The Medical Detectives - Krystina's Story: 10% Chance of Survival

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

After a scheduled C-section, Krystina experienced escalating postoperative complications that ranged from losing her taste to fever and extreme pain. Her condition rapidly deteriorated, leading to an emergency transfer, an induced coma, and a fight for her life. Krystina only had a 10% chance of survival, but as she was being put into an induced coma her husband begged her to fight for him and their babies, and that's exactly what she did. Tune into this episode to hear about Krystina's incredible fight to stay alive. Have a medical journey to share? Email us at [e-mail]. ***The information provided on the medical detectives is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. While we may feature licensed medical professionals, including doctors, we are not your personal doctors and no doctor patient relationship is established by listening to this podcast or interacting with our content. All discussions are general in nature and may not apply to your specific health situation. Always seek the advice of a qualified healthcare professional before making any medical decisions or taking any action based on the content of this podcast. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking treatment because of something you have heard on this show If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please contact emergency services immediately or consult a qualified healthcare pro***

Erin, Erin, Erin, what an episode. That was an amazing episode. But before we get into what we're where we're headed today, I want to take a moment to celebrate you a little bit because I was going on Amazon to purchase your book because I'm a good friend and that's what good friends do. And I saw that you're already a best seller. You don't need my order. I still made one, but you don't need it because you are already killing it. Oh, thank you. I mean, I, I'm sure most of those sales are from all of our podcast listeners, and I'm really grateful. But one of the things that really struck me about this episode is that this patient or interviewee had a condition that I wrote a chapter about in the book where I did not catch that diagnosis and this patient died.

diagnosis and this patient died. And so I'm very familiar with how difficult it is to make this type of diagnosis and how serious the consequences are. And so it was just really impactful for me to hear and then also inspiring to see someone who was able to fight and survived and lived to tell the tale. Wow, that just gave a whole new layer to this episode. I think we should just jump right in because I don't think I can say anything else without giving it away.

So, it's a good one. Oh, also if you're pregnant, you should really listen to this episode as well. So, let's do it. Hi, Christina. Welcome to the next episode of The News. pregnant, you should really listen to this episode as well. Hi Christina. Welcome to the Medical Detectives.

Thank you so much for joining us. Hi. Hello. We were just laughing beforehand because I feel like our guests take these calls from all over. You just told us that you're in your bathroom. Is that right? Yes, yes.

I'm in my bathroom, least amount of echo, and just kind of ready to get my story out there. I got a lot of traction from one of my TikTok videos. I've got a lot of outreach and emails from people who just want to continue that outreach for me from different aspects, whether that's podcasts or I've had like Snapchat stories that want to get my story out there. Even People magazine reached out. So I think I personally want to get my story out there for advocacy purposes because I want future prevention and once we get into my story, you'll see why.

We always say, you know, hindsight is 20-20 or you can't go back and fix it for yourself, but you can potentially fix it for someone else. And I feel like sometimes that's the best gift we can give because what's happened's happened, but it doesn't have to happen again. And part of that is educating people how to advocate for themselves and also how to spot when things are going wrong

so that they can step in and make moves at the right time. So thank you. Well, Christina, we like to start the episodes usually by going like a blast from the past. So could you talk about growing up, what your health was like, what was life like for you as say like a teenager? Yes, I grew up and raised in Del Rio, Texas.

So it's a border town. And my parents came from immigrant parents. I ended up graduating from Del Rio High School. I was number 19 in my class and I was out of a class of 602 kids. So I went on to the University of Texas at Austin. I knew I wanted to study psychology, and I was able to finish my bachelor's degree in three years. And I knew I wanted to continue my schooling, and I ended up pursuing my master's degree in school psychology.

And I went on to the University of Texas at San Antonio where I was accepted for grad school to do my master's in school psychology. Once I was in grad school I did start a practicum my second year of my grad school and I was placed in Pleasanton, Texas. So I didn't choose it. I was placed there by my professors and I was like, okay, I have to make an hour drive from San Antonio, but that's okay, I guess. I don't have a choice. And I ended up loving it. I fell in love with the people. I really enjoyed where I was and everybody was so nice to me. And I ended up meeting my future husband.

And we got married in July of 2019. Another year later, I gave birth to our son. Unfortunately, I was only able to dilate to three and he was already trying to push the birth canal. So my doctor was like, I'm sorry, but we're gonna have to go in and we're gonna have to do a C-section. You know, you tried, I was in labor for 26 hours

and he was like, we're gonna have to go in and do a C-section. Everything went fine. I was able to recover. I was able to go back to work. My husband and I knew we wanted to have our kids pretty close together. So we started planning for our daughter in February of 2022 and that's when we found out we were pregnant. So we had her and that's that's where the story all gets started. So in October of 2022, October 24 is when I gave birth, I started having contractions about two in the morning that day. And I was scheduled for a c-section at 930 that morning and at 2 in the morning I was

like I'm starting to feel contractions so I kind of played it out waited a little bit and we are an hour away from the hospital I'm giving birth at so I didn't even I mean I took that into account but I guess with my son I never went into labor at home I went into labor at home. I went into labor at the hospital so I waited and waited and then I was like okay I think it's time to wake Jacob up and I'm like hey my my contractions are about four to five minutes apart you think we should go and he was like yeah you should probably call the hospital babe and I called them and I was like, yeah, you should probably call the hospital, babe. And I called them and I was like, my contractions are about four to five minutes apart.

