From the moment she entered the ambulance bay doors at Beaumont Hospital’s Emergency Center in Royal Oak on New Year’s Eve 2013, she was never alone. When Britney arrived, her prognosis looked grim.
Three weeks earlier, Britney, then 27, fell down in her home. Weighing almost 800 pounds, she was unable to get up. For three weeks, she lay on the floor helpless. When she arrived at Beaumont, she was delirious with fever and dehydration. She lapsed in and out of consciousness. The medical team treated her skin ulcers and discovered sepsis, or blood poisoning. In addition, they found blood clots and she was diagnosed with the H1N1 flu.
Recalls Britney, “They didn’t think I was going to make it.”
She was admitted to the intensive care unit where the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation consulting physicians had little hope Britney would ever walk again. In fact, they later learned she had been unable to walk for two years.
As Britney improved, she was moved from the ICU, but her medical team had concerns about her future. According to Marie Doherty, RN, director, Care Management, because of her many medical issues, her case was presented to Beaumont, Royal Oak’s Complex Case Committee. The committee reviews and discusses the hospital’s most challenging patient cases. Recalls Doherty, “The group felt the only chance Britney had at long-term survival, including walking again, was to reach out to Kevin Krause, M.D., to provide weight-loss surgery.” Typically, there is a six month evaluation/education period at the Weight Control Center leading up to bariatric surgery.
Dr. Krause agreed to perform the surgery if she lost weight in advance. Her pre-surgical target was 600 pounds. With Britney’s determination and the hard work of a whole host of caregivers- including physicians, nurses, physical and occupational therapists she made great progress. Her medical team rallied around her. Because of her mobility issues, Weight Control Center services that are ordinarily available on an outpatient basis were brought to her bedside.
Britney remembers Dr. Krause telling her bariatric surgery was too risky until she improved her strength and lost weight. “That made me all the more determined to lose the necessary pounds before my procedure.” She successfully lost 140 pounds before surgery.
After weeks and months of therapy, on May 29, 2014, Dr. Krause performed a gastric sleeve procedure on Britney. During the sleeve gastrectomy procedure, about 85 percent of the stomach is removed. It involves recreating the size and shape of the stomach, reducing how much can be eaten at one time. This laparoscopic surgical technique is minimally invasive.
Things went well. Britney was released from Beaumont to a nursing facility to further her recovery, which included learning to walk on her own again with a walker.
Today, 17 months after being rushed to the Emergency Center and a year after her surgery, Britney has lost nearly 300 pounds. Most importantly, she has regained her mobility and independence. Two years ago she couldn’t move, or put her feet on the floor. Now she enjoys water aerobics.
Says Doherty, “I’m so proud of all the staffon 6 East, including staff nurses, care management, the bariatric nurse clinician, nursing assistants, PT, OT, nutrition support, the Weight Control Center team and physicians who were there for Britney, especially Dr. Krause. Their dedication to the patient was pivotal in her successful outcome.”
Britney is forever grateful to the staff on the 6th floor of the East Tower. “They were an extension of my family and did so much for me. They brought me movies, spent their lunch breaks with me and even brought me orange and blue nail polish for the Tigers Opening Day.”
As for Dr. Krause, “I told him he saved my life. He was always there to comfort me.”
Now 28 and living in Detroit, Britney ponders her future, “I want to come back and work for Beaumont, maybe as a nurse anesthetist.” She still returns to 6 East periodically to check in on her extended Royal Oak family.
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