It's been a MIRACLE!

 Hey everyone! 

It’s been over a week since my last blog post and it’s been SUPER BUSY. Maria had been recovering, my parents are here (yay!), and we have had some visitors! I’m really excited and happy to share all the great news since the last post! Since things have calmed down a little, I now have more time to update you all. So here we goooo and get ready for some crazy, happy, and great news. 

As you guys know from the last blog, the emergency surgery that María had was successful! Just for a recap, the surgeons put coils in her dilated veins and a stent in her portal vein. They also re-routed a vein but I don’t have too much information on that. In the picture that I attached, you can see where the varicose veins where (they were super dilated and located at the bottom of her esophagus) and where the portal vein is located. María woke up on Saturday, April 2nd in the middle of the day from her coma (Whoop Whoop! What an amazing feeling!!). Unfortunately, we didn’t get a notice in advance when they excavated her (took all her tubes out) and were going to wake her up. So when María woke up, she was very confused and scared. The first thing the nurses at the hospital said to María was “Hello María, you’re in Ullevål, you’ve been asleep for three days.” 

Once we got to the hospital, Marías mom and I ran AS FAST as we could to her floor and to see her. When we walked into her room, María was crying and afraid. She had missed three days of her life and had no idea what was going on. Immediately her mom and I comforted her and made her feel calm and safe. I then told her everything was going to be ok and that she won’t puke blood anymore because the doctors solved the problem. It was such an amazing feeling to tell her that great news! 

Just minutes later, one of the first things María said when she woke up was, “I need to train!” She immediately started to move her arms up and down over her head, she did a few crunches in bed and did a few leg lifts. Absolutely mind blowing! I knew she was tough, but this was a whole new level! María just blew my mind with what she’s capable of!  It’s almost as if her Physical Therapy brain turned on and she knew she had to start moving right away in order to recover quickly. A normal person would probably lay in bed, take some time to figure out where they are, ask questions and just rest. Not María, she said she needed to train and need to get out of the hospital. The same day María woke up, she sat in bed and stood up for a short period to get her body moving. The nurses were just as shocked and surprised as our families and I. 

When María woke up, she pretty much needed to relearn how to walk, talk, breathe properly and use her hands & fingers. After being in a coma for three days, she couldn’t speak for about a day. It was very difficult for her because she had so many tubes down her throat and then she had a big surgery she needed to recover from. Because of all that, she had a feeding tube and was getting food throughout the day and at night. 

After María woke up, she seemed like a VERY different person! She was almost rude at times (!n a funny way! Often she acted like a rude drunk person haha). She also woke up with a major sense of humor and couldn’t stop laughing at everything. Everything was different, her voice, her laugh, and her personality. I can’t really describe it, but our families and I couldn’t stop laughing! She was just a super funny person with a funny laugh. (& yes… I did take videos and recordings of her voice & laugh! had to save it for good memories!) 

Unfortunately, her first night after her coma was a bad night for María. She had no voice and she was very scared. She had a nurse that neglected her and didn’t help María when she was helpless and in lots of pain. María did her very best to ask for help and get the nurses attention. She was trying to ask for water and medication but her nurse ignored her, and sat in her chair with headphones in and listened to music. María described it as the worst night she had ever experienced. She felt like no one was around to help her when she needed it the most. Thankfully María spoke up (the best she could) and the doctors and new nurses removed that nurse from watching María. From then on, María had all amazing nurses that never left her room and took great care of María. They even moved her to a new room where she could be alone and sleep better at night. 

María truly is a crazy rockstar! On day two of waking up, María went on her fist walk! She even did a little sprint to show off her skills! (To be honest, the nurses and I all thought she was falling and we all ran after her with the intent to catch her because we were afraid she was about to get hurt! This was María and her new sense of humor! She event let out a little evil laugh knowing we all got scared! haha) That same day, María worked on her breathing and worked really hard to get all the mucus out of her throat. They found out she had pneumonia so they had her on antibiotics and a special physical therapy program to help her get rid of it as fast as possible so she could start round three of Liquid Sunshine a week later. 

