I am the mother-in-law to a wonderful, loving mother of two small children, ages 2 and 4 years, and a loving wife to Chris.

On November 29, 2024, Janie went into outpatient surgery to have a cervical and endometrial biopsy and ended up losing more blood than anticipated. She went septic and was told if they couldn’t stop the bleeding that she would need a hysterectomy, but thankfully that was not required after all. She needed two blood transfusions in the OR, which was her second trip in the OR during the same visit, then a third in recovery on Sunday.

Her labs started looking better and although she was in pain, she felt like she was on the mend and was discharged on the following Monday afternoon. She was very excited to go home to her husband and her babies.

On December 4, Janie woke up from intense abdominal pain and went back to the ER at 4 AM. After a CT scan and labs, it appeared she was having internal bleeding in her abdomen and some sort of infection. The CT scan, angiogram, and labs all came back showing no more active bleeding, but still unsure where the bleeding was coming from. She stayed overnight for monitoring and more labs the next day. All in all, Janie received three blood transfusions while in the hospital that weekend.

On December 7, Janie was readmitted back into the hospital as she had a fever and pain. The hospital was unable to pinpoint the type of infection that she had, and the ER doctor put her on sepsis watch. When she arrived at the hospital, all of her veins had collapsed. Twelve nurses and the ER doctor all tried to place IVs, some with ultrasound guidance, and they were still unsuccessful. They finally put an IV in her neck and started broad-spectrum IV antibiotics and fluids.

As of December 12, she is still in the hospital after her husband and her mom adamantly advocated on her behalf for the hospital to find out what was causing the infection and why before releasing her to go home. Janie has been getting worse day by day up to this point.

After trying for two days to get an IV in her veins, two technicians with ultrasounds were finally able to get a normal IV into her arm to put the contrast in for the CT scan. CT results showed blood clots in her stomach; three surgeons and an infectious disease doctor are working on her case now. They have taken her into surgery as of this moment to remove the blood clots in her abdomen. They will also be looking around laparoscopically for other blood sources and infections visible within her body. Infection control will take the clotted blood and culture to test.

Janie will remain in the hospital for an undetermined amount of time until they get the infection under control.

Chris has taken much unpaid time off work to advocate for and be by Janie’s side. Janie’s mom has been the primary caregiver of the children. In addition, Janie hasn’t been able to and will be unable to get back to her job for many weeks.

They need help to pay their mortgage, utility bills, hospital copays, food, medicine, additional childcare costs, etc. over the next couple of months at least.