A woman is struggling for her life after a chiropractic fit went terribly wrong, leaving her with catastrophic injuries such as dissected neck arteries, a stroke and a brain injury.
Caitlin Jensen has a lot to live on, blessed with a loving family and a bright future.
She recently graduated from Georgia Southern University in the United States in May with a degree in Chemistry and Biology and was ready to live the life of her dreams. She had been very excited about all the professional opportunities and possibilities on her horizon.
But when Caitlin opted for what was to be a simple chiropractic adjustment on June 16, she would never have expected to suffer catastrophic injuries and would be left fighting for her life.
Caitlin suffered four dissected arteries in her neck, this damage caused a cardiac arrest, a stroke and her lack of pulse for more than 10 minutes, which required resuscitation.
She was rushed to Savannah Memorial Hospital, Georgia, where she was operated on. She was then transferred to the critical condition neuronal ICU with a traumatic brain injury.
Since then, he has been struggling every day.
Currently, Caitlin is conscious and is able to respond to verbal commands by blinking her eyes as well as moving her left toes. However, much of his body is paralyzed due to the injury.
Her mother Darlene has been posting updates on her daughter’s status on Facebook, while a GoFundMe has been set up to help pay for her medical costs.
On Saturday Darlene shared the latest news about her daughter’s condition.
“Today she did her best to smile, and it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Darlene said.
“She moves forward with her movements on her left side: moving and flexing. She still can’t lift her arm or turn her head. Her right side hasn’t changed, still no movement.
“Her face still doesn’t move much, but she can open her eyes wide to show surprise, and the left corner of her mouth is trying to smile. Adorable.
“Still working on pneumonia. Antiplatelet therapy seems to be going well. We don’t see any signs of internal bleeding and we’re praying for it to stay that way.”
And the day before, Darlene posted, “Tonight two weeks ago we didn’t know if Caitlin would spend the night,” Darlene said.
“Cast and catastrophic are two of the words we heard from our ICU team. We knew they weren’t accidentally throwing out words like this.
“But, she’s alive, and every day is a little better. The successes are small and monumental at the same time. Today she’s given us a thumbs up. We’ve been working on that, and she got it! She nodded again today .
“It helps to see these things because it reassures us that he is working hard to stay with us and recover. Caitlin is strong, disciplined, and well-practiced in her brain exercise, and I truly believe that her scientific training and all of her time studying will help her on this long journey. “
The day before, Darlene posted about the procedures Caitlin underwent and how she is taking medication to prevent blood clots from forming in the stent that surgeons inserted into her carotid artery.
“Caitlin’s face has gone wireless! Long live! Today she took the probe (to feed herself) and lost the NG probe in her nose. I’m sure she feels better.
“The procedure went smoothly and we are relieved to have completed it. They will start several medications in the morning to continue with the goal of keeping the stent free of clots.
“Tomorrow will be two weeks from the day we almost lost her. It’s really amazing that she’s alive. I’m shocked to the depths of my being by this experience.
“When I look at my little girl lying there, and she has the ability to look back at me, to see life in her eyes, to touch it and talk to her … she’s alive. Hallelujah.”
Darlene said she could nod.
Everything is a very welcome progress.
Studies have found that traumatic cervical artery dissection is a major cause of stroke in patients under 45, and recent chiropractic neck manipulation is among the factors that may be associated with the risk of dissection. of the vertebral artery.