Tracey is facing unexpected medical expenses after fighting a serious hand infection. While she is (thankfully) out of the woods now, any bit of support will help as she gets her hand back in working order!

READ ON for more details...

THE HEALTH SCARE:

In May, my mom was hospitalized due to a seemingly-innocuous spot on her finger. It turns out that underneath this “blister” was an infection that had become cellulitis and was threatening to spread to the rest of her body.

Tracey has hand arthritis and is accustomed to some pain as she uses her hands for teaching clinicals, cooking, and so on. But when she noticed a small spot was particularly sore, she went to urgent care. They sent her home with oral antibiotics.

While taking the antibiotics, the inflammation spread up her knuckle and to her hand within a day or two. The hospital staff were shocked at how fast the infection had moved! Her pain level was 13 (out of 10) by the time she was admitted to hospital from the ER :(

After 8 days in hospital, an MRI, hand surgery #1, strong IV antibiotic infusions, and being sent home with a PIC line (further antibiotics), Tracey avoided sepsis and is - thankfully! - going strong.

Since then, she has been dealing with ongoing pain. Fingers have lots of nerve endings, and the abscess wore her bone and synovial (joint) fluid away. On July 10, she had hand surgery # 2. They placed a screw in her finger, which will stop that left middle knuckle from moving. While this will reduce her hand mobility, it will increase her quality of life!

Tracey in hospital:

Tracey's hand on July 11. The new "bionic finger" is under wraps, for now:

A GENERAL TRACEY UPDATE:

As a reward for reading that medical story, here is how the rest of her life is going! Goodness knows that she rarely posts much herself :)

Tracey completed her Doctorate in Nursing Practice in December 2024. We are SO proud of her for this major accomplishment. As someone that didn’t finish high school, this milestone was especially meaningful for her. “Dr. Neville” sure has a great ring to it!

She worked full-time while completing her Masters and Doctorate degrees. She is still living in Florida with her three little dogs and a cat and is a Professor of Nursing at Rasmussen College.

She sticks to her routines of work, prepping lectures at home, and maintaining the garden and house. She loves to ease her mind (and joints) by reading in her hot tub each evening. While she is too busy to sing in a chorus, she does love a YouTube "rabbit hole" of The Voice auditions. She is dreaming of narrowboating around the UK as her next adventure!

A better pic of Tracey, as she's probably miffed about that hospital screenshot ;)

THE FINANCES OF IT ALL:

Talking about money can be awkward, of course! But some financial context feels important as I tell this story.

Tracey is paying the mortgage on her house by herself. She took on doctoral student loans, never expecting this costly health scare. She works hard, but it is difficult to absorb such an expense, even with health insurance. Her medical bills total over 200 000 dollars before insurance (!!). Her costs after insurance are just over 6000 USD.

WHERE YOU COME IN:

My mum has met some amazing people in all the places she has lived. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably shared a laugh, a song, or a tough workday with her.

If her friends were to donate small amounts, we would easily hit our goal. Tracey would never ask for help herself. But I know we can leverage the community she has developed to help her out of this tough spot.

Thank you for reading this and for any support you can offer her.

Tracey defending her doctoral thesis <3