interdisciplinary team created a plan to help her achieve that.
The day after admission, as Donna grasped the arms of her therapists, she stood again. “My legs were so wobbly, like spaghetti legs,” she laughs.
Over the next few weeks, as nurses administered her medication and monitored her heart function, Donna participated in respiratory, speech, physical and occupational therapies. Repetitions of exercises including leg lifts, sit to stands and even deep breathing techniques helped to rebuild core strength and balance.
Within three weeks, Donna’s progress was evident as she toddled the hospital halls for the first time with her walker, therapists beside her and in tow, pulling along her ventilator. The same day she achieved another milestone: she spoke her first words in nearly three months. A special valve that moved air through her vocal cords was connected to her tracheostomy tube. She called her husband, who was at a nearby hotel.
“I said ‘Hello,’ and he said, ‘Hello’ and then, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re talking!’” she recalls. She told Demarcus how much she loved him.
Meanwhile, Donna also participated in daily breathing trials. Her respiratory team would disconnect her ventilator for increasing amounts of time and monitor how well she could breathe on her own. The goal was for Donna to make it 24 hours without the ventilator. Donna admits that during these trials, her anxiety sometimes got the best of her.
“Breathing was the scariest part because I’d had the machine breathing for me for so long,” she explained. If she was off the ventilator and got short-winded, “I thought I was losing oxygen and couldn’t breathe and I’d say, ‘I can’t do this. Hook me back up.” She struggled to make it that 24 hours.
Then one day she did – and she later learned a secret. Her husband suggested to the pulmonary team that the next time they take Donna off the ventilator for a trial, they shouldn’t tell her and see how she does. She did fine – and the ventilator was soon gone.
Five days later, her tracheostomy tube was gone, too. Donna was also able to start eating soft foods.
She fondly recalls the day she found a covered plate with food in her room. She notified a nurse that the tray was delivered to the wrong room. “They said, ‘No, Donna, that’s yours. You have the OK to eat but everything is pureed,’” she said. “I said, ‘Are you sure?’ and there was a piece of paper with my name and room number on it.”
Those colorful lumps of pureed meat and vegetables tasted as good as any steak, potato and salad dinner she’d ever eaten.
Throughout her journey, Donna drew strength from her husband, three children, 20 grandchildren and her steadfast faith. Even though she was five hours from home, someone was almost always there with her – particularly Demarcus, their son Tim, cousin Selina and sister Ann.
“They were truly a blessing and I don’t think I could have made it through without them,” Donna said. “Falling asleep and waking up and seeing my family members sitting there waiting for me, well, that gave me a lot of strength, a lot of willpower.”
So also did the constant encouragement from her care team. “They were the best. Even when I didn’t want to do therapy on a particular day – maybe I was tired or hadn’t had much sleep – they would tell me it’s the best thing for me. They pushed me, in a good way.”
Two months after admission to Select Specialty Hospital – and one month ahead of Thanksgiving – Donna could walk 200 feet, eat a regular diet, bathe and dress herself. She, Demarcus and Selina made that drive home.
Thanksgiving was quiet; it was just Donna and Demarcus. Donna’s immune system was still recovering. A steady stream of friends and family delivered meals and well wishes. A month later, she and Demarcus welcomed family for Christmas.
“I am doing excellent. I don’t use a walker and I don’t need oxygen,” she said. “It was a journey, but I held onto my faith. And when you have good doctors and nurses and family members who stick by you, it’s one of the greatest things in the world.”