To accommodate her desire to stay at church, friends put her in a rolling chair and moved her into the sanctuary where she stayed for the Mass and Rosary.
It wasn’t until she was ready to leave that she tried to stand, but realized she couldn’t.
“I told my friends, I think I need to go to the hospital,” she says. “Normally, I go to [Harris Health] Ben Taub Hospital, but we were closer to LBJ [Harris Health Lyndon B. Johnson] Hospital, so I went there.”
Doctors confirmed she had shattered her hip, injured her knee and needed surgery. She was also diagnosed with syncope, a temporary loss of consciousness caused by a sudden decrease in blood flow to the brain.
The next day she had total hip replacement surgery.
The procedure went as planned, however the next day she underwent surgery again because of bleeding.
“I think I traumatized the surgeons,” she recalls. “They had to do an arterial bypass. I was like a vampire because of the amount of blood I was given.”
She stayed in the intensive care unit for two and a half weeks and then was transferred to a rehabilitation facility.
“During my stay at the rehab facility, I took two steps and my surgical site opened up,” she says. “I remember people running around screaming and telling me I was going back to LBJ.”
When she returned to the hospital, she underwent surgery again and stayed in ICU for another two and a half weeks.
“The care I received was amazing,” she says. “I received outstanding care. I shouldn’t be here, but thanks to my outstanding surgeons, nurses and staff, I’m here and walking. I probably would have bled to death if I went anywhere else.”
To address her fainting, she was referred to cardiology and had a stent placed.
Callahan is looking forward to the future and has two trips planned—one to California and a cruise.