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The Worst of Times, the Best of Times
By Katie McKy
For a Chippewa Falls mother, it was the best of times. Her husband Eric had just been hired by Southwest Airlines, and they had their beautiful children — a four month-old, a two-year old, and a four-year old. Then streptococcus, a common bacterium, one that typically leads to a mere earache or a sinus infection, changed everything.
When Beth Vrablic started to slip away, no one knew at first. She and her family went to church one Sunday in late October. The next morning, she took the kids to daycare and reported to work. None of her family or friends or colleagues noticed that anything was amiss, even though Beth would retain no memories of those moments. The first sign that something was amiss showed itself the next morning, when she called in sick.
“I was vomiting and taking hot baths because I was so cold,” Beth said. That evening, she did something odd for an experienced mother, a veteran at nursing.
“My husband said I looked awful and sent me to bed,” Beth said. “As an experienced mom, I would normally have said, ‘No, Eric, I have to feed the baby because I’d have to pump otherwise or I’d feel lousy.’ Most moms, given the choice of half-an-hour of pumping the milk off or twenty minutes feeding her will choose the former, but I was so sick that maybe my body had stopped producing milk.”
Around seven o’clock, Eric checked on Beth. “He normally wouldn’t have done that because we’re not worriers,” Beth said.
Eric’s decision saved her life. In the dark, he touched the bed and discovered it was wet with Beth’s vomit. Eric guessed that she was simply dehydrated and told her she was going to the emergency room for fluids. Beth declined and Eric said her only choice was to go with him or by ambulance.
Her parents arrived to take care of the children, and as Beth’s mother helped her dress, she noticed that Beth’s top was soiled with vomit, but she didn’t care enough to change it, which was utterly unlike her. When Beth’s mother helped her don her shoes, she saw that her feet were gray.
St. Joseph ran bloodwork and realized Beth’s body was shutting down due to septic shock. Beth was transferred to Mayo in Eau Claire, but another transfer to Mayo in Rochester was impossible because Beth wouldn’t survive the helicopter ride. Her body soon swelled with 100 pounds of fluids as all her organs shut down. “My sister said that the only thing still recognizable on me was my nose,” Beth said.
Every life machine that Mayo had were substitutes for her failing organs. “Tubes were attached to every bit of my body,” Beth remembered.
The medical staff induced a coma. Her heart stopped along the way for seven minutes, and when Beth was awoken after ten days, she couldn’t talk and could barely blink to communicate. She’d awaken, and Eric would explain what had happened. Then, she’d sink into sleep and reawaken, and Eric would re-explain, again and again and again, where she was and what had happened. Beth lost half of one foot and four toes on the other. Her hands lost much of their function due to nerve damage.
The underlying cause was later discovered to be Amyloidosis AL, a rare bone marrow disease typically affecting men from 50-70 years old, that creates a buildup of amyloid proteins in the heart, kidneys, liver, or other organs, inhibiting their function. The streptococcus bacterium was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, as Beth’s body had no resources remaining to best it.
Mayo, looking ahead, did a stem cell harvest a year-and-a-half ago, and Beth has been on chemo for the last two years. This spring, she’ll travel to Rochester for two months, and Mayo will flood her body with enough chemotherapy to kill her bone marrow and stem cells and replace it with the stem cells frozen for the last 18 months. “I’ll have zero white blood cells, and even my vaccines will be gone,” Beth said.
Beth will recover in a rented home in Rochester to keep her away from the viruses and bacteria that inevitably cluster in even the cleanest of hospitals. With her kidneys failing, dialysis will likely be next, followed by a kidney transplant.
“My sister could only recognize what she called my ‘cute, little nose’ when I was in the CCU and now she’s going to hopefully give me, if it’s a match, what I call her ‘cute, little kidney,’” Beth said.
Throughout all of this, Eric had to become Mr. Mom, learning on the fly while being bedside for his beloved wife.
“He went to Target to buy baby food and diapers and hands the checkout gal my Target card and pulls out some coupons and gift cards and a coupon app, and when she remarked at how prepared he was, he said, ‘My wife taught me everything I know.’”
Charles Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” but he could have written that about Beth. Beth admits that she’ll never be what she was. She locomotes with canes, walkers, and a wheelchair, depending upon the environment, and takes a fistful of pills everyday, which her three kids fight to give her. But, she’s also been fundamentally altered in other, positive ways. “I think I have the wisdom of an 80-year old,” Beth said.
There was a time when elders might have said that time flies, and children grow up so soon and don’t fret the small stuff, and Beth might have been tempted to roll her eyes because the hurly-burly of modern life seemed to offer no practical alternatives, but Beth knows otherwise now.
“I don’t live an Instagram life. I won’t be posting pics of my trip to Hawaii,” Beth said. “I’m permanently disabled, but I’m here all the time with my children now. I witness every little thing in their lives. It’s just so cool. I’m here for everything. I didn’t have to make some big choice between career and kids. It was made for me, and I choose to see the blessing in that.”
Beth is a light-seeker, like a plant forever turning its leaves to the light.
“Faith is 100% why I am the way I am. I woke up from the coma confused, but I never, ever felt fear. Prior to my illness, I was such a fearful person, but God knew I was going to need a massive amount of peace at that time,” Beth said, “and God handed me a massive plate of peace that surpasses all understanding. To this day, I still feel peace. No matter what happens, it’s going to be okay, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. Focusing on the negative won’t change any of it.”
Beth could teach a master’s class in stopping to smell the roses. “I’m never in a hurry anymore,” she said. “I used to be such a perfectionist, but now I savor the moments — all of them. Everyone always talks about how children grow old so fast, but now I have all this time to witness their growing. I don’t know how much time I have left, so I treasure every single second of it.”
Of course, Beth isn’t the only one affected. “I feel like my life is not at all traditional, but we make it work,” Beth said. “My kids live among so much medical equipment, and we do my blood pressure every night and check for blood clots. They know all these medical terms, but it’s just normal for them. They’ve grown up around it, and it’s made them more compassionate. They’ll see someone with a walker and run to grab the door for them. They’ll see a toy and pick it up so I won’t trip on it.”
Mother and children replace the old with the new. “I can’t chase them around the house anymore, so I do a lot more reading and jigsaw puzzles with them,” Beth said. “I have them help me cook. We play Battleship. I now have time to slow down, and I’m really content doing it. I’m not waiting for my life to be over. I’m happy to be present and living a life with my husband and children.”
As Beth doesn’t linger on what’s lost, she also doesn’t pine for tomorrow. “I don’t wish anything away, like wishing we were two years down the road so we’d be further out of debt,” she said. “I don’t even look forward to tomorrow because I’m grateful and glad for each day, for each moment.”
Beth’s relationship with her mother is also improved. “My mom and I have become much closer,” she said. “I feel like my mom has become much more affectionate towards me and my kids. There are so many more ‘I love yous’ and hugs. She’s been rattled by this, too. She knows you never know when someone will go. She’s lived that.”
Beth has had friends who pull her aside and ask, “How are you, really?”
“They mean the very best, but they have a hard time believing that I’m truly content,” Beth said.
Beth and her family understand that she can be sick again in a second, which is why every second is still the best of times.
