Alexander Timm Medical Expenses

Story

Meet Alex on his 6th birthday. He has had headaches, leg weakness and overall just has never felt well. Was less active than most kids and would just play by himself most of the time. We kept asking the doctor what could be wrong, running test after test with all the results normal. Finally we went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota to get him checked out. He met with many different doctors. Went through a sleep study where we determined he has restless leg syndrome, an endoscopy which was normal, blood work showing low iron, and a MRI. We met with the Neurologist where we finally learned what was wrong. When she said it showed on the brain MRI I was terrified. She explained that he has a Chiari I Malformation. His brain did not round off at the bottom and therefore is protruding down in to the spinal column which greatly limits the spinal fluid flow. This was the cause of his symptoms. At age 6, we now had to decide if we were going to proceed with brain surgery, or just leave him with his aches and pains, but know he was ok. We met with the neurosurgeon and he suggested the surgery. They scheduled the Chiari decompression for October 16, 2013. He had a suboccipital craniectomy, C1 laminectomy, and duraplasty. Surgery went without complications. One major side effect was the nausea, we could not get that under control. The anesthesia coupled with the location in the brain creates a heightened feeling of nausea. The few days in the hospital were very difficult to watch, he looked so miserable. I was very scared and not feeling sure that we had done the right thing. We went home on the 19th and he rested for a week. Alex went back to school, and on the 30th I got a call from daycare saying the back of his neck was wet. Jeff picked him up and we took him to the hospital where we met his pediatrician. There it was confirmed that he had a spinal fluid leak. Again, terror set in. We drove to Mayo to go to the Emergency Room that night and he was admitted for observation. The next morning was Halloween. The hospital has a parade for the kids and I had remembered to bring his costume with.In the middle of the trick or treat parade the nurse came and took Alex up for surgery. The doctors opened him up and found a suture had come undone in the fluid bag (described to me like stitching up a balloon filled with water). They fixed the leak and closed him back up. Recovering this time was much faster. We went home the next day.As you can imagine, these surgeries were very expensive and we are still paying these bills. Alex has had tubes in his ears multiple times, his adenoids removed, and recently had to have his tubes removed from his ears as one had fallen behind his eardrum and then the eardrum closed over. Six weeks out from that surgery he aleady has had another ear infection and may end up having to get the tubes put back in. Alex has just not caught a break with his health. He has a scar on his knee from a mastocytoma which was removed when he was 3 months old. He developed a hamartoma on his ankle when he was 5.This would get red and warm and painful at times and then would go away. It continued to grow faster than he grew. We ended up back at the Mayo Clinic when he was 7 to see the dermatologist. They suggested removal as it would continue to grow and be painful for him. This would require a skin graft as the area being removed was so large. We proceeded and it was in two surgeries. One to remove the hamartoma and place a synthetic covering, then go back in two weeks to take the skin graft from his leg and place on his ankle. He was in a cast for a few weeks for it to heal.This first cast he felt was too tight, so they removed it and gave him a green cast.After we went home for two weeks, we came back for the graft procedure and a new cast. This time we picked orange for Halloween. He was given a boot and crutches. After two weeks the cast came off. This was right after the cast and was very tender at first. It has healed well. Almost a year later the graft donor site on his leg has healed so well you can barely see the rectangle. His ankle still is discolored, but continues to heal.Alex is 9 years old now and has had 10 surgeries. I am happy to report that he is happy and after the brain surgery is more active and feels better. His ankle is no longer bothering him, so we hope that the hamartoma does not grow back and that the surgery got all of it.We see the ENT doctor next week to determine if he will need tubes yet again. We have been paying medical bills for the last few years and seem to continue to get more. The rest of our family has had surgeries during this time as well. We have been struggling to maintain our modest lifestyle and it has been weighing on us a lot lately. Jeff has been working two jobs for 10 years and it seems we cannot catch a break. We are asking for help to pay off the medical bills so we can move forward without this debt hanging over us. It was a difficult decision to create this page as we know others also have their struggles. Jeff and I are working together to get a plan for our future and for the boys and would be so thankful to finally be able to just move ahead. Please pray for Alex and our family as we still have some trials ahead. If you feel like you would like to contribute, thank you. Thank you for reading our story.Jeff and Valerie TimmHere is Alex enjoying the snow. He loves winter!