Emergency Medical Expenses
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I am Steve Corey and this is my wife of 41 years, Cheryl Corey. If you know us, you know how humbling it is for us to ask for help. Cheryl has recently experienced a near-death health struggle and friends of ours have urged us to start a GoFundMe page. We found out how fragile life is when Cheryl had this health emergency. On March 28th, she had her 2nd total knee replacement surgery at Olmsted Medical Joint Replacement Center in Rochester. She was home after 3 days, and all seemed to be going well. On her 5th day post-op, she awoke in the middle of the night on April 2nd in a lot of pain. She said her leg hurt badly, she was throwing up blood, and she said it felt like an elephant was on her chest. When I saw her chest pain and pale-ness, I immediately called an ambulance. She was taken to Austin Mayo Health Center where they worked on her here for a few hours. Her heart rate at that point was 187 (normal is 80-100), so a CAT scan and other tests were ordered. The doctors there determined that Cheryl had a "submassive" pulmonary embolism (blood clot) in her lungs, as well as DVT (deep vein thrombosis), and was now in Atrial Fibrillation. She was placed on advanced life support and prepared for an ambulance ride to St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester. This was a first for her and the beginning of a whole new terrifying experience for both of us. She said she knew she was in trouble when she was met by an 11 member team of doctors there. I arrived shortly after. They determined in Cardiac ICU via ultrasound that she also had some emboli (clots) in her surgical leg. She was asked if she understood the severity of her situation. Myself and other family members were told that most patients do not survive the type of cardiac event she was having. Due to the clot in her lungs, her heart could not adequately pump blood around it, causing the A-Fib. She is still here, thanks to God! She spent 5 days in Cardiac ICU and then 4 more days in step-down ICU. She continued experiencing these very painful episodes for the first six days of her stay, until the medical team was able to bring things under control. She had IV's in both arms, was hooked to a heart monitor, and alarms went off each time she had another episode. The doctors at St. Mary's were phenomenal with her, kept her calm and answered all our questions. We are so lucky to be so near the best medical care ever. She was able to come home 2 weeks ago now, and she says daily that she is grateful to be alive! I told her that her work here is not done yet! Because of the clots in her surgical leg, they had kept it wrapped and in an immobilizer all that time, so there was very little movement and nothing was able to be done for rehabbing of her knee. She came home on various heart medications, pain meds, and Coumadin blood thinner. She will need to be on Coumadin for a full year, to hopefully prevent any more risk. In a few weeks, her new internist will fit her with a holter monitor to see if her heart has returned to the normal rhythm. While hospitalized, her hemoglobin dropped dangerously low, and other complications arose. Now that she is home, she is seeing some improvement but we see how weak she still is. She needs to get physical therapy going for her surgical knee, because she/we do not want the surgery to have been for nothing. The Mayo therapists were hesitant to work with her, due to her increased risk for stroke or more clots. We did find a wonderful Christian young man as her Physical Therapist, and he is working with her now toward her recovery, while being mindful that she not over do. "Work, but not too hard." There is a short window to regain mobility with replaced joints. The PT, the INR appointments, the internist and surgeon appointments will all be ongoing for now. Even when she is able to return to work, she will be monitored.
Our new medical bills are overwhelming. With the meds, the appts., long term monitoring, they will continue to rise. Just a room in ICU costs well over $5,000 daily! Added to those costs, neither of us are able to work right now. Cheryl is on Family Medical Leave for a minimum of 12 weeks. I was also granted FMLA at my job for as long as she needs me, up to the 12 weeks. Neither of us have paychecks coming in right now, which adds to the hardship. I am glad I can be her caregiver, and she says she could not do this alone. She thanks me daily! She at first needed help just getting into/out of bed, dressing, and daily living. I am doing the cooking, laundry, shopping and getting her to all of her appointments, as well as making sure she gets the right medicines at the right times. God is good for allowing her to be home, and for me to be off work to help her.
We would not -EVER - ask if it were not needed. We never anticipated these post-op complications or the extra costs we would be having. We do have healthcare insurance, but with the totals mounting, even our portion is above and beyond our means. Whether we know you well, or you just happened to stop by this page, if you are willing and able to help out, and if God is prompting you to do so, we would forever appreciate it. We value your friendships most of all. Thanks to everyone who has sent cards, flowers, meals, calls or has been supporting us through prayer already. We ask for prayers to continue. "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God". Corrie Ten Boom
"Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks".
Philippians 4:6
Lastly, our good friend and local author Kiersten Hall has graciously offered to help us raise money, by donating 20 copies of her fun book - "I Do -- 15 Years of True Stories From a Wedding Videographer". Cheryl has read it and wrote an Amazon review, if you would like to check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/Years-True-Stories-Wedding-Videographer/dp/1512282286/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462044667&sr=1-1&keywords=kiersten+hall
Kiersten is offering you a free, autographed copy of her new book ($19.99 value) to the first 20 kind persons who donate $50.00 to help us out! Thanks Kiersten, we so appreciate it! If you would like to receive your free copy, donate $50 or more here in the next 30 days, and email us at [email redacted] with your contact info: phone # and where to send your free book, or add that to the comments section.
We are beyond grateful for any help you can provide. Thanks for reading and thanks for being there for us!
Being able to breathe in and breathe out easily is a privilege we won't ever again take for granted.
Steve and Cheryl Corey
Our new medical bills are overwhelming. With the meds, the appts., long term monitoring, they will continue to rise. Just a room in ICU costs well over $5,000 daily! Added to those costs, neither of us are able to work right now. Cheryl is on Family Medical Leave for a minimum of 12 weeks. I was also granted FMLA at my job for as long as she needs me, up to the 12 weeks. Neither of us have paychecks coming in right now, which adds to the hardship. I am glad I can be her caregiver, and she says she could not do this alone. She thanks me daily! She at first needed help just getting into/out of bed, dressing, and daily living. I am doing the cooking, laundry, shopping and getting her to all of her appointments, as well as making sure she gets the right medicines at the right times. God is good for allowing her to be home, and for me to be off work to help her.
We would not -EVER - ask if it were not needed. We never anticipated these post-op complications or the extra costs we would be having. We do have healthcare insurance, but with the totals mounting, even our portion is above and beyond our means. Whether we know you well, or you just happened to stop by this page, if you are willing and able to help out, and if God is prompting you to do so, we would forever appreciate it. We value your friendships most of all. Thanks to everyone who has sent cards, flowers, meals, calls or has been supporting us through prayer already. We ask for prayers to continue. "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God". Corrie Ten Boom
"Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks".
Philippians 4:6
Lastly, our good friend and local author Kiersten Hall has graciously offered to help us raise money, by donating 20 copies of her fun book - "I Do -- 15 Years of True Stories From a Wedding Videographer". Cheryl has read it and wrote an Amazon review, if you would like to check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/Years-True-Stories-Wedding-Videographer/dp/1512282286/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462044667&sr=1-1&keywords=kiersten+hall
Kiersten is offering you a free, autographed copy of her new book ($19.99 value) to the first 20 kind persons who donate $50.00 to help us out! Thanks Kiersten, we so appreciate it! If you would like to receive your free copy, donate $50 or more here in the next 30 days, and email us at [email redacted] with your contact info: phone # and where to send your free book, or add that to the comments section.
We are beyond grateful for any help you can provide. Thanks for reading and thanks for being there for us!
Being able to breathe in and breathe out easily is a privilege we won't ever again take for granted.
Steve and Cheryl Corey
Organizer
Cheryl Corey
Organizer
Austin, MN