We're an hour away. They're like, yes, go ahead and start making your way to the hospital. And so we go there like you're a little bit more ahead than the C-section we have scheduled for 730. So we're going to bump her up and we're going to bump you to the 730 C-section we have scheduled for 730. So we're gonna bump her up and we're gonna bump you to the 730 C-section. So with the prep, they give you the towels to wipe down. We did all that wipe down. Even with surgery, when you're getting prepped for surgery,

they give you like, I guess they're like antibiotic wipes or prep wipes. Oh, the sterile wipes. The sterile wipes, yes. And what that- Chlorhex or prep wipes. Oh, the sterile wipes. The sterile wipes. Yes. And what the... Chlorhexidine wipes. Yes. And what those wipes do is basically try to wipe down any bacteria that could be on your body. So my husband and I did all that. I put on the gown and the nurse that was putting on my IV, she was like, oh, I didn't really put it in the right spot let me do it again so she took it out and then put it in another spot and when

I had my son I remember they put my IV on my hand so you know the vein on your hand not on the palm but on the front of your hand and this one I thought was weird because they put it on my forearm. And I was like, okay, that's, you know, that's different. But she ended up putting it, she was like, oh, I put it a little bit above the vein, but it should be fine either way. You're gonna develop a little bump,

but nothing wrong will happen, you'll be fine. And I said, okay, you know, my husband and I are not in the medical field. We know nothing of anything medical. So we're like, okay, sounds good. They got me prepped for surgery. Christina, did it hurt to get that IV placed? No.

No. No, nothing. So they took me back for surgery. They were able to perform the C-section. Everything of that went normal. Everything with her delivery was normal. She came out healthy. She was a healthy baby. And then they took us back to the room. Everything in recovery that first day was great. I remember my husband even saying, you seem so much happier and better spirits than you did when you had our son.

And I'm like, well, remember when we had Owen, our son, I was in labor for 26 hours the night before. And with her, it was planned. So I already knew what to expect. So the recovery was a lot different. So I was, you know, in good spirits. We were excited. My mom and dad were able to come visit.

Owen met his baby sister for the first time. So we were just all very happy. The next night, that's when my arm started to hurt. And I remember I couldn't even sleep on my left side. I would try to turn on my left side and I'm like, ow, like I can't even sleep on my left side. You know, that's not normal. And I ended up calling the nurse and I'm like,

hey, my IV is hurting. I can't even lay on my left side. And she was like, oh, okay, like very calm, like, okay, let me just take it out. I'm like, okay, well, can I have something for pain? I remember throughout my whole hospital stay, I was complaining more about my arm pain rather than the major surgery that I just had, you know, my my uterus cut open for a c-section and I complained more about my forearm those two last days of my hospital stay rather than the c-section that I just had and she gave me some pain meds and that was the night shift nurse and then the morning nurse.

I woke up the next morning and I was shivering and started feeling symptoms of a fever and I was cold and I started to feel feverish and I said I feel kind of feverish and cold and I have the chills and she was like oh let me give you some Ultran and so she gave me some Ultran and then later on that day this was the last day we were there I told her again I was like my arms still hurting and and it's looking kind of red and it's kind of like throbbing and she said oh yeah I'm kind of not liking the way that's looking let me give you an ice pack and I said okay and so she gives me an ice pack and she was like just hold it on there for for a while

and I'm like okay so I'm just holding it there and then later I show her my arm again I'm like it still looks kind of funky. It's getting even more red. It's throbbing. It's hot to the touch, even with the ice pack. And she was like, yeah, it still looks kind of funky. You know, let me find, finally she calls the doctor and she was like, we might have to order a sonogram

just so they could look at that. So they finally order the sonogram just so they could look at that. So they finally order the sonogram. Mind you, in those three days of recovery, my OB-GYN never came and checked on me. Never. Did you have a resident check on you? I did have a resident check on me, but it was weird because when I had my son, I remember my doctor came and checked on me at least two times. And so I was expecting the same thing with her, but with my daughter, I never had my OBGYN come and check on me.

And I think part of that would have gave me some comfort or would have at least helped me, I don't know, to feel a little bit more comfortable, but. Did you ever have the opportunity to tell a doctor about the pain in your arms or only a nurse? It was mostly nurses. Okay. Yeah. The onogram tech came in. The resident finally came in

and I had never met him before. So this was my first time meeting him and he watches the screen as the sonogram tech does the scanning and he was like, it just looks like a thrombus and it'll just look like a little blood clot. You should be fine, honey. Honey baby, you're fine. Just go home. You're fine, honey baby. He called you honey baby?

Oh my gosh, I would have taken any energy I had left in my body to slap that man across the face. I remember to this day, and this is almost three years later and I remember telling my husband I was like how dare that man call me honey baby. First of all I've never met you. Second of all you don't know me and third of all you're just missing everything that I'm complaining about. But in our mind. So no one has actually physically examined your arm? Yeah, I mean, he looked at it, but no. No one placed hands, and I know I say this, and it's like placing hands.

No one placed hands on your arm. I wanted to place hands on him after he said, honey, baby. I'm sorry. I hate like... On his throat. We're like, hey, babe. Hey, honey, baby. condescending. Yeah. It's immediately making a woman feel less than immediately making you play a role that

you didn't agree to. And I, yes, like making me feel like I am overplaying or over-dramaticizing these symptoms that I'm feeling when he should have looked at your arm. Yeah. Anyway. No, he looked at the screen, he briefly looked at my arm, he was like, oh no, honey baby, you're fine. Yeah, and how to just give some background to how these scenarios play out. So for example, I'm an orthopedic surgeon, I take care of the limbs.