After they saw a progression in María’s strength, they decided to send her back to Lillehammer Hospital for further observation. Lillehammer Hospital feels almost like a second home. María and I are able to have our own room and they let me stay there with her the entire time. Before, they wouldn’t let me go anywhere with her because of Covid. But since restrictions have lifted, I’ve been able to go everywhere with her and be with her through everything. Since we have been to the hospital so much, we know all the nurses and doctors really well. (I’m sure they’ll never forget me… let’s be honest here, I should be worried about going to the hospital in Lillehammer for myself after my wonderful first impressions haha 🤪) 

During the week María had the mind-set of “Lets do this!” She woke up everyday with fire in her bones and determination to overcome all the obstacles that have prevented her from starting round 3 on time. She worked hard to build up endurance, worked on her strength and even worked on eating enough calories. María thrives when there is a task at hand. She loves to have something to work on or towards and really loves the feeling of accomplishing something. So it comes with no surprise that she recovered so quickly! Just a few days after waking up, María was in the gym with her physical therapist leg pressing 110 pounds (50 kilos), biking, doing lat pull downs and arm exercises. She then was walking up and down stairs to work on different muscles. Even the physical therapist was shocked with how much María could do. She then was cleared from pneumonia and got off antibiotics, and then started eating enough normal food so they took her feeding tube out. 

While we were at the hospital in Lillehammer, they gave us “open access” which means that we can pretty much come and go as we please during the day. They did that to help María feel a little more freedom and to give her a chance to not feel like she is living at the hospital 24/7. So we left the hospital to have dinner with some friends that came to visit from Iceland one night, had dinner with my parents another night, and even went to the dog park and met up with María’s parents and our dogs that we haven’t seen in so long. Because María has had lots of crazy issues since she started Liquid Sunshine, she didn’t feel comfortable or safe to go home full-time (to be honest… I didn’t either). Especially after a crazy surgery. So we spent most or some of our days outside of the hospital but slept at the hospital where we had access to medication and medical personnel if needed. The staff also liked to check her vitals and do blood tests when she woke up and give her medication and check her vitals again before she went to bed. They always wanted to make sure everything looked great and we really loved that! 

On Sunday, April 10th, our last day before starting round 3 of Liquid Sunshine, we spent most of our day at home with our dogs. Wow! What a great feeling that was! To snuggle our dogs, walk our dogs, and just enjoy their unconditional love and company! It feels so nice after such a crazy time! After being away form them for so long, having some quality time with them was much needed. 

We even had a surprise visitor stop by that put huge smiles on our faces! (Thanks for stopping by Lucas!) I have to give a shoutout to Lucas real fast! Lucas is a professional skier and a family friend and María and I have spent A LOT of our time in hospitals watching him on TV competing in World Cup and at the Olympics. He and a few other of her friends are professional skiers on the Norwegian World Cup team and we truly enjoy watching them and cheering them on! While we watch them on T.V., it helps us forget about reality, and it helps us forget about the pain and suffering María is in. For a few hours, we are able to only think about skiing and nothing else and it’s super awesome to watch and cheer on a friend! So thanks for stopping by and hanging out with us Lucas! 

In summary family & friends, pretty much all week María had the “Let’s do this and get it done” attitude and it really shows in her speedy recovery! We are now in Oslo and María has officially started her round 3 of Liquid Sunshine! María is mentally, physically, and emotionally stronger than ever after being in a coma and having an emergency surgery! (Are we really surprised tho? I mean.. come on! It’s amazing María!🤪) We are happy to be in Oslo, we are happy to be starting round 3 of Liquid Sunshine and we are hopeful that things SHOULD be getting better from here! But just to be safe, they told us that María should go to Lillehammer Hospital for a few days after Liquid Sunshine for monitoring. Just in case she has a weird reaction. At this time, we love that idea because it’s better to be safe than sorry! 

Thank you all for your prayers, thank you all for reaching out and your kind messages! 

Cheers to round 3! 💧☀️🌿

Much Love, 

Ryan & María

Enjoy some of the pictures throughout the week! 

Here is a description of what the doctors were looking at and the problems Maria had. 

Spending quality time with Maria the day she woke up! 

Smiling because she knows she's tough!! 

Smiling because she can literally see progress hour-by-hour! 

Enjoying company from some of her best friends Fanney & Erla! 

Thanks for visiting!! 

Dinner date with my parents!! 

Awesome surprise from Lucas! 

Cheers to the start of round 3!!