It’s with great humility that I come to you all in seek of help. For those of you who might not already know. Catie has been overcome by a very unfortunate series of circumstances.
Where to begin. On Monday June 25th Catie went to the ER with some sharp pains to her abdomen. The Doctor recommended she have an ultra sound, CT scan and some blood work done. Through his findings he realized that Catie had some gall stones and that was the reasoning behind her sharp pains. The Doctor then advised us to reach out to our PCP for a secondary opinion. After visiting our Family Physician he told us what we already pretty much suspected. That Catie would need to get her gall bladder removed.
Our Doctor referred us to a surgeon for the gall bladder removal procedure. The Surgeon went in and removed Catie’s gall bladder on Thursday June 28th. From what he explained to us, the procedure was a very minimally invasive surgery. She was in and out on that same day.
Everything seemed fine the next day. Just the post surgery pains and aches that were expected. Saturday June 30th is when the real nightmare started. Early that morning Catie started having some indescribable pain in her abdomen once again. Such incredible pain that it brought her to her knees. And for those of you that know Catie well, you know that she is hands down one of the strongest women I know. We once again ended up at the ER at Harris Methodist of Richardson. Where the Doctor on duty went ahead and admitted Catie for further evaluation. After yet again another CT scan. The Doctors found out that she had an obstruction in her bile duct below her liver and next to where her gall bladder once lived. Whether or not the stones made their way to her bile duct as a result of the gall bladder removal or not is yet to be seen. Regardless, Catie now had bile backing it’s way back in to her liver and causing incredible pain once again. At this point they began to poke and prod Catie in every way imaginable to administer fluids, antibiotics and pain medication.
They scheduled Catie to have another surgery for Monday July 2nd. A surgery to apparently clear the stones in her bile duct. Unfortunately a side effect from the dye administered to locate the stones was the possibility of developing Pancreatitis. The Doctor assured us that there was really only a 10% chance of Catie developing Pancreatitis, so we seemed optimistic. As luck may have it, on Tuesday July 3rd Catie’s pancreas began to become enflamed. The Doctor said he would keep a close eye on her progress and that if she did not show any improvement that they would have to explore other alternatives.
The 4th of July. Well Catie started feeling better that day. Levels in the pancreas started decreasing and the pain started to secede. Everything was on the up and up and we felt as though there was a light at the end of the tunnel. We even snuck up to to 4th floor to see if we could catch the fireworks in the distance.
Later in the early hours of Thursday the 5th. Catie began to have excruciating pain once again which lasted between 2-6 in the morning. The nurses called the Doctor to inform him of the situation. He said another CT scan was imminent. Catie went in for now her 3rd CT scan around 2 o’clock only to find out that there was some sort of bile leaking from somewhere and an abscess as well. They did a HIDA scan on Friday the 6th to try to find the leak. They found the leak in her bile duct and had to go in for yet again another surgery around 5 o’clock. A stent was implanted to redirect the bile to her intestine.
Lastly, Catie will most likely be requiring a 4th and final surgery to wash up all the bile that leaked into her system. With fingers crossed hopefully this will be the end of this nightmare. However now we deal with the aftermath of all this. Which is the ridiculous amount of bills for all these procedures and over a weeks stay at the hospital. All this coming only 3 months after the birth of our son. So I come to you all in search of help for our family. Any little bit helps. Thank you
Where to begin. On Monday June 25th Catie went to the ER with some sharp pains to her abdomen. The Doctor recommended she have an ultra sound, CT scan and some blood work done. Through his findings he realized that Catie had some gall stones and that was the reasoning behind her sharp pains. The Doctor then advised us to reach out to our PCP for a secondary opinion. After visiting our Family Physician he told us what we already pretty much suspected. That Catie would need to get her gall bladder removed.
Our Doctor referred us to a surgeon for the gall bladder removal procedure. The Surgeon went in and removed Catie’s gall bladder on Thursday June 28th. From what he explained to us, the procedure was a very minimally invasive surgery. She was in and out on that same day.
Everything seemed fine the next day. Just the post surgery pains and aches that were expected. Saturday June 30th is when the real nightmare started. Early that morning Catie started having some indescribable pain in her abdomen once again. Such incredible pain that it brought her to her knees. And for those of you that know Catie well, you know that she is hands down one of the strongest women I know. We once again ended up at the ER at Harris Methodist of Richardson. Where the Doctor on duty went ahead and admitted Catie for further evaluation. After yet again another CT scan. The Doctors found out that she had an obstruction in her bile duct below her liver and next to where her gall bladder once lived. Whether or not the stones made their way to her bile duct as a result of the gall bladder removal or not is yet to be seen. Regardless, Catie now had bile backing it’s way back in to her liver and causing incredible pain once again. At this point they began to poke and prod Catie in every way imaginable to administer fluids, antibiotics and pain medication.
They scheduled Catie to have another surgery for Monday July 2nd. A surgery to apparently clear the stones in her bile duct. Unfortunately a side effect from the dye administered to locate the stones was the possibility of developing Pancreatitis. The Doctor assured us that there was really only a 10% chance of Catie developing Pancreatitis, so we seemed optimistic. As luck may have it, on Tuesday July 3rd Catie’s pancreas began to become enflamed. The Doctor said he would keep a close eye on her progress and that if she did not show any improvement that they would have to explore other alternatives.
The 4th of July. Well Catie started feeling better that day. Levels in the pancreas started decreasing and the pain started to secede. Everything was on the up and up and we felt as though there was a light at the end of the tunnel. We even snuck up to to 4th floor to see if we could catch the fireworks in the distance.
Later in the early hours of Thursday the 5th. Catie began to have excruciating pain once again which lasted between 2-6 in the morning. The nurses called the Doctor to inform him of the situation. He said another CT scan was imminent. Catie went in for now her 3rd CT scan around 2 o’clock only to find out that there was some sort of bile leaking from somewhere and an abscess as well. They did a HIDA scan on Friday the 6th to try to find the leak. They found the leak in her bile duct and had to go in for yet again another surgery around 5 o’clock. A stent was implanted to redirect the bile to her intestine.
Lastly, Catie will most likely be requiring a 4th and final surgery to wash up all the bile that leaked into her system. With fingers crossed hopefully this will be the end of this nightmare. However now we deal with the aftermath of all this. Which is the ridiculous amount of bills for all these procedures and over a weeks stay at the hospital. All this coming only 3 months after the birth of our son. So I come to you all in search of help for our family. Any little bit helps. Thank you