So if someone is having a problem with their limb, meaning is there maybe an infection, maybe is there a broken bone, is there, you know what not, you're on the OBGYN service, right? Right, yeah. The OBGYNs, that is not their wheelhouse. So they're gonna consult the orthopedopedic service and the orthopedic service is going to come and they're going to physically examine you and they may say we'd like to get

additional imaging. So we're going to order an ultrasound or an MRI. Then that you're going to have an ultrasound tech come and perform the ultrasound and then that ultrasound is going to be read by a radiologist, which kind of sounds like this is the person who was talking to you. But the radiologist, they're not the ones determining what the problem is. Their job is to really read the films and then offer that interpretation to the orthopedic surgeon or the consultant who is actually trying to figure out what the problem is. So to me, it sounds like you didn't have a consult for the person who'd be able to really

make the diagnosis. So the doctor that came in is an OB-GYN. Yeah. So that is not correct. Yeah. Now, that's not to say that an OB-GYN cannot flag this for an orthopedic surgeon to come in. That's actually the first line of defense is the nurse because you're talking to the

nurse, they're your eyes and ears. The nurse is the one who elevates it to the doctor who's taking care of you, the service that you're on. That's OB-GYN. Now, it's the OB-GYN's job to decide, okay, who do I need to bring in on this particular problem to figure out what's wrong? So it sounds like they decided to take it upon themselves

to go straight to radiology. And then once they got an answer from radiology that seemed like it wasn't a big deal, they moved on. seemed like it wasn't a big deal, they moved on. Mm-hmm. Yeah. In this situation, if you feel like you didn't get a fair response, Erin, what would you do? What would you say to someone who is in Christina's position where the doctor who's looked at

her is an OB-GYN and she's not comfortable or confident with the response, what would you take as the next step? Because I honestly don't know based on what you just described what to do. So I tell people this all the time because it's only helpful if you already have the answer. Right? Like you say like, oh my gosh, like I'm worried about a DVT or I'm worried about an abscess.

You don't know that. You don't even know those are the options. And so what I tell people is to ask the person who just told you that's nothing or that's a thrombus, which is a blood clot. I say this line all the time to people, ask them, could you tell me what your differential diagnosis is? Because that means that they have to now say, okay, well, it could be a blood clot, it could be an infection. And then you ask, oh, how do you know it's not

an infection? How do they know it's not infection? They haven't ordered a white blood count, they haven't actually physically examined you. And so that makes them have to turn their wheels into thinking about what else could it be. You just masterminded how to get a doctor to actually look into things. Like what you just described is, is okay. So in business, they always tell you get someone, ask questions, don't demand, don't make demands. And so what you've just given is like mind-blowingly important. If you ask the right questions, they will eventually be led to looking into your condition, hopefully. Wow, Erin, genius, always.

Well, it's really, again, it's not the patient's job to know what are all these potential things, but in the end, you kind of have to present yourself as like, hey, I have a really painful red swollen area. What do you think is going on? Right? I had a fever earlier. Yes, you had it. Correct. Correct. Correct. So I would say to make a patient as like a self advocate

is to be able to at least consolidate these things for the doctor and say like, hey, this is what I'm feeling. This is what I'm experiencing. What do you think this could be? And I use that term differential diagnosis because that is a term that every doctor knows what that means. And they are going to have to tell you a list of things. All right. So you are told it is a nothing to worry about, a nothing burger. Right. And go home, enjoy your baby.

Yes. So I'll send on home. They're like, okay, you're discharged. We did our little scan. You can go ahead and go home so we go home we Introduce our daughter to our dog. Our son was so happy to have his baby sister home That night I do remember my mother-in-law was helping us She had made some food and at that point

I remember my appetite was was kind of weird. I started losing my appetite and my taste and I was like okay that's kind of weird. Like when I was eating I couldn't taste anything and she made mashed potatoes, corn, and fried chicken tenders. And I'm like, these are some very sodium rich foods that you should be able to taste. And it just tasted bland. It tasted like nothing to me. So I'm like, okay, that's kind of weird.

So once it started just tasting like nothing, I was like, no, I'm not really hungry. So it was like, maybe again, I just had major surgery. Maybe I'm just not hungry So I put it away so then the next night I remember I was having a really hard time getting into bed and it wasn't from pain from my c-section area I started developing pain from right under my rib cage.

And we have a little bit of a taller bed. So I was like, you know what, let me just go to the couch. I'll sleep there with the baby right there with her bassinet next to me. So it's easier for me to get her and feed her. And that was another thing that I also found concerning was that my milk wasn't coming in. And I was like, usually by now, I remember with my son, third, fourth day, my milk would have come in. And my milk's not coming in, so we

had to resort to giving her formula, which also was just another added emotion to everything going on. So the pain just got more intense. We had our daughter on the 24th in 2022 so that was Monday. By Friday morning I woke up in intense pain right under my ribcage and I was vomiting. Anything I tried to eat or drink I remember I made myself a protein shake and I threw it up right away. I had diarrhea, intense abdominal pain, and then I had cold sweats. I remember I took a shower twice that day and I was just trying to cool my body down and nothing was working. And

granted this was the end of October, so it was already towards fall where the temperatures were cooling down, so I shouldn't be sweating. And my husband was like, well, what do you want to do? You know, do you want to go to urgent care? And I was like, yeah, we need to go to urgent care. So we called my sister-in-law and I said, can you please come and watch the baby? We need to go to urgent care.

And she's like, yeah, I'll be right there. So we left the baby and, I'm sorry. It's okay, you can take your time. That's the last time I see her for a while. Excuse me. So we go to urgent care. Once they call me back, I can barely lie down on the table.

And they said the fact that you can barely lie down and your pain is that intense, you're going to need to go to the emergency room. And we have a local hospital here in, um, Jurdenton and Atascosa County. And when they sent me to the ER from the urgent care, it was honestly very scary. We didn't know what was going on. I was in so much pain. We didn't know what was going on. I was in so much pain. I was, you know, scared because I'm like thinking about my kids along with that.

