
Help Lorine through major surgical complications.
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Hello, thank you for coming to learn more about Lorine and Josh Trail and the struggle they have been through over the last year and a half.
In June 2022 Lorine Trail was entering her last year in her master's program to become a nurse practitioner when she was suddenly stricken with colonic inertia (her large intestine entirely stopped moving). Despite multiple admissions for this over her last year of school, she was able to graduate with a 3.72 GPA and be honored as part of Sigma Theta Tau, the national nursing honor's society.
(Lorine, just prior to surgery.)
On May 1st 2023, after finals but before graduation, Lorine had a major operation that was to fix this issue and allow her to lead a more normal life. The plan was to do a total colectomy, removing her entire diseased large intestine and reattach her healthy small intestine to her healthy rectum. She would be in surgery for 8 to 10 hours, in the hospital for about 6 days, and recover at home for a few weeks, then take boards and be on track to start her new job waiting for her a cardiac NP.
However, the surgery went horribly wrong, and Lorine and her family are still dealing with the lasting complications, and will be for some time. During surgery it was found that her large intestine was far more inflamed and diseased than expected, and during dissection her common bile duct was damaged. A biliary surgeon was brough in to rebuild it, leaving her with a t-tube drain in her bile duct, a general drain in her abdomen, a bile leak causing severe pain, and after 15 hours in surgery an ileostomy and a transfer to the ICU still intubated.
She remained in the hospital for an extremely difficult two weeks. During this time, she developed a pressure wound on her nose from the NG tube that was in place due to the paralyzed small bowel and lost thirty pounds. Due to the bile leak, as well as both incision for robotic and urgent open surgery, plus new ostomy, she was in severe pain and learning to care for an unexpected ostomy. It was a difficult and confusing time.
(On the way home, healing pressure wound visible on nose.)
Once Lorine got home, Lorine and Josh realized that her recovery would be significantly longer than expected. She had physically deconditioned significantly during her stay in the hospital, losing significant weight and muscle, and continued to do so upon returning home. She required biweekly infusions of 3 liters of LR to prevent dehydration and had multiple doctor appointments every week. Studying for and taking NP boards had to be delayed until she was physically well.
(Biweekly LR infusions to stave off dehydration.)
They also quickly realized that not only did they have to worry about medical bills, but wound care supplies, ostomy supplies, and nutritional supplements and hydration quickly added up. And now that Lorine was unable to work, their savings were starting to dwindle. Thankfully, they had enough for a few months, and no one expected Lorine to be out of work that long...
(Lot of ostomy and wound supplies).
(Even more supplies)
Six weeks later she was starting to feel better, and it was nearing time for the t-tube to be removed from her bile duct. The day it was removed she felt better than she had in months. Then 8 hours later she woke from a nap with a high fever, severe abdominal pain, and shaking chills. After rushing to the ER, it was found that she had biliary sepsis, extremely quickly, due to a stricture in her common hepatic duct. The t-tube had been keeping it open, and as soon as it was pulled the stricture closed, causing a life-threatening chain of events. Suddenly Lorine was in another procedure getting a stent placed in her hepatic duct, and being told she would have to have it dilated and replaced every two to 3 months for a year, and if that didn't fix it she would require another major surgery. And this stricture would have to be 100% fixed before they could consider reversing the stoma.
After that admission it took weeks before she had her strength up again, as she lost more weight and muscle mass. By this time in was late July and she was just taking boards. She passed the first time! Thankfully her job as a cardiac NP was still waiting for her. However, there were delays.... so by mid August still no income, and still medical bills, wound care supplies, ostomy supplies, and extra nutrition supplies every week. By this point savings were long gone and Lorine and Josh were living on credit.
Then a week ago a redo of the last admission: fever, pain, chills. Liver functions elevated, alkaline phos 702. Stent crimped, stricture tight. Emergency ERCP, another hospital stay. Another set back. More hospital bills. At this point paying for Cobra on top of everything else.
Lorine is home now, and on the mend. However, this week she and Josh were dealt a different devastating blow when she was told that her job that had been promised and they had been counting on starting this week was now postponed with no start date in sight. Now, while recovering from another emergency admission, she is also desperately trying to find a job.
She and Josh and now unsure how they will pay bills next month, let alone their medical bills. Please, consider donating anything you can to help, or even just share this so it will reach others. Any money raised will first go to paying for medical bills and supplies, then to regular bills while Lorine and Josh get back on their feet.
Thank you for reading, and for keeping them and their kids (Caity, 13 and Jonah, 11) in your thoughts and prayers).
Lorine, Josh, Caity, and Jonah, before this began. Thank you again.
Organizer
Lorine Trail
Organizer
Tucson, AZ