The next week I visited her on Sunday and I had lunch with her in the dining room of the nursing home, she ate all of her lunch but appeared somewhat lethargic, which was normal. I had no reservations about leaving her. On Monday, I received a call from the nursing home, saying they were moving her onto another wing where she would be under closer supervision. On Tuesday, I received another call, stating that mom had been "hitting" her elbow against her chair as if she were in pain. So, they made x-rays of her elbow, but found nothing wrong. On Wednesday, another call from the nursing home, stating that she was still hitting her elbow and the doctor ordered another round of antibiotics just to be on the safe side. I didn't think a whole lot about it at the time, because she had never had trouble with her arm before. I asked my daughter to visit her on Wednesday night, to make sure everything looked ok. She saw nothing out of the ordinary and commented that her new roommate was very talkative, but blind. We thought this would be good for mom.

On Thursday, another call stating that mom's arm appeared a little red and they were keeping an eye on it. On Friday, I went to work as usual, and received a phone call that I needed to go to the emergency room where they were sending mom. I asked, as I had done so many times before, "what is wrong?" They only told me that I needed to meet her at the emergency room. It was 30 minutes after I arrived at the hospital before I could see her. As I walked into the room, I was absolutely in shock. My mom lay there with her eyes "fixed" and there by her side was this huge, massive, bluish/black arm by her side. I could only gasp in horror and say over and over again, "how did this happen, and what is it?!"

The doctors and nurses tried to comfort me, at the same time telling me about this "strep eating bacteria" that had invaded her body and within hours, had caused this. They told me to call my family, and that she probably had 6 hours at the most to live. Two surgeons came in, looked at me and shook their heads. There was no way that amputation of the arm would help her. They started her on morphine and made her as comfortable as possible. She breathed her last breath 5 hours later. How did this happen and no one knew what to look for?!

It is my goal to help spread the word of this terrible, painful, bacteria, it not only can kill within hours, but if you are lucky enough to survive, the torture one most endure is horrendous!