A Kentucky woman is adjusting to a new lifestyle after losing her limbs to a kidney stone infection.
Cindy Mullins’ legs were amputated after suffering from an infected kidney stone, and her hands are next, according to Lexington, Kentucky’s WLEX.
“The doctor I was working with was like, ‘This is what they had to do to save your life. This is what happened,'” Mullins, 41, told the paper.
“I lost my legs from the knee down bilaterally, and I will lose my arms probably below the elbow bilaterally,” she added.
Mullins, who is a nurse, told WLEX that her quadruple amputation was the result of a “perfect storm” caused by a kidney stone she had a few weeks ago.
After treatment, the stone became infected and she became septic, Mullins told the newspaper. She was then transported from Stanford Hospital to Lexington Hospital, where she was sedated for days.
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After she woke up, Mullins learned that she would have to lose all four limbs.
“I just said, ‘These are the cards I’ve been dealt and these are the hands I’m going to play,'” she told WLEX, who noted that she reacted to the news in a surprisingly calm manner.
“I’m so happy to be alive,” added Mullins, a mother of two. “I have to see my children. I see my family. I spend time with my husband. Those are minor things at this point.”
As she undergoes life-changing surgeries, the longtime nurse said she took things slow — and let others take the wheel.
“Slow down. Appreciate the things around you, especially your family,” she told WLEX about how she approaches life now. “It’s okay to let people take care of you.”
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And in her time of need, people flocked to Mullins to do just that. “I think they said at one time [me] There were 40 people in the waiting room here,” she told the newspaper.
“Calls and messages, prayers and things that people have sent. Little words of encouragement. … I just can’t fathom people doing things like that for me,” she added.
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A GoFundMe fundraiser has also been started in Mullins’ name to help fund “modifications” to her home, as well as “prosthetics and adaptive equipment.” By Sunday afternoon, it had raised more than $100,000 of its $250,000 goal.
Mullins will undergo her final surgery in a few weeks, according to a GoFundMe update shared by her sister Luci.
“On Friday, she had to leave the room and we went outside for fresh air,” Luci wrote. “Keep praying and she’ll fight until we finally get home.”
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Source: HIS Education