Debbie Lehman Medical Expenses
Donation protected
Debbie's Journey started May 2015 when she was diagnosed with sarcoma in her left knee. She had surgery to have it removed and shortly after started local radiation. She went back in every 3 months for scans and at her 1 year check up they found a spot in her lung. This area was watched every 3 months for 1 year and it has continued to get bigger. A biopsy was scheduled for this June to find out what it is.
In January 2017 she had a fem to fem bipass to help the blood circulation from her right leg to her left leg where they removed the sarcoma. She was off work for 7 weeks.
The last week of April 2017 Debbie was taken to the hospital for severe pain and the Dr.'s found out she had a hole in the artery where they did the bipass surgery back in January which caused a blood leak, with further testing the hole was caused by a staph infection. They repaired the area and cleaned the wound out. She spent a total of 16 days in the hospital with a portion of it in ICU. She was sent home with a wound vac and IV meds that she had to administer to herself three times a day. Home care was set up as well to come in a couple times a week to change out the wound vac.
Just when she was getting settled in and into a routine just 4 short days later Debbie was rushed back to the hospital by ambulance for a good amount of blood loss from the same area to find out the repair had failed and was given a blood transfusion to help with the amount of blood loss she endured. She spent 4 days in ICU before being transferred by ambulance to a hospital in Indy where she is currently in ICU.
The scans show she does have fluid build up in her abdomen. She is scheduled later this week to again repair the fem to fem bipass, clean and flush the wound. If all looks well they will do a muscle flap. If the area looks bad from the infection they will clean the infection and then close that bipass down and do a Clavicle bipass on both sides down to both of her legs. Prayers that all goes well and she does not need the Clavicle bipass surgery done. If all goes well with this surgery then a few days later they will go in and do the lung biopsy as planned. Hopefully this is benign and no further action is needed. She will be in Indy in ICU until further planned.
Update: Debbie's surgery went well to fix the fem to fem bipass surgery site. She was sent home on 5-30-17. She does have another wound vac in place. It is schedule to removed 6-16-17. Her lung biospy has been put on hold until further notice so she can have time to recover and gain strength back from being in the hospital the past 30 days.
Debbie is very humble and would never ask any of us for help when it comes to finances but we know the hospital bills are adding up and even though it's not said we know she is probably worrying about it. She has only been able to work a little less than 2 months so far this year and has already used all of her sick,vacation, and medical time off. As of right now the way things are looking she may not be able to go back to work. We have decided to set up an account to help her out so she doesn't have to worry about not being able to work and she can focus on getting well for herself and for all of us here. As you can imagine her medical bills are rising on top of everyday expenses, and transportation to and from Indianapolis for dr appointments. The funds will go towards helping medical costs, rent, electric, and day to day bills.
We have not set our goal very high as we don't want to seem we are asking a lot of everyone but any little bit helps and will put her mind at ease and she will be forever grateful. If we go over our goal that is Awesome!! We understand not everyone will be able to make a monetary donation but your well wishes, good thoughts, and prayers are much appreciated!
Lets give her hope, courage, and strength to kick this in the butt!!
Thank you, Love you all and God Bless.
In January 2017 she had a fem to fem bipass to help the blood circulation from her right leg to her left leg where they removed the sarcoma. She was off work for 7 weeks.
The last week of April 2017 Debbie was taken to the hospital for severe pain and the Dr.'s found out she had a hole in the artery where they did the bipass surgery back in January which caused a blood leak, with further testing the hole was caused by a staph infection. They repaired the area and cleaned the wound out. She spent a total of 16 days in the hospital with a portion of it in ICU. She was sent home with a wound vac and IV meds that she had to administer to herself three times a day. Home care was set up as well to come in a couple times a week to change out the wound vac.
Just when she was getting settled in and into a routine just 4 short days later Debbie was rushed back to the hospital by ambulance for a good amount of blood loss from the same area to find out the repair had failed and was given a blood transfusion to help with the amount of blood loss she endured. She spent 4 days in ICU before being transferred by ambulance to a hospital in Indy where she is currently in ICU.
The scans show she does have fluid build up in her abdomen. She is scheduled later this week to again repair the fem to fem bipass, clean and flush the wound. If all looks well they will do a muscle flap. If the area looks bad from the infection they will clean the infection and then close that bipass down and do a Clavicle bipass on both sides down to both of her legs. Prayers that all goes well and she does not need the Clavicle bipass surgery done. If all goes well with this surgery then a few days later they will go in and do the lung biopsy as planned. Hopefully this is benign and no further action is needed. She will be in Indy in ICU until further planned.
Update: Debbie's surgery went well to fix the fem to fem bipass surgery site. She was sent home on 5-30-17. She does have another wound vac in place. It is schedule to removed 6-16-17. Her lung biospy has been put on hold until further notice so she can have time to recover and gain strength back from being in the hospital the past 30 days.
Debbie is very humble and would never ask any of us for help when it comes to finances but we know the hospital bills are adding up and even though it's not said we know she is probably worrying about it. She has only been able to work a little less than 2 months so far this year and has already used all of her sick,vacation, and medical time off. As of right now the way things are looking she may not be able to go back to work. We have decided to set up an account to help her out so she doesn't have to worry about not being able to work and she can focus on getting well for herself and for all of us here. As you can imagine her medical bills are rising on top of everyday expenses, and transportation to and from Indianapolis for dr appointments. The funds will go towards helping medical costs, rent, electric, and day to day bills.
We have not set our goal very high as we don't want to seem we are asking a lot of everyone but any little bit helps and will put her mind at ease and she will be forever grateful. If we go over our goal that is Awesome!! We understand not everyone will be able to make a monetary donation but your well wishes, good thoughts, and prayers are much appreciated!
Lets give her hope, courage, and strength to kick this in the butt!!
Thank you, Love you all and God Bless.
Organizer
Allison Kuchenbrod-Lehman
Organizer
Ellsworth, IL
