Alexis’s Surgery

For those of us who know Alexis
(she’s my sister in law) we have all been blessed by her amazingly generous, kind, humorous, and servant heart.  She was scheduled to have brain surgery this April, but it has been postponed due to corona virus.  (See her story below)

As you can imagine the health care expenses for this procedure are not small! 

My goal is to raise $10000 by June 1 to cover most of her out-of-pocket costs for her surgery and further recovery/ rehab appointments in 2020.  that would take 

- 100 people giving $100 now
- 100 people giving $50 for 2 months 
- 100 people giving $33 for 3 months 
- 100 people giving $25 for 4 months 

Every gift in any amount helps! Would you join us in blessing our friend so she can focus on recovery without the extra burden?

Please pass along to those who know and love Alexis.  Thank you!

READ ALEXIS’ STORY BELOW:

Here's the Cyst-uation

I have a cyst on my pituitary gland. Good news first: it's benign, it's relatively small, and surgical removal is usually successful. Now the not-so-good news: it's causing problems but I can't have surgery yet because #covid19. And the longer I wait, the lower the success rate and the higher the risks. So...that's not great.

Why is surgery necessary, you might ask? After all, it's a tiny little cyst on my tiny little pituitary gland! How much harm could it cause? Well...

-the cyst is entwined with my pituitary and as it grows, it will only get more difficult to remove without taking my pituitary gland with it.
-it's causing various hormones to over/under-produce and throwing my body all out of whack. 
-the cyst could grow and displace my optic nerve, causing permanent vision loss. Oy.

So after waiting on pins and needles to see if the cyst grows, I'll check in to the hospital on June 2 - assuming quarantine is over by then, of course. I'll have transsphenoidal surgery (see illustration) and a surprise nose job (the ENT informed me I have a deviated septum which he'll fix as he breaks through my sinuses to give the neurosurgeon access to the cyst - crazy!). I'll spend a few days racking up hospital bills to add to my stack of specialists' bills, then I'll be unable to work for 8 weeks because I'll be at home recovering. Talk about boring (come visit?!).

If you have questions, feel free to ask. If you're wondering what I need, it's mainly prayer and connection (digitally, that is - darn quarantine!), as well as financial contributions if you're feeling generous - having a health problem and being a single person working in education and ministry = not a lot of wiggle room in the budget. If you know of someone who's made it through a similar cyst-uation or if you have wisdom for how to wait without giving in to fear, please share! Thanks for caring. Sending you virtual hugs and well wishes.

Alexis