Highly Spiritual & Determined Upper Manhattan Woman Heals at Amsterdam

Speaking today to 73-year-old and highly spiritual Ms. Bianca Raysor, one would never know that she is the same person as she was during the summer of 2024. One night last summer, Bianca experienced a deep stomach pain but had no idea what it was. Was it a stomach bug? Possibly because she couldn't hold down food, but the pain was a lot more than a 24-hour nausea-heavy feeling that she could wait out. It wasn't this simple, unfortunately. The pain that night started getting worse, and she knew she needed medical attention.

Bianca was taken to the Emergency Department at Mount Sinai Morningside on 114th Street, where she spent hours given the number of tests the doctors needed to do. Finally, it was discovered that she had a twisted bowel and that Bianca needed immediate gastrointestinal surgery on her digestive system. Doctors at Mount Sinai felt that the conservative approach would be the way to go, where they would hope the bowels would reinflate on their own. It's important to note that this would become her first of two surgeries, but for the time being, she would spend a few days recuperating in the hospital before being discharged home. Following the day she left the hospital, she was still not feeling like herself while being at home.

For the next two months, Ms. Raysor tried healing at home but was very much still in discomfort. By late August, Bianca was back at the hospital, but this time, she warranted a more invasive surgery on her digestive system. It was discovered that she had scarring from past C-sections, and the scar tissue was wrapped around, causing a gastro blockage, an intestinal obstruction. For the next two days, Bianca was in surgery and then spent a week in the ICU at Mt. Sinai St. Luke's.

Following her hospital stay, Bianca, who couldn't move, was transferred a few blocks away to Amsterdam Nursing Home on Amsterdam Avenue on September 11, 2024, where she spent the next 100 days receiving both physical and occupational therapy. Highly determined, Bianca used her strength and faith in God to help her through healing on the road to getting better.

"The therapy was very good at Amsterdam," said Bianca upon discharge. "They pushed me, helped me move up and down the stairs. I had faith in God that the therapists would help me, they did".

Bianca started to enjoy the atmosphere at the large highly-rated 409-bed skilled nursing facility, where she also participated in many recreational activities because she knew she had to be mentally active and socialize with fellow residents and staff. Ms. Raysor, who has three adult kids and six grandkids, fully understood this healing because, during her prime time in the workforce, she did a lot of social work in foster care, shelters, and even administrative work at nursing homes in New York City. By the holidays, a discharge was being discussed with Bianca's son and brother, and right before Christmas, on December 20, 2024, Bianca was discharged back home to her apartment in Upper Manhattan.