My name is Nancy Polski and I'm Susan Marie
Polski Ahlborn's mother. Susie died July 1,
1999 at 34 years of age. I'd like to tell you
her story in hopes that it may help someone
else to get better care.
Susie was born April 28, 1965 along with her
twin brother, Steve. They were premature by
six weeks. Susie was always the healthy one
when they were babies and Steve was the sick
one. When Susie was about 6 years old she
started having bad allergies. Started her on
shots and she was on them for quite a few
years. Eventually quit the shots, as they
didn't seem to be helping. In her teens she
started having lots of female problems. She
had many labroscopy's and started being
allergic to different foods and to milk. Had
to be admitted to the emergency room many,
many times from hives that would start
closing off her throat. She graduated from
high school and decided to become an
occupational therapist in order to help
others. Susie's older brother, Mike was hit
by a car at the age of 3 and as a result was
left retarded and handicapped. This is what
made her decide to try and help others with
disabilities.
When she was in her early twenties she
started having more problems with her health.
Went to many, many doctors who could find
nothing wrong with her. Then she developed a
"dent" in her back - went to a specialist and
he said he thought it was Weber Christian
disease. That is also an autoimmune disease
similar to Lupus. Lupus was never mentioned.
He put her on prednisone and that seemed to
help a little for a short time. He did all
kinds of different tests and couldn't really
pinpoint anything. We went to different
doctors to try and find someone who could
help her but the message came back loud and
clear that it must be psychosomatic. In 1989
Susie got her degree in Occupational Therapy
and became one of the best in the area.
Everyone wanted her - she was that good at
what she did.
In 1991 Susie married a wonderful man and the
day after their wedding she went into the
hospital for three weeks. She was in terrible
pain but still no diagnosis. She wanted to
have a baby and after trying for a couple of
years she became pregnant. During the last 5
months of her pregnancy she was in bed and
had IV's as she was so sick. She finally had
a beautiful little girl, Caitlyn, on July 10,
1993. The next day she had to have emergency
surgery and had her gull bladder removed. She
was told not become pregnant again but she
was a stubborn woman and decided to have
another baby. Casey was born on April 25,
1996 - also a really bad pregnancy and she
was again in bed for most of it. But she was
finally happy that she had two beautiful
little girls.
Susie kept doctoring and was put on
methotrexate along with prednisone and many
other medications, which I can't remember.
She finally had to give up her work as a
therapist and go into the management end of
it and worked out of their home. On July 3,
1998 she and the two girls were in a car
accident. The little ones were okay but
Susie's arm was shattered. She had many
surgeries on it but it was never right again.
After the accident her health went downhill
really fast. She finally found a
rheumatologist who diagnosed her with
Vasculitis. During the last year of her life
she spent most of her time in the hospital.
She was put on 24 hour a day TPN and was on
cytoxan every day. She had a port-o-cath
inserted into her chest and was unable to eat
or drink anything my mouth for the last four
months of her life. Her bowels had become
ischemic and she had angioplasty done on her
stomach as the veins were blocked. The
vasculitis was in her blood and her nerves
and everywhere. She woke up on July 1 in her
home and took a shower - called her Dad and
wished him happy birthday - spent some time
with her two little ones and her grandmother,
my mom, who was staying with her to help her.
Around 11:30 a.m. I called her on the phone
and she couldn't talk very well. She was
hyperventilating. I told her to get her
Grandmother on the phone, which she did. I
told my Mom to call 911 and I would call her
husband. My Mom went up to her room and she
lay down on her bed and closed her eyes and
that was it. They brought her to the hospital
but she was already gone.
Please, please, let's all try and get some
form of recognition for these horrible
diseases and start training more doctors on
what to look for. I truly believe Susie would
be alive today if she had found a doctor
sooner who knew what he was doing and she
could be treated for it. Even though she was
not diagnosed with lupus I believe she had it
as she definitely had all the symptoms.
Please pray for her two little girls as they
grow up without their Mom. Also her twin
brother who has to celebrate their birthday
alone and her husband who has to be both a
dad and a mom and we, her Mom and Dad, who
have to live without our beautiful daughter.
Susie's older brother, Mike, who doesn't
understand completely that she's gone and her
grandmother, also need prayers. I want Susie
to be remembered because she was such a
caring, beautiful person, both inside and out
and because of the courage she had for all
those years of suffering.
