Help Emily Recover From TOS Surgery
First of all, I want to say that I know everyone has so much going on right now and I know that there are a lot of people struggling with so many different things; especially while we continue to navigate a global pandemic. At the same time, my sister, Emily Jurovic, has continued to struggle with chronic and often debilitating pain and health issues. At the young age of 31, it's absolutely disheartening to see her struggle to maintain even a "normal" life because of this, and to have been on this health journey with her for over the last 15 years with no relief or real answers has been crushing.
Emily's health journey has included brain surgery in 2012, being diagnosed with Dysautonomia in 2014, countless numbers of doctor appointments, various medications, referrals to a ridiculous amount of specialists including neurologists at the headache clinic, the pain clinic, cardiologists, physical therapists, etc. and even a two week extensive stay at the Mayo clinic in 2019. All of these things still left her still with chronic migraines, intense pain, and a whole slew of other issues, in addition to thousands of dollars in medical bills, including a $15,000 bill from the Mayo clinic alone that she is still working on paying off.
Thankfully, in 2020, UW Hospital was able to finally find what was wrong and diagnosed Emily with a condition called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS). TOS occurs when certain blood vessels and/or nerves are compressed between the collarbone and ribs. In Emily’s case, she has all 3 types of TOS meaning her nerves, arteries, and veins are all compressed in this area, and this condition is effecting both her left and right sides (bilateral). It is rare to see all 3 types together, and combined with this being bilateral, makes this condition absolutely unbearable. The first step was more medications and physical therapy but this made her condition worse and unfortunately surgery was the only answer.
The reason for this ask today, is that Emily's first surgery date was June 22 in which they removed the left anterior scalene muscle, a compressed vein that was wrapping around her nerves, and an inflamed lymph node. Emily is currently recovering at home and only able to collect a portion of her lost income through Short Term Medical Disability, and she still has her hospital bills to pay. She also received a donation of 56 hours of vacation time from an amazing co-worker which would have helped so much; however, this donation was denied by her employer because of red tape, so now the income that she was counting on from this is no longer an option. She also needs a second surgery on her right side, but we are not sure how soon they will want to perform this surgery and this will not even be an option if she does not have the financial support to move forward and finish this hopefully life-changing surgery!
I desperately want Emily to be able to focus on her health and finally having relief from her never-ending pain! She deserves a chance at a "normal" life; one where it's actually possible to follow the dreams that she has for herself without having to put everything on hold because her body won't let her move forward. I heard once that if you don't have your health, you have nothing; while Emily has a lot of love, support, family and friends, etc., it is so hard for her to do anything else besides focus on this debilitating syndrome. Please, if you are willing and able to donate anything to helping Emily focus right now on the healing that she so desperately needs, my family and I would be forever grateful! Thank you for reading this and for your consideration.
Emily’s incision progress!