Who's gonna take care of my newborn baby? My son's at daycare. What if this takes longer than it should? So there's just a million thoughts going through my head at that time. So we drove right to the emergency room, filled out all the forms, we checked in and they called me back and they took my blood pressure and my

heart rate and once they saw that they admitted me right away. They said your heart rate is super elevated and your blood pressure is super dropped and that is super concerning and we told them I just had a baby I was having some trouble with my IV and I'm in an intense pain my abdominals are hurting super bad and once the doctor came in he was like you know since you had a major surgery and you know, when they go in for a c-section, they could have nicked a gallbladder, they could have nicked your spleen, we're not really sure what happened.

So once we got to the ER, it was all kind of just a blur. At one moment, it was 3pm in the afternoon and they're doing the vitals. I started putting the central line and all that in it and then all of a sudden it's like 8 p.m. at night and we're still waiting for diagnosis. What's going on? Why am I here? Why am I hurting? What tests are we going to run? And at that hospital there was not much they can do because they're a much smaller hospital in a small city. So they're like like you're gonna have to go back to the hospital you gave birth at basically we can't do anything here and I said okay whatever you know whatever we need to do I just need to get better and I

remember them saying we don't have any ambulance available right now and I don't know if they were just trying to like not put salt on the wound and not try to scare us or that was really the truth but they were like we're gonna have to air life you to San Antonio to the hospital where you gave birth because you need to get there and so they put me in the helicopter. My husband's like, well, can I go with her? And they're like, no. So my husband took off, he got his stuff, he got in this truck and he took off right away to the hospital. And they put me in a gurney, they put me in the helicopter. They tried to keep me as calm as possible but I remember by that point I

was having a lot of difficulty breathing because not only were my lungs having difficulty breathing but there's just so much anxiety at that point because you have no idea what's going on. And my husband remembers the last thing the emergency room doctor here in Atascosa County told him was your wife is very sick. We don't know what's going on but your wife is very sick. And so they got me to the hospital where I gave birth. They took me to the emergency room they admitted me to a room. they started pushing vasopressors, which are medications to start to get your blood pressure up. And I remember having to wait in line for imaging and I'm just screaming and wailing that whole time. And when I was

in the MRI machine as well, I couldn't stay still and they had me wrapped up in a sheet and I'm just like burning in intense pain and he's like stay still stay still and I'm like I can't it just hurt so bad and I just wanted that to go by faster and it couldn't go by fast enough and finally they took me out of imaging. They took me back to the room. The night kept going on. I was still in a lot of pain.

They still kept pushing medication to start to get my heart rate down and get my blood pressure up. At that point in the middle of the night, I remember my hands started getting really cold and they started turning purple and my feet as well. So they started giving me those hand warmers that you shake and they started covering up my legs with those I want to say they're not little vacuums but like little sections they put after surgery to try to get your numbness down. I'm not really sure what it is. It's the pneumatic boots. Yes. Yes. So they try to get those on so that way the circulation can try to keep going. So they were trying to get the blood

still flowing into my feet because they were starting to get cold. I was so out of it. I think I was in so much pain that my mind didn't really know what was going on and there was just so much confusion and a lot of unanswered questions and they said to my husband, the next morning, we're going to have to intubate your wife. We're going to have to put her on ECMO. That's the only way we can start to get her heart and lungs functioning. And we're going to have to put her in a medically induced coma. We don't know how long. And during all of this, he asked them, what are her chances?

And they told him less than a 10% chance. So I had a less than a 10% chance of living and getting through all of this. Once they started putting me in the coma, starting to intubate me, I remember starting to go out of breath and it was the worst feeling I could ever have. And I remember my husband saying, please, please fight. Please don't leave us. Please don't leave me. I cannot. I cannot raise these two babies by myself and they need their mama. I cannot do this without you. They cannot do this without their mom. They need you. I need you. So you gotta fight.

So that's literally, literally the last words I remember hearing. And that's, you know, that's what I tried to do. Thankfully you know I had doctors on my side I had nurses on my side because there were doctors that were willing to fight for me and then my husband said there was doctors that were like we get there's nothing we can do there's nothing we can do and then he was, but there was doctors that said, we're gonna do everything we can. We're gonna try this and we're gonna try this.

And at that point they were telling my husband that it was probably an infection, but they didn't know where the infection came from. And all my husband remembers is the doctor, he smelled my C-section site and he was like, you can smell the smell of infection when you know it's an infection. And when I smell Christina's c-section site, there is no smell of infection. There's no clues of infection. But then he looked at my IV site and he was like, that looks like an infection. But then he looked at my IV site and he was like,

that looks like an infection. And they even brought a doctor in from Florida and he had a, I believe it was called a CRT machine and it hadn't even been approved or it had just been approved. And what that does is when you do the ECMO, it's like a filter that helps filter out the infection from the blood, get blood to the heart, help the lungs get back to what they were. I was on a continuous dialysis machine, trying to get the kidneys back to functioning. I was in a medically induced coma for two weeks

and the scariest part about and I don't think I've ever really talked about this is that the scariest part about being in that medically induced coma is that I had no idea where I was. I don't know if y'all have ever heard people talk about hallucinations while they're in a coma. I thought, so first I thought I was getting put into the back of my mother-in-law's car and we were going to the church to take pictures. And then I was put back into her car and we were going to a party in another town and then I went back into her car and then I was in another church and my husband was like arguing with some people and then I ended up in this warehouse and they were holding me hostage.

