According to the Mayo Clinic, kidney stones, or renal calculi, are hard mineral and salt deposits inside a person’s kidneys. Medical experts believe this often happens when urine becomes too concentrated, creating the perfect conditions for minerals to stick together.
For many people with kidney stones, all they need are pain medications and lots of water to find relief. However, surgery may become necessary for severe cases. But even then, kidney stone surgeries are generally not risky, and although significant complications are possible, they’re rare.
So, when Lucinda Mullins, a 41-year-old mother of two, was taken to the hospital to have her kidney stones surgically removed, she must have heaved a sigh of relief. If that’s all it was going to take to say a permanent goodbye to the excruciating pain she was feeling, then it was a good trade-off. There was no way she would have known that this decision would change her life forever.
After the kidney stone operation, Mullins developed sepsis due to an infection from the surgery. In other words, her body responded improperly to the infection as her immune system struggled to fight it. Although she was administered medication, the medicines restricted blood flow to some arteries in her legs and arms.
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Some weeks later, the doctors discovered that her leg and forearm tissues had died, putting her at high risk of organ failure and death. She was rushed to a hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, where the doctors had to sedate her and take drastic action to save her life.
When Mullins woke up on her hospital bed after the surgery, all her vital organs were in perfect condition as she had hoped. Sadly, however, her two legs had to be cut off to prevent the infection from spreading to other parts of her body. That wasn’t all — she also had to undergo a separate surgery to amputate her arms.
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As a former health worker, Lucinda Mullins knew there was a “rare chance of something bad happening” in surgeries like this. Regardless, she said she would never have dreamed of becoming a quadruple amputee.
Now, she wants the world to hear and learn from her story. The message is simple — “Slow down. Appreciate the things around you, especially your family. It’s OK to let people take care of you.”
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Fortunately, Mullins is positive and handling her new situation graciously. She said, “I just said these are the cards I’ve been dealt, and these are the hands I’m going to play. I’m just so happy to be alive. I get to see my kids. I get to see my family. I get to have my time with my husband.”
Although Mullins has already commenced physical therapy, she needs all the support she can get to cover the total cost of her medical expenses. Fortunately, a GoFundMe has been launched for this purpose, and she’s very close to meeting her $250,000 goal.
Mullins’s story is a reminder that life can change in a very short time. It’s motivation to make the best of our lives while we can.
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