Regina Bowles

Regina Bowles, 59, is from Bowling Green, Kentucky. She loves spending time with her family, including her two daughters and grandchildren. Regina also enjoys shopping and spends a lot of time outdoors at the park, lake, and camping. She is also very creative and artistic.

Before she retired, Regina owned two businesses including Jennifer’s Gallery and Regina’s Florist and Framing. Her sister worked on floral arrangements, and Regina did the framing. She started her career at Hobby Lobby, where she worked for 18 years in the framing department. Interior design is her specialty, and she loves it! Regina has passed her entrepreneurial spirit on to her granddaughter. She is currently interested in buying wholesale items and has a Facebook page called “One Heck of a Deal”.

Regina’s fulfilling life took an unexpected turn when she contracted COVID-19 in August. Unfortunately, her whole family tested positive for COVID-19. At first, Regina experienced mild symptoms, but they quickly worsened. She ended up at Greenview emergency room a week later. Her shortness of breath got much worse, and her stats were dropping significantly.

Regina’s condition required everything, including a trach, ventilator, feeding tube, cath, port for kidney dialysis, and an IV hook up in a major artery. While on the ventilator, she experienced a mild stroke. Regina was intubated three different times per her daughter, Jennifer’s, request. “It was not until mid-September when we could see my mother,” Jennifer explained.

Knowing Regina would need intensive rehabilitation, Jennifer wanted her mother to be closer to home. Luckily, Regina improved and transferred to SKY Rehab instead of the Louisville area. Jennifer was so thankful for Jennifer Adams, clinical liaison at SKY. Regina’s family explained that Jennifer Adams fought to get her closer to home and made the transfer smooth for everyone.

Because of her long period of bed rest, Regina could barely move her feet when she arrived at SKY. Her right side, particularly her shoulder and arm, barely functioned after her stroke. She could barely even wiggle her fingers. Because Regina required the tubes in her throat for so long, scar tissue developed. That will need to be corrected with surgery, so for now, she can only whisper.

Despite all these challenges, Regina kept fighting for her recovery. She said, “I’m very strong-willed, and I don’t give up. The good Lord wasn’t ready for me to leave this Earth. I have been surrounded by God and angels throughout this long journey, and I can’t thank my family enough for the support and love during this hard time.”

Regina has come so far and will continue her recovery through outpatient therapy at SKY. She looks forward to seeing some of her same therapists. Regina is thankful for her physical therapist, Susan, her occupational therapist, Dana, and her speech therapists, Sylvia and Robin. “These ladies encouraged me every day, and now I can go home and get back to normal again. Everything has been a blur to me, and I’m very thankful for my daughter for taking care of me and encouraging me along the way.”