They have guns. They were wearing all black suits and they were trying to cut me open. And I was like, no, no. And I think it was nurses that were like putting in probably medication. So, yeah, that was that was not fine. And once I woke up, I was like, Oh, thank God, because that was nothing. I'm sure like, some of the IVs would sting and stuff. And that was probably your body

being like, I mean, I can only imagine that you were in an immense amount of pain still in this coma, right? I mean, it's good feeling, right? Well, something that they had to do, something that they had to do is that I started developing these large, I guess you would call it like boils because I got almost like 250 pounds. Like I was swollen, swollen, swollen.

Yeah, yeah. The biggest issue at this point, and we're getting close to what the actual diagnosis is, but your kidneys are in failure and you are in multi-organ failure at this point. And that's why you're on the dialysis. And so your kidneys are what filters the water throughout. Retaining the water. Correct. Correct. So you were gaining weight because of the water retention because you did not have functioning kidneys.

Yeah. So- Christina, can you talk about the moment that you wake up from your medical induced coma, what that felt like. Yeah, it was kind of slow. I remember bits and pieces where I would like see my dad and he would be like, I'll be right back. I'll see you tomorrow. Or my husband like, hey, babe, I love you. And then I would fully wake up

and I remember seeing my mom in the room. And then I remember the point where I was fully awake and the unfortunate part is I still had my breathing tube in. So it took a few days before they took my breathing tube out and that was probably the most heartbreaking part because the first thing you want to do is talk to your loved ones And I remember when they did take it out, I was just bawling and crying. And I'm like, I just love you so much. Like I told my husband, I'm like, what happened?

What happened? I just remember asking him, I was like, what the hell happened? And it was such an emotional moment taking out that breathing tube because I'm like, I just wanted to talk to him. I just wanted to tell him I love him and I just wanted to ask all the questions. I'm like, what's going on?

Why am I here? What? Why are my hands? At that point, my hands and my feet and they said, you know, what would probably help her recover faster is seeing her kids. So I was probably one of the only ones that they've ever allowed to have kids in the ICU. And I remember the moment that they first brought my baby to me. And she was so tiny and cuddled in a blanket and I was covered in my blankets and just holding her and looking at her. And it was a very,

very emotional moment when they had to take her away, obviously, because, you know, that's my baby and I should be there with her and we should be together. And my son, my son came in as well and he's two, almost, you know, two and a half. And he's just looking at me like I had a lot of tubes, a tube in my nose and tubes in my arm and my neck and he doesn't know what's going on. He's kind of confused like why does mommy look that way and he was scared of me at first because of the way I looked but they were able to come around pretty often. My parents, thankfully, and my in-laws would take care of them. My brother and my sister-in-law took care of my kids.

My other sister-in-law, my aunt and uncle, you know, I had family jump in. And it was just really sad that I had to spend three months away from my babies, three whole months. And they might never remember this and they don't, I asked them and my daughter was only three months old. And I mean, you see the way she was cuddled up on me. She does not remember and she loves me to pieces. And my son can't get enough of me. He's my little Velcro baby.

So obviously they don't remember, but looking back, it's a very painful thing to remember and a sore in my heart because those three months and those vital three months to a mom with my new more daughter, my only daughter, I feel were taken away from me. And Christina, I just want to say this because we've been talking on the past couple of episodes about these stages of misdiagnosis and one of those stages is anger. And, you know, you were robbed. And the worst part is that you were robbed of something you can never replace and get back.

And that was the time with your newborn. And so you're completely valid for having those feelings, for feeling anger, for feeling sadness, for feeling pain. Yeah, yeah. So it's November of 2022 and the surgeon, my plastic surgeon, who I love, and I still use her to this day, I love her, but in this moment, it was not her finest moment.

My husband had stepped out to go get us food and my nurse had stepped out to go get us food and my nurse had stepped out and the surgeon kind of like slipped in without anybody seeing her and she was like I need to talk to you and I was like okay. She is a fine surgeon but sometimes those surgeons that have the smartest minds and are the most brilliant lack the best bedside manner. But in this moment, she broke my heart. She shattered it.

She's like, we're gonna have to amputate all four of your limbs. And I said, what? And she's like, yeah, there's no recovery from all your limbs. There's no blurred circulation, so the only way to give you the best life is to amputate all four of your limbs. And that's how she said it.

Very flat, flat affect, no emotion, no hug, no nothing. And I'm just in this room, in the bed by myself. I couldn't move, I couldn't talk, it was just like water would explode through me. But just hearing that completely shattered my heart because all you think about is, you know, how am I gonna raise two babies without my hands? How am I gonna raise two babies without my legs? How am I gonna be a mom? How am I gonna brace two babies with all my legs? How am I gonna be a mom? How am I gonna do the things that I was used to doing? I was an active person, an active wife. I would cook, I would clean, I would work out, I

would play outside with my baby and I was gonna do the same with my daughter. How am I gonna do her hair? How am I gonna put her little dresses on and put her bows on? And you know, all these future plans that I had planned in my family as well, we had planned for ourselves. All of that just ran through my mind and even breaking the news to my parents was really

hard because all they could think about, you know, was me as a baby being born with my hands and my feet and now they're taking them away. So it was really an emotional moment. Very heavy, very, very heavy. And at that point my husband had just gotten back from getting food and he comes storming in and he was like, what happened? And he was angry and he comes storming in and he was like what happened and he was angry and he saw the surgeon he was like what did you do and she was like I was just telling her like she's gonna have to have all four limbs amputated and he was like why would you tell her that without anybody in the room and you know she got in trouble now we feel bad but she

understood in that moment that she should have never done that and should have had you know that better bedside manner or better empathy in that moment because if they were her on that bed lying there getting that news delivered she wouldn't have wanted to been alone or nobody in that situation would have wanted to be alone. And I think also for the physicians, I was just talking about this yesterday in an interview about having emotional detachment to be able to perform our job. And again, I don't know your plastic surgeon. I don't know what her circumstances

are. In her mind, like, it seems pretty obvious. You've got black hands. There's no blood flow. But if you put yourself in the eyes of the patient, you don't know that your hands couldn't grow back or that things could get better, or I don't know, maybe there's a procedure or a scan and for you, you just cling onto the hope, right? Like that's, you're like, well, yeah, like it's gonna come back or like, yeah, there's something you can do, right?

