Sorry it has been a while since we have updated. Mom is doing alright. She has another UTI and she is being treated. Luckily they caught this one before it caused seizures. For that we are grateful. Every time she battles an infection, her body struggles to do 2 things at once (wake up from a coma and fight an infection), so she usually turns less responsive. We usually see her turn a corner after the infection is gone though.
We continue to battle the bureaucracy of our government who isn’t helping and we are exhausted. I am hoping to make an appointment with the Embassy in person this week to see if seeing a face behind the emails and phone calls gives them enough empathy to do their jobs. All in all, we have reached out to the Embassy 10 times in the last 8 weeks to no avail.
Because our mom is not a citizen of Portugal, she is not eligible for rehabilitation in the public health system. The social worker found us a rehabilitation home for €1,600 a month and includes all of her medications, supplies and therapies she will need to recover. Mom is reaching a point soon where she can go into rehabilitation and we don’t have enough funds to bring her home and the government isn’t doing their jobs, we are looking to rehabilitate her here in Portugal. Which comes with pros and cons. Going back home at this point would financially devastate our entire family and give us legal battles to deal with. The only benefit to bringing her home at this point would be to my brother and myself to be able to return to life and have the support of our circles back home. The battles we face keeping her here is the battle to get visas and that I may lose my job if they are unable to accommodate me working abroad. But the biggest pro is we can financially support her recovery here. Our hope is that we can rehab her enough to get her on a commercial flight home eventually.
This has been the hardest thing in our lives. I appreciate everyone who has and continues to support us emotionally and donate their hard earned money to help our cause. Our battles at times feel insurmountable and devastating. But your support definitely lessens the blow and restores our hope that we might come out of this nightmare eventually. Thank you!