Please Help Hurt Teacher/Mom Jess

My wife Jessica and I are both teachers in Virginia. We have four children age range 3-22. About eight years ago my wife hurt her back and over the course of those years she sought out all the traditional and recommended treatments but no relief was found. Seeking laser back surgery relief, my family left Virginia and went down to Florida on May 30th, 2017. This year was the worst pain so far and my wife had to take many sick days to deal with the pain. Thus it was an easy decision to try and alleviate her pain by seeking out laser surgery which is less invasive and has a quicker recovery rate. This was considered a good plan as we could start summer vacation, have the surgery, recover, and still have a little summer left to relax. The first surgery seemed to go fine but after a week of her recovery she had headaches and pain surging in her back and leg. She then had two more surgeries trying to stop the pain by re-exploring and to remove any bone chip fragments that may be pressing on the nerves. Next came a surgery that we had been told from the beginning may be necessary to repair a second damaged part of her spine. Increased pain and worsening headaches followed. She had an emergency wash out procedures of the wound performed and a lot of internal infection was discovered. A culture was taken and it was discovered that she had bacterial Pseudomonas meningitis. She was then hospitalized. She was then released from the hospital, had another wash out surgery procedure and was then hospitalized again. When she was released and continued with picc line infusions three times a day for eight weeks. During this time it was discovered that she had a dural sac spinal fluid leak which had been leaking since the first surgery. This was stitched up and later a surgery for a nerve ablation was performed. This has been an absolute nightmare for our family. Our teaching jobs started on July 31st. I ran out of sick days to take so I had to leave her and my three year old with relatives in Florida. I had to bring my fifteen year old back to Virginia so that she could get back in school as she already had missed eight days. It is an 11 hour drive but I went back on weekends to see my wife and three year old then travel back for work. When hurricane Irma came in the area people were ordered to evacuate. The doctors agreed to allow her to leave Florida for continued treatment in Virginia. Currently she is testing clear of the infection but is still recovering slowly. Physical therapy is not as frequent as needed due to limitations on insurance allowed coverage. She has recently been diagnosed with spinal Arachnoiditis. Her movement is limited to walker and wheelchair. She is working on exercises at home to help build up strength and mobility with hopes of moving to a cane for assistance. The hospital stays, labs, extended Florida stay and loss of her paycheck has financial devastated us as well as being emotional devastated. We were living paycheck to paycheck before but now I do not know what to expect. Half of my paycheck goes to cover the family medical benefits. Leaving me very little ($1552 monthly) in my take home pay. Jessica is following doctor’s orders but hates being so slow in the healing process. We are begging that she is nearing the end of this nightmare. I am in despair seeing her in such pain and emotional distress. I am trying to remain strong for her and the family but I am beginning to become overwhelmed by her pain, mental health and the finances. Everyone’s help and kindness has been extremely helpful. It makes think that I'm living part of the movie "It's A Wonderful Life". Thank you and God Bless you all for the help. I will continue to update as time allows. Please help me to spread her story through any media or social media means She is a great Mom/Teacher/Wife and I am trying my best to help her. Thank you most sincerely for taking the time to read her story, Sincerely, Joe Foisy The Foisy Family: Jessica Foisy, Joe Foisy, Nichelle Foisy, Jonah Foisy, Arianna Foisy, and John-Paul Foisy