Or, you know. Yeah, I will say before that news of the amputation, physical therapists were working with me with my hands, with my feet, having me like try to wiggle my toes, try to wiggle my fingers. So there was that little glimpse of hope that maybe, maybe blood flow and the usage of my hands could come back from that. I never thought of those amputations. So it was just like a bomb dropped on me. There was that glimmer of hope or that glimpse of hope that I really think did think

that my hands and feet would come back to their normal state. Yeah. And it's that hope that buoys you, right? That keeps you going. Yeah. The week of Thanksgiving is when they actually did the amputations. So it was, I believe the Monday of Thanksgiving week of 2022, they amputated my hands. And then on that Tuesday, they actually

performed a scan where they do the color through your veins. They did the vein color through my legs just to see if there was any more blood flow because we did ask and we did plea can you just do one more test just to see if there is any more blood flow to my legs and they did it and they said no no, there's no blood flow. And they said the best life you could get is if we do the amputations and you use prosthetics. That's gonna be the best life for you and your children.

So they did my leg amputations the day before Thanksgiving. My six-week-old daughter was going to start daycare at that time, and then my son was continuing daycare as well, and they were being passed again from one family member to the other. And I also had to have, not only apart from the amputations, I also had to go through about, I would say about 13 or more surgeries for skin grafts

because of all those welts that were developed and necrosis from the skin openings and things like that. I had to get a various amount of skin grafts on my legs, on my arm and all those skin donors came from my back under my legs so those parts had to heal and the only part that I needed a skin graft on my arms was the part they did the IV meaning that's the only part of infection that spread. The biggest was the part where they did the IV and you can see it where it spread the most. And nothing on my other arm. I mean yeah they did the skin

graft to cover the amputation but no other areas welted but the area that had the IV, the biggest welt developed. So the healing, that's what took the longest and that's why I spent so many months in the hospital plus all the surgeries that had to be performed and then eventually it was confirmed that it had group A strep and that was the bacterial infection that was introduced through the IV. So you had strep? This came from strep? Well it's called group A strep and that's the type it's kind of like a staph infection that enters your body and it's just a bacterial infection that can travel

through your blood system. So it's okay. I was like strep throat. Well, my God, but people even people who do develop strep throat can get sepsis if it's not treated in time. Yeah. I mean, it's clear you went to sepsis. Wow. Yeah. So this is for our listeners. The final diagnosis for you was septic shock caused by group A strep. Correct.

And I've been doing this now the past couple of episodes. We're doing a little Dr. Nance med school 101. And I think sepsis is a great topic because it's very difficult for people to understand. And it's something that the severity can be catastrophic. So the analogy that I would use is kind of like your body is a house and it has a fire in the kitchen, right? And that's the infection. You've got an infection in your arm. You've got a fire in the kitchen and your immune system is the fire department. And normally the fire department would come in and they'd put out the fire in the kitchen. But in the case of sepsis, they start putting out the fire all over your body and they're breaking windows and they're knocking down doors and they're spreading the water everywhere.

And that's what happens in sepsis is you start to have what's called multi-system organ failure. Right? So your kidneys were failing. Your heart was failing, your lungs were failing. And that's because of an over-response from the immune system. It's not actually the infection itself. It's the response, the overreaction of your body, which causes sepsis. And so the number one thing, I mean, what saved your life was those doctors at that, that urgent care or emergency room that you went to. They recognized that your low blood pressure and your high heart rate were the symptoms of sepsis. Right? Yes. And this

is so important for all women to hear, but the postpartum period is the most dangerous period of your life. And people don't like to talk about that because they don't want to scare people from having babies and giving birth, but the maternal mortality rate in the United States is, I think it's up to 20 births per 100,000 live births. 20 women are going to die for every 100,000 women that have a baby.

And for women who are black and Hispanic, that rate is more than doubled. And these are major systemic problems. It's doctors not believing patients when they first talk about their pain, that they're having a problem and like Serena Williams, the most well known, probably woman in America who had a blood clot and almost died from her blood clot, who had a history of blood clots, who knew she had blood clots, still almost died. So it is this postpartum period that is the most dangerous time in your life.

Erin, how long does that period last? Like from the time you give birth, like how long are you at a greater risk? You know, most of the time, the majority of time, if you're going to have a postpartum infection or significant blood clot, it's happening within the first few weeks. Most of the times, it's actually almost immediately after birth.

But it is just a time where you should have heightened awareness of anything that does not seem right in your body. It makes it hard, right? If you're a first time mom, you don't know the difference. In your case, you had already had a C-section, so you knew, why is my arm hurting more than my C-section? Yeah.

Okay. Right? Deep down, you knew. You knew all along. You knew all along. You knew all along that your arm was the problem. I'm going to ask you to describe this just because people can't see it. Can you just tell us what exactly you lost amputation wise?

