Crystal Mae's Rehabilitation, Surgery, & Recovery

My connective tissue disease causes a lot of issues in my ligaments, including the ligaments holding my organs in place. We thought the true medical battle was to begin after my multi-team major surgery to put my organs back into place and take out damaged tissue after the first surgery had come undone, but after it being canceled twice due to Covid-19 we now face new challenges.   A lot of my care was put on hold waiting for surgery, but unfortunately waiting has caused complications, one being high abdominal pressure that makes me very sick. I recently redid my autonomic and cardiovascular testing that showed I am getting very weak.  I will now have to climb a mountain just to get strong enough for surgery. I will now need to do a 3 week program in Rochester to hopefully get strong enough. Mitch has already used up most of his paid leave for important appointments, procedures, and to care for me directly as I've gotten worse. He now needs to return to work full time in order to have enough FMLA for my surgery, and it's 6-8 week recovery. There is no promise of most of my symptoms getting better after the operation, and they believe that surgery will make the pain worse with all of the mesh needed. We are being told that surgery is going to be just a small step in this journey, but this one step keeps getting bigger and bigger. We will be needing to hire help in order for my medical care to continue.  Any donations will go towards out of pocket prescription costs, transportation/gas to and from Rochester Mayo, room and board during my 3 weeks of treatment (I was accepted into a home for patients with prolonged stays, but the cost still adds up to be a lot), home health care, medical supplies, childcare, bills if Mitch needs extended unpaid leave, and medical bills. I reluctantly and without expectation set the goal to just over what we owe in medical bills, but any amount will help us during these times immensely. Please know that as we social distance for both risk of complications and to continue medical care, that we love you all and miss you so very much. Mitch and I know these are hard times for so many reasons, and have no expectations of our loved ones. Please stay safe, and find joy in every moment you can.