Translated using Google translate:
I am Dina Simei Román Díaz, a psychologist, but above all a woman of faith. So I ask you to listen with all your senses to this experience where together we will learn about the good things of humanity.
After the loss of my second child and seeing a miracle in the pregnancy of my third child, as a family we always want the best for our children and part of the desire for my third child was to offer him quality care. So I made the best decision of my life by having the best doctors attending the birth since it had to be a cesarean section in which my son came out just in time because he was having shaking at the same time as the extraction of my body, in the same way my gynecologist extracted an undetectable teratoma on ultrasound stuck to my left ovary, managing to save my ovary.
One of the happiest days of my life with his birth on October 1, 2022, having my son, my eldest daughter and my husband healthy by my side together as a family getting to know our new member. Evan Mateo.
A miraculous experience in every sense, however we did not count on the adventure that took me to the bonds near death a couple of times, towards the third day of my caesarean section I began with. Chills, intense headaches and in a state of postpartum caring for my newborn, around October 15, the symptoms intensified, nausea and vomiting, general malaise and stiffness in my neck. We searched specifically for the cause until a doctor told me I don't see anything, you need to go to the hospital and let them tell you what you have. I spent another day with my son and daughter in unbearable pain and having severe dizziness and vomiting, a headache and stiffness in my neck, they took me to the emergency room at clinic one of the IMSS in Dgo. And I encountered the first challenge, the doctors telling me "we don't know what you have, we know it's meningitis but we don't know its cause." Do you remember that I told you that I am a woman of faith, because this was when I clung more to my creator.
Fourteen days passed in intensive care without any response, around November 3, after recovering from thirteen days of constipation and discomfort typical of meningitis, they took me up to the floor and at dawn on November 4, the most terrible thing happened while I was asleep. A seizure and a first stroke due to a grade 3 hemorrhagic subarachnoid basilar artery aneurysm, until now my doctors did not know what else to do after giving me up and telling me "we don't know what else to offer you, if it happens again, you will no longer live, there is no more here to do." After a few hours, I returned to intensive care, I saw my husband crying and my sister to whom I told please that my children do not feel like they lack a mother, take care of them as if they were yours, they wanted to take me a pastor to entrust me to God because I was dying.
Until that moment, I understood the fragility of my life and it hurt me to leave my children so young. However, one of the most important decisions happened and they decided to send me to clinic 71 of the IMSS in Torreón where I spent five and a half months and during this time the following happened, they discovered what fungus affected the meninges, fusiparum solani fungus and where I received treatment of liposomal amphoterisin b and voriconazole. During that period, I suffered sodium decompensation, partial loss of vision, alterations in my memory and consciousness, two strokes in the same basilar artery aneurysm, bacteria in the intestine, COVID 19 and influenza at the same time. Two neurosurgeries, a ventricle-peritoneal valve and a flow diverter in the basilar artery, a five-hour hemorrhage after the flow diverter operation, I lost muscle tone and a total of 30 kg. And from this, I continue to survive and carry the disease with an embedded future which still makes me vulnerable due to the consequences that I will carry for life. Something that I can summarize for you in five minutes means that as a human being, as a woman of faith, I have learned something that I want to transmit at this moment...
Live with the intensity of being next to your loved ones, enjoy every second of what you dedicate your life to and do it with love, forgive and resolve your pending issues, let every day be a gift of love for yourself and enjoy your life love yourself and love, forgive yourself, let go of what doesn't serve you and hug your family, take care of your emotional and physical health, believe me, everything else becomes secondary. As a patient of this disease, a mystery at the level of humanity seen through the eyes of research, I invite you to contribute from your own trenches the necessary actions so that this is never repeated again, be honest, be integrated, be responsible and if you have toInitiate change even from a simple action in your hospital, do it, do not remain silent when you know that something is happening wrong, you can stop something in time and avoid tragedies.
I am Dina, a survivor of chronic aseptic fungal meningitis, described by my doctors as a medical miracle, a miracle with a purpose, I saw the kindness of the medical community, nurses trying to save my life to whom I am very grateful.
I saw the fragility of humanity hurt by what was happening to us as affected people, I saw the pain and anger of the families, I saw the anguish and desperation of the caregivers, especially my husband and life partner who was by my side for 24 hours, 7 days a week, Mr. Julio Cesar, where he received discouraging news, signing surgery consents and making the most important decisions of our lives, at the same time he made an effort to encourage me and be there for me. His strength was my main source for motivation, I read obituaries of patients who died from this disease. It hurt me to know that I am still part of this statistic where I was told that they expected a mortality rate of 90%, but yes, I saw the humanity of my doctors who acted with faith, as well as day by day they were at the foot of the canyon to offer me better treatments. From human to human, from professional to professional, I tell you that I personally forgive the actions that led us to this chaos. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to take actions in which you can make a difference and offer service with human quality, believe in your potential to change the bad concepts that have been acquired due to bad practice. Be the main bearer of an attitude of change in favor of humanity, to once again establish trust towards those who provide care and service.
Let's avoid making the mistake of asking ourselves: why did this happen?
And give an answer that justifies the actions taken, but dare to ask: why did this happen? And together find actions to make a change, first starting with you, give yourself the opportunity to grow with human development where the main source of continuous attention is you towards yourself, believe in yourself, because your life is valuable since your talent was designed to save more lives. I trust that you will continue to do the right thing with an attitude of service and kindness towards your patients because you chose this path of medicine where at the end of your career you took an oath made by the great Galen Hippocrates which reflects the most sacred thing about your profession and above all remember the phrase “primum non nocere” which comes from Latin and means “first do no harm”. Today this happened to me and I am here to tell it, but I honor the memory and raise my voice for those victims who lost their voice, for those babies who were left without their mother's arms and for those families who lost a daughter, a sister. For those men who lost the love of their lives and for this society that has lost such valuable women and men, here I am to invite you so that with your help this will never happen again. We were harmed by a series of events that collaterally affected human beings who have been harmed by a sick system of power.
I am Dina Shimei and my name together means “God's justice will be heard” and I know that I will see my name represented in actions.
Open your mind to the wisdom of humility with a heart disposed to gratitude.
Therefore I request that you make a commitment for me and for those who have transcended from this earthly plane and make these actions a reality, I ask you to please raise your voice and in a form of respect for each mortal victim of this disease caused by corruption, greed and lack of humanity. To mention the victims of the city of Durango, Dgo, Mexico. And for all the survivors who still continue in the fight against the disease, as well as for those victims of Matamoros Tamaulipas Mexico. Now reflect on the value of life and the influence that you can have on the lives of others with the service that you contribute with love and passion to what you do with an integral connection to your spirituality.
Be the one who makes the difference, so that this society, so that this world is a better place for a legacy to our future generations. Thank you!
Dina Simei Román Díaz
November 2023