So luckily for me, and I say luckily because there are other cases from also sepsis and septic shock that do end up in far worse amputations where it is a lot harder to navigate prosthetics and things like that. But I received both below elbow. So I have a lot longer arms where I'm able to reach a lot more things. And then I also have upper limb prosthetics. They are myoelectric. And what that means is that they open and close and they are functional and they look like hands. And I also have like aesthetic looking hands.

They're not functional, but they do look a lot like my hands, like my hands that I used to have and I want to shout out Where I got those made I got those made in Carrollton, Texas at lifelike laboratory and they actually make a lot of prosthetics for people who have lost like just one toe just one finger Limbs things like that to make them look just like the limb that they lost and it's really cool. I also am double below knee imputations and I do use pin lock prosthetics and what that means is that you slip on a liner and it kind of looks like like a rubbery sock that you roll up your leg and it has a screw at the end and

you pin it inside your prosthetic and that is how it stays secure. And then you just press a button and that is how it pops off. So something else that people don't know or people have the misconception of is that once you get out of the hospital you walk out with prosthetics and that is not true. So in my case I had to do a lot of physical therapy to get strong from being in a bed for three months. I did do some physical therapy while I was in the hospital but of course it's not as advanced as you could do outside of the hospital. So I went to a inpatient rehab at Tier Memorial Hermann in Houston,

and I was able to rock it in two weeks. And I was like, I'm too far from my babies. I need to just do really good and get home. So- You're motivated. Yes, I was very motivated. So I went to tear and then I was released in two weeks. And then I went to CFI, which is Center for the Intrepid at BAMC Medical Hospital at the

base in San Antonio. And what they do is they're a military rehabilitation center and they usually only let military people go there. But since my doctors were awesome and my physical therapists were awesome, they all wrote me recommendation letters and were like, you need this girl at your rehab. And they were able to grant us access to Center for the Intrepid. So I was able to go there for physical and occupational therapy for 10 months. Wow.

It was kind of surreal because it's like everyday things that you used to do all the time like brushing your teeth. You never think that you would have to learn how to brush your teeth, how to brush your hair, how to go to the restroom, which is probably one of the most intimidating ones especially in social settings. Like I have to take that extra step to think about even the clothes I'm gonna wear. If I'm going out with friends, I don't want them to have to help me pull my pants down. So having to take those extra steps and worrying about what to wear and fastening buttons, zippers, getting things from the fridge, my occupational therapy at Tier, something we

really focused on and relied and worked heavily on was activities with my kids. And we did puzzles together, we did little arts and crafts things and things you know you just like to do with your babies. And we would play outside when the kids would come on the weekends throwing the ball, catching the ball and just being surrounded by my babies is what really got me through it because I said if I'm sad and if I'm not happy and if I'm not smiling and if I'm not being this person that I want my babies to be who are they going to think I really am? Being sad and depressed and angry all the time is not who I really am. And so I want to show them the fun side of mama, the happy side of mom, the silly side of mom.

And they get to see that every day. That's what I'd rather put forth than being angry. And after being released from the hospital in February, I was able to go back to work. My work was very accommodating. They were like, what do you need? What can we get you? Whatever you need, we're gonna help you.

And I feel like that was a pivotal moment for me going back to work because I really value what I do because it is part of my community, you know, being a school psychologist, but also, you know, who I work with. I really love my work friends and I feel like without them, I would have never made it through this dark period in my life. And having them around me really brought me through such a dark time.

And now I'm also going back to school for my doctorate in special education. So I wanna do it all. I wanna prove that no matter what is thrown your way in life, I wanna prove that you can do it, no matter what, no matter what. You can be a mom, you can be a wife, you can be a daughter, you can be a friend,

you can achieve your goals, no matter what is thrown at you in life because you only have one life. And especially if you're given a second chance, you have all the more reason to do what you want to do in this life. You are so freaking inspiring. And I love that that's what you came out of this with. Like I was given an obstacle. Screw it. I'm going to do it anyway. I'm going to do it

anyway. I'm going to do all the things I thought about doing before, maybe a little bit differently, but I'm still going to do them. Exactly. And Christina, I'll end with asking you, how do you think your daughter sees you? Oh, good question. That's a good question. She's only two, but she doesn't see me in any different way. I feel like she treats me like her mom and we do makeup together. We do skincare together. She's like, are you doing skincare?

Are you doing makeup, mom? And can I do makeup with you? And when she sees me at my vanity, she just wants to be with mom. And I just love that she doesn't see me any differently than just her mom. And that's all I could ever want for both my kids is that as long as they see me as just her mom. And that's all I could ever want for both my kids is that as long as they

see me as just their mom, and I'm raising them just as I have always wanted to raise them nothing different besides having a disability. I think she sees me as I have always wanted to be seen and probably one day she's gonna have more questions how did this happen to you she's gonna know it was right after I gave birth to her but it had I want to reiterate you know not only to her but to everyone is it had nothing to do with the birth and I don't want to scare anyone from having kids because it had nothing to do with my pregnancy. I had the most healthy pregnancy. It had nothing to do with my birth.

