Is there any way to donate to the paypal account without opening one myself? When I tried it refused to continue the process.

posted 11-09-2001 05:57 AM
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Hi folks, I'm John, Jill's son from Los Angeles. I'm posting this update from the waiting room at the hospital she's in (amazing what you can do with with the right wires and a vacant phone jack). Here's the latest update on Mom:

She underwent surgery to repair the brain anuerism (burst blood vessel/capaliary in the brain) on Tuesday this week and is in recovery. While she is not out of the woods yet by any means, she is doing well so far. She is still pretty heavily sedated as we speak. The surgeon says that while the surgery went well and her follow up tests show that she is progressing well there is still the chance that she may have a stroke as a side effect of the brain surgery. With this type of injury the brain can suffer visal spasms (not sure of the spelling) which can trigger a stroke. This can happen for up to two weeks after the surgery so we're not out of the woods yet. many of the other patients in the ward have had just that experience but so far we're three days past the operation and no stroke yet.

While she was talking and recognized both my brother and I right after the surgery, she has been more heavily sedated for the last couple days as she was getting agitated (imagine Jill doing that) and they were afraid that she would hurt herself while she was thrashing about in the bed. She has been quite a handful for the nurses, but the good news so far is that she seems to be able to move everything although further testing will be needed to determine if she has lost any motor control. Compared to the other patients I see in the same ward her ongoing movements give us hope (although she's moving so much they have had to restrain her). She even went so far as to pull out the arterial IV in her arm! She certainly seems to be fighting this thing, but we're not sure what path her recovery is going to take yet.

I'm going to cross post this to the other thread about flowers for her so all should be able to get the latest update. If you are interested in further info, email me and I'll send you my cell number.

Thanks for all the support. Her Flyertalk friends are very important to her and I'm sure she'll be blown away when she hears what you folks have been up to.

John MacDonald aka: jmxcpter

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A man's got to know
his limitations

New update: this afternoon Jill had a drain removed which means that the wound is healing nicely. Her surgeon also said that the fact that she is moving around so much is a good sign.

As to having better things to do, have you ever hung around a hospital waiting room for days? I'm sorry I didn't think to bring my laptop in sooner as I'd spied this unused phone jack a couple days ago. Hopefully nobody from the hospital will catch on and cut me off. I feel almost guilty sitting here surfing and posting when so many families are in such grief. I'm also getting the chance to get to know my brother much better as I left home when he was only five and shortly thereafter the family left CA to move here so we've had limited contact over the years.

While Mom's not out of the woods, her prognosis is much better than many of the other patients in these intensive care units.

Your support is very meaningful and I send thanks to all of you

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A man's got to know
his limitations

Just an FYI:
Mom was resting well today and was getting less sedatives than the last few days. Her vitals are good and she seems to be fighting to pull through. Only time will tell.

jmx


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A man's got to know
his limitations

Thanks, John, for the continuing updates. It is wonderful to hear the good news of your mom's recovery. We'll all be expecting to see her soon!

FewMiles..

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Some humble suggestions for what to do with the Jill Fund...since I believe we have WAY more than enough for flowers.

~Prepay for a cleaning service to come to her home a couple times after she gets out of the hospital.

~Massage/Spa treatment gift Certificate

~Basket of gourmet edibles

Yet another great idea from Missy. I agree.

I wish Jill all the best. Thanks Jan, Sean, and Missy for putting this together. I just sent my donation.

Missy I like your idea of spa treatment and she would enjoy that when she gets out of the hospital.

At www.spawish.com one can but a gift certificate that can by used at spas around the country.

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The world is a book, and for those who do not travel, read only a page.
-Saint Augustine

Latest news on Mom:
I was with Mom this morning and got some unsettling news. She has started having vasospasms which have the possibility to cause a stroke. She is getting medications to help make sure that does not occur, but anything can happen at this point. They have backed off on her sedation in the last 24 hours to help her wake up. When I was there this morning she opened her eyes a bit once or twice and seems to have done that again when 2MM snuck in for a visit (much appreciated). This is encouraging, but she's still got quite a way to go.

