Stacy Medinger's Healing Journey

3/26/25

We finally have the best news- Stacy will be going home on 3/28/25!!!!!!!! This has been the goal for SO long. We are so happy! She still has a road to recovery ahead but we are grateful it will be in Dubuque close to family, friends, coworkers and a community who has been and will be so supportive!

2/11/25

Stacy is doing well overall. She is getting great care and PT and OT are helping her regain strength and perform functions that we all take for granted.

We appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes!

Here is a pic of her in her new room with some freshly painted nails!

2/2/25

Stacy was moved to Davenport, IA to the Select Specialty Hospital of the Genesis Hospital (3rd floor) over the weekend and is settling in well. She is meeting her new care teams: occupational and physical therapy, her staples from the hernia surgery were removed, and she has a new wound vac on the large area in back. She is optimistic that she will continue to improve and will hopefully be able to go home in the next 3-4 weeks.

1/31/25

Sorry for the delay- the past couple of weeks have been a blur.

Stacy has been getting barometric chamber treatment and also has a wound vac in one area, both to help with healing. She is in good spirits!

1/19/25

Stacy had another debridement (cleaning of the wound area) on Wednesday 1/15/25. It went well. She has started treatment in a hyperbaric chamber once a day since then to promote healing, in addition to continuing short assisted walks to the nurses station and other OT/PT.

Her spirits are good and she is so appreciative of your outpour of love, support, words of encouragement, donations, texts to her and to her/our family.

On that note, we were so touched by the support of Cedar Rapids Jefferson at Drakes basketball game on Friday 1/17/25. They found out that Stacy was in the hospital and decided to wear pink shoelaces to support her. #tears Check it out on my or Rod's Facebook page.

Tuesday she is scheduled for reconstructive surgery to close the wound. Please send the big prayers and positive vibes!!

1/11/25

My name is Jennifer Swanton and Stacy Medinger is my sister. Stacy literally helped to save my life when I was 15 years old and diagnosed with leukemia at a routine sports physical; she was a perfect match as my bone marrow donor while I was treated at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinic.

Now the tables have turned. Stacy is fighting for her livelihood at the same hospital due to an infection that occurred after a routine surgery.

I will share a little backstory. I live in Phoenix, AZ yet this began when I was home over Halloween in 2024. Stacy was not feeling well and was taken to the ER by our mother when her BP (blood pressure) was extremely low. Medical staff determined that she needed more specific care based on some test results and transferred her to Iowa City. After some add'l tests they determined that her long-term hernia on her stomach could be addressed at a follow up appointment. That appointment was scheduled for 12/23/24.

In the meantime, Stacy dealt with not feeling well and multiple doctor appointments.

We celebrated Christmas on 12/21/24 and it was obvious that Stacy was not feeling well at all. But per usual she was humble and patient despite not being able to ingest food and liquids for a period of time.

On 12/23/24 we drove to Iowa City for her scheduled appointment. Once again her BP and other stats were not normal and the medical staff decided to admit her to the hospital. On 12/26/24 Stacy had surgery to repair her hernia in addition to part of her small intestine. The surgery went well (47 staples later) but she had a sore on her backside that was bothering her quite a bit (yet it was not addressed by medical staff). She was released from the hospital on 12/31/24 to recover.

Stacy continued to struggle with keeping food in and therefore her blood pressure at a normal level. The sore on her backside was giving her more pain than the actual surgery area.

Next thing we knew she was then airlifted from the Dubuque hospital to Iowa City. And then in an emergency surgery for 6 hours throughout the night to remove tissue that was infected and spreading from the sore. I am not going to lie, it was a scary night into the early morning hours as we waited anxiously. The surgeon said Stacy did well but that the necrotizing fasciitis (tissue eating bacteria) could continue to spread and if so the only answer is surgery to remove it.

She was in the ICU until Thursday 1/9/25 and is currently in the Burn Unit to treat her open wound. It is likely that she will need multiple surgeries to include debridement and skins grafts. It is very hard to explain the extremity of her condition- the best way to describe what they did in surgery was like a shark got a bite out of her. And it is an open wound packed with gauze. We don't know what her prognosis is but that it will be a long, difficult road ahead.

We thank you so very much for all of your prayers, texts, calls, emails and all other forms of support you have provided to Stacy and our family. If you know my sister, you know that she is very humble and private, and that sharing all of this is beyond her comfort zone-yet she consented knowing how serious this is and due to your outpouring of care. We will do our best to keep you updated here. Thank you in advance for any financial support you can offer to help her during this already stressful and painful time. We appreciate it more than you know.