I had a healthy C-section and it had nothing to do with my daughter because she came out the healthiest, most beautiful baby ever. And it was all because of the IV and then negligence. So when I explained that to her, she's gonna know that and we'll talk about it, move on from it and I'll teach her, you know, things are gonna happen in your life

and things happen to mommy's life. And if I was gonna choose my life or my limbs, I am so happy I chose my life and I'm gonna live it and be your mama forever. Well, that was beautiful. Again, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your story. Thank you. So nice meeting you. So this episode, as someone who has not had a child, I think I sometimes don't really realize just how

hard it is to be pregnant. And then what I really learned in this episode, which I kind of knew a little bit before, but I think I know a lot more clearly is just how much higher mortality rates are for women of color when they give birth. And that is a problem. I don't know the solution to that problem. I mean, end racism is not an easy task, but it is dramatically affecting how women give birth, but also how they're treated after birth as well. Yeah. And I mean, to be quite honest, what happened to Christina, the birth was really a subplot,

right? Anyone could have an IV be placed and have a complication from the IV. Now the fact that she was just recovering from a massive surgery and giving birth probably made her more susceptible to what ended up becoming a septic shock reaction to a local infection. But the statistics don't lie. And I think it's part of a larger conversation just about how people who are minorities receive substandard care in certain cases. It's not every time, but we have to, I think, acknowledge that. It's a trend. It's a trend. You can't say that it's inconsequential when the numbers show otherwise, right?

Yeah. Well, I mean, it has consequences. And this is systemic. This is in every state. This is, you know, it's with female doctors, it's with male doctors, it's with doctors who themselves are minorities, although they do show actually you are in safer hands if you are being taken care of by a black female doctor, I think than any cohort of physicians. Wow.

Yes. Shout out to our black female doctors. You guys really are the best. Correct. Correct. There you go. Correct. It should be acknowledged and celebrated.

We should say it more often. I just did a little Google to see what exists out there in textbooks because we've been talking about it a little bit. I found this publisher that in 2017 had to delete basically a section of their book and rewrite it. The book was Nursing a Concept-Based Approach to Learning. This was a a nurses textbook. And in it, it actually contains headings,

which are different races, and how they respond differently to pain. And this was only about eight years ago. So I feel even uncomfortable reading some of this, Erin. But we'll start with Arabs and Muslims. It says they may not request pain medicine, but instead think Allah for pain if it is a result of the healing medical process. And I think a lot of this is probably based on stereotype, obviously. And the point is,

is that each individual, their pain levels need to be assessed. I think there's a difference between offering culturally competent care where you are familiar with some of the cultural differences, right? I even remember I was taking care of a Hasidic woman and her husband wouldn't let any of the male doctors come in and perform certain tests.

And again, it's, I think, helpful for us to be educated on what are some of these cultural differences, but to then just stereotype an entire culture is highly problematic. I mean, I'm gonna just read you a couple more of these because they're pretty terrible. Blacks believe suffering and pain are inevitable. Jews may be vocal and demand assistance. Hispanics may believe that pain is a form of punishment and that suffering must be endured

if they are to enter into heaven. How did this ever get approved? It's so incredibly racist. Like it's so obviously racist. I'm feeling uncomfortable reading it. And there's some I can't even read because they're so, so bad. Here's what I'm going to do because I think this is really important. We're going to put this on our Instagram. If you want to read all the racist things that were in a medical textbook until 2017, you can read it there and we will credit the source. But it's not that long ago, guys. It's not like this was in the seventies like people talk about. This was in 2017.

And I think the reason why we're even bringing it up is to have a little more understanding as to why you may think a provider is treating you or mistreating you a certain way. And it's because it has been part of the teaching. And a lot of times you have to unlearn certain things. And I think for change to happen in the medical community, it also requires change to happen in medical teaching, in the educational process. It's not going to just happen by us talking to doctors. We need to find instances where it's, excuse my French, pretty effed up and an advocate for change.

Yeah, I mean, the first step is to even acknowledge that it exists and is ongoing. And then we understand how we got there and then what we can do to make that change. I would also say something that I really took away from this episode that, you know, honestly was a really great time for me because I think that I'm a little frustrated with

some of my progress and some things right now. And just hearing her talk about what has changed in her life, what she's essentially had to, I don't want to say give up, but do so differently in a lot of ways more, more difficultly, but still being able to find that hope and that positivity and that compassion on the other side of such a difficult situation is honestly so incredibly inspiring. And I don't I don't want to make it a trope because I don't think it's easy what she's done. And I think I think, you know, at all times, life can be difficult,

but in her situation every day, it's difficult. And she still chooses to not let that be the focus of her existence and not let that be a barrier to her ability to show up for not only the people she cares about, but for the causes and the communities she cares about. And I think that is just, you know, I said it before and I'll say it again, those are the type of people this world needs.

Yeah. And the fact that she has chosen to be public about her story and be on social media and showing what a day in the life is like for her. And you know, this was her story. We need to see that. We need to see that. We do need to see that. And I think also she could have taken her really good prosthetics and kind of just blend it in. And I think by standing out and telling people, it opens this level of narrative of understanding. And also I think it widens our perspective of what people with disabilities are capable

of doing. I think that they may do things differently, but they're still fully capable of doing everything we do just in a different way. Absolutely. She's holding down a job. She is taking care of two kids. She is doing everything. She's doing everything. And if I had to bet on anyone, I'd bet on her. They would bet on her for sure. For anyone

else who is interested in making an impact by having their stories shared, please feel free to email our producer, Molly at stories at TheMedicalDetectivesPodcast.com. And if you really like this episode or you just like us, go ahead and leave us a review and a comment wherever you listen to this podcast. It helps us continue to make great episodes like this. Yes. And especially for this one, we would love if you shared it with anyone you know who is pregnant or even considering becoming a mom anytime soon. Because as I said, the point is not to scare women, but let women understand the risks,

the real life and death risks that are involved in the process of having a baby in America in 2025. Yep. And also really good advice on how to advocate for yourself just in case something does go wrong. All right. Until next week. See you guys later. The Medical Detectives is a Soft Skills Media Production produced by Molly Biscar, sound designed by Shane Drouse. If you have a medical story you'd like to see featured on The Medical Detectives, please email it to stories at TheMedicalDetectivesPodcast.com.

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