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Kelly Dodd is in Vicki Gunvalson's corner.
Dodd, 48, wished her former “Real Housewives of Orange County” co-star, 62, a speedy recovery after revealing that Gunvalson was recently hospitalized with a serious infection that she said she had a “10 to 20 percent chance of survival.”
“I knew @vickigunvalson was dying because her boyfriend Mike Smith called me and told me she was dying. Sorry @michaelsmith0522 told me not to say anything!!” Dodd captioned a photo of her and Gunvalson on Instagram on Monday, August 26. “So I didn't say anything to anyone!! See, secrets can be kept! I just spoke to my friend @vickigunvalson and she is surviving! I love you Vicki and I'm praying for a speedy recovery.”
Followers were quick to voice their concerns and words of encouragement for the Coto Insurance founder in the comments section of Dodd's post.
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“So scary. I'm so glad she's ok,” wrote one Instagram user, while another commented: “Oh my goodness this is not real. I hope she's ok. I've met her and she's full of love and joy. Get better Vicky.”
Gunvalson reflected on her recent health scare on her August 26 episode of her podcast, “My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast,” where she spoke about her experience while accompanied by her boyfriend, Michael Smith.
“I kind of had memory loss and there's a lot of time that's been lost in my life,” she explained, recalling that she went to the salon earlier this month “like any other time.” “I just kind of lost like an hour or two, and I don't know where I was,” she said. Gunvalson told listeners that after she returned to her office, a client (who happened to be a retired emergency physician) realized something was wrong because she was “talking gibberish” and “writing gibberish emails.”
“He got up and told[Michael's daughter]Olivia that I might have had a stroke, but we didn't know,” Gunvalson continued. “I don't remember anything, and[Olivia]took me to the hospital.”
The Bravo personality said Gunvalson was misdiagnosed with a sinus infection before she was released from the hospital that night. Smith noted that Gunvalson had had a sinus infection a few weeks prior that felt “different,” that “lasted longer” than usual and that it had a negative impact on her overall health.
Smith was out of state when Gunvalson's symptoms began. He received a call from his daughter telling him to come home and found Gunvalson “nearly unconscious” while she was bathing. He put her to bed, explaining that her doctor, who had referred to a sinus infection diagnosis, had told her she needed to get some sleep. After “13, 14 hours” of continuous sleep, Gunvalson woke up unconscious, and Smith, concerned she was having a stroke, took her to the hospital.
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“She had a severe infection,” Smith explained, “It was actually sepsis, but it was pneumonia. What happened was, I'm not a doctor, but as they explained it, when your body is fighting an infection that severe and dangerous, your whole body attacks it, which affects your brain and other parts of your body, because your body is doing everything it can to fight it.”
Though it's been a long road to recovery, Gunvalson is on the mend, and Smith assured fans that she's “getting better” thanks to her friends and loved ones.
“She's OK,” he said. “She's growing out of it.”