I have returned to LA for the moment as I need to make sure that the famil/home/job stuff are OK, but I'm ready to return on short notice should there be any complications. I expect to be in regular touch with her doctors and will try to keep you all updated. My brother's girlfriend who goes by Imaloveablegal may post updates as well, I know some of you have chatted with her.

Thanks for your support and prayers.

jmx


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A man's got to know
his limitations

I like the idea of a cleaning/household help service, but as Jill may not be up and around for a while (and would most likely not be able to drive) maybe we could find out about in home massage/spa services?

Jan and Sean are responsible for this work of heart..I merely plagiarized some gift ideas from a similar experience we went through at work last year.

I like the idea of the cleaning service. Also if she has a favorite author or magazine, books and subscriptions might be enjoyed. These might also be enjoyed by family members that will be at the house helping her when she gets home. If the fund continues to grow, ordering a few days worth of meals from a local restaurant that will deliver will also benefit the whole family when she first comes home.

Thanks again JMX for your updates. And I like the idea of a home catering service for a little while - someone did this for an aunt of mine when she was recuperating from a stroke - it was a Godsend... because their "servings" were more than she could eat, she ate half one day and half the next, and we had the caterer drop a main meal by every two days. Very, very helpful...

Cleaning service without a doubt, JMX thanks for keeping us updated, I cant imagine the ordeal your going through. I pray that you keeep the faith and strength through the rest of this ordeal. I dont think it would be wise if she was told about the AA incident that occured today as it might add to stress and she doesnt need to deal with!

MY heartfelt love and prayers for you and your family.. Jill I know you will pull through and one day will be reading this, we are all rooting for ya. I worked for the airlines for several years and I know the stress and demands that are placed among airline workers. Im proud that you were there on the front lines of the battle, now we are here on the front lines for you.
For every dollar that has been donated is only a small token as to how we feel. We all love you and want you to know that!

I spoke to my brother Mike today and he said Mom sat up yesterday and opened her eyes for a bit. She did not say anything but did squeeze his hand a couple times when asked to, so she's definately aware of what's going on to some degree. She is now having the vasospasms, but no stroke so far. When he saw her this evening, he said she seems to be improving and that there have been more doctors visiting her to figure out why she is not more awake at this point. This may end up a protracted recovery but we're hoping for the best. I am expecting a call from her surgeon tomorrow AM and will let you all know what's up as soon as I can.

I must say that my brother and I are very touched by your efforts regarding the "Jill Fund". Times like these can certainly be a financial nightmare. Fortunately American has a pretty good benefits package and it seems Mom was wise enough to opt into some supplemental disablity insurance coverage. It looks we've figured out a way to make sure her basic expenses are covered for now, but if this becomes protracted it could get complicated. Unfortunately Mom didn't have any Advanced Directives in place (nor do I, but I'm looking into it now and you should too if you haven't already) so Mortgage companies and the like aren't able to share much info with us due to current non disclosure laws (understandable). This means finding out where she is financially and what needs to be done has been troublesome. Should this go on for an extended time (more than three or four weeks without her being lucid) we may have to look into a power of attorney thing (any friendly lawyer friends of Mom out there?).

Hopefully it won't come to anything like that, but of the ideas posted I think the idea of help with cleaning or catered food seems like the best use of whatever funds are available. A spa would be nice but we may be dealing with more basic needs depending on how things go.

Please don't take this post to be overly pessimistic, just a realistic assesment of some of the issues at hand. My brother and I have a lot to consider, but you can rest assured that we're doing the best we can for our Mother.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

jmx

PS: Today's events really bothered me, especially as I had just flown out of JFK yesterday afternoon on a fully loaded (JFK to LAX) AA 767. My heart goes out to those families.


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A man's got to know
his limitations