Please help Sgt John Laulis - Spinal Cord injury

Hi, my name is Laura, I am raising money for my husband's medical bills and unexpected expenses!

Let me explain how our lives have been turned upside down, and my healthy husband is now paralyzed.

John is a very active and healthy 53yo and a SGT Deputy with the Sheriff's Department and a retired Military Veteran. Healthy- until his rapid progression to paralysis began around Sept 21st. He began complaining that he wasn't feeling well and started running a temperature. I was out of town until Friday, 9/23. When I got home that evening, John still wasn't feeling well, and when I checked his temperature, it was very high. I did my best to bring the temperature down. During this time, it was hard for him to roll over bc he had sharp pain behind his right shoulder blade. On Saturday, 9/24, he asked me to take him to the emergency room... HELLO, red flag!!! So we went to the ER on Saturday, and they ran some tests, gave him some stuff for the pain (that didn't work) and couldn't find anything wrong with him. They tested him for everything they could think of- COVID, FLU, Lymes, Legionella, etc. Lymes and Legionella would take a few days to come back, and since they couldn't find anything, they sent him home to wait for the results but said to alternate Tylenol and Ibuprofen every 3 hours to keep his temp down and follow up with his PCP on Monday. If his symptoms got any worse or he got a temp over 101, come back. His temp stayed down as long as we stuck to that regimen; if he missed one dose, his temp would go back up to 102. I called his PCP on Monday and explained what was going on to ensure he didn't want to see John. They said no, take him back to the ER, so back to the ER we went on 9/26 around 1300. Took us a while to get back to an ER room, but we finally did, and all the tests started again. This time, the sharp pain was under the right and left shoulder blades. Later that night, it wrapped around his abdomen. MRIs, CT Scans, X-rays, and bloodwork mostly all looked normal. A few things were off, like sodium and platelets were extremely low, so they decided to keep him. When the hospitalist came in to admit him, she did her exam on him, and when she lifted on his neck, John about jumped off the bed, making her think of meningitis. The only way to confirm meningitis was a lumbar puncture. At about 10:30 p.m. Monday, they came in to do a lumbar puncture and get some spinal fluid. John had to use the bathroom, so he was walked out to the restroom before his procedure- little did we know that would be the last time he walked normally again. The nurse and myself were asked to leave the room. Two doctors and my husband stayed in the room. It took one of the doctors three tries, but he finally got the fluid. John stood up just fine right after the procedure while they cleaned the sterile area up, and then he had to lay down flat for an hour. Once the hour of laying flat was up, they transferred him upstairs to his room. When we got to his room, he had to go to the bathroom. When John stood up, he said his legs felt like jello and were shaky, so the transport aid and I helped him to the bathroom. He couldn't urinate, so he came back and laid down. His RN, who would take care of him for the night, came in to get vitals and background information. Once she was almost done, he said he had to go to the bathroom again. I explained his legs were wobbly, probably from the pain meds (John never took any pain medication) and asked that he should not go alone. She helped him to the bathroom, and his legs were even worse! When she got him back to bed, she asked if this was like this before the lumbar puncture, and he said no. The nurse called the doctor, who had admitted him to the hospital, and informed the Dr. about the loss of strength and feeling in John's legs. The Dr. looked at him and scheduled him for another MRI the following afternoon. He had to wait 24 hours before getting that MRI with more contrast.... and this is where our nightmare started- John lost all feeling from his belly button down!

Here are some of the updates I posted on facebook:

Thank you to all of the friends, family, colleagues and strangers that have been praying for us… keep them coming!

I can’t reach out to everyone who has called or texted and we appreciate each and every call/text but I wanted to update everyone so I figured this is the easiest way.

John has been moved to ICU a little bit ago.

The information that we believe to be true at this moments is…

Primary - infection in the spinal cord area

Secondary - the infection has now cause Gillian Barre Syndrome.

That is what they believe is going on this time….

Up until this morning John was paralyzed from belly button down but now it has spread farther up his chest.

That is the information we have 9/29/2022 14:07

♥️♥️

Update on John Laulis

10/2/2022 at 15:00

He was transferred to Ruby yesterday afternoon for emergency surgery last night.

Dr said surgery went well. Although he was in an extreme amount of pain last night, he is resting comfortably today.

The opened him up to clean and relieve the pressure the lesion was putting on his spinal cord.

He has not regained feeling in his legs.

They were able to move him out of Neuro CCU to a step down floor.

Thank you for all of the calls, texts, messages and visits we truly appreciate them all!

*An infection got into his bloodstream and made its way to his spinal cord.

Oct 5, 2022 at 6:19pm

Rant: thank you insurance company for denying my paralyzed husbands ambulance transport to a rehabilitation facility.

They will be getting a call from me tomorrow!

Edit: he did get transferred to the rehab facility even though insurance denied it.

We said we would figure payment out.

It’s not like I can just load him up in my vehicle

Update on John Laulis

10/7/2022

Day 2 at rehab

They have him sitting up for a little bit at a time. They tried to have him sit in a wheelchair but it hurts the incision too much so they backed off of that.

His core and upper body strength is coming back and he can turn his upper body from one side to the other and just needs assistance with his legs.

They have been giving him the heparin shot in the legs bc he couldn’t feel them instead of going in him belly…. Well yesterday when they gave him the shot in his left leg her felt it and today when they gave him his shot in the right leg he felt it as well… I take that as a win and a step in the right direction.

He is up to having visitors so if you want to visit him message me and I will give you his room number. He is located at encompass rehab that’s located inside the UHC facility.

Please continue to pray for our family - God is good and we truly believe the prayers are working

Update on John Laulis

10/18/2022

Day 22 of not being able to use his legs/lower half of his body

First and foremost thank you for all the prayers, love and support!

Prayers are working!!!!

My husband is such a trooper - I can’t praise him enough for what he is going through and how his determination is pushing him forward ( I believe his stubbornness might be to his advantage this time )

Everyday he is going through hours of therapy and making progress each and everyday! So a week ago yesterday(Monday) he started to use a wheelchair and transfer from his bed to a wheelchair and has been rocking it. This past Saturday I was able to break him out for a few hours and together (mainly him) we had smooth transfers from wheelchair and visa versa.

Taking him out, the fresh air, beautiful day and socializing was just what the doctor ordered for both of us!

Yesterday (On his birthday) they got him upright on a piece of equipment for a few mins… ohh he loved it and said it felt good to be upright.

Last night when I took Rebbel to visit him (First time he has seen Rebbel for so long… and they both have missed each other!)for his birthday, he surprised me with being able to move his legs ever so slightly. It’s a start! Might be slight movement but it’s MOVEMENT that he is doing on his own!!!!

When I touch his legs, although he can’t tell it’s my hand he can feel a burning sensation or tingling which is sensation!!!

Today he made a trip to Ruby for a follow up and he got his staples out. The pain he felt getting them taken out he was not a fan of but he is a fan of not having them in his back anymore.

Keep the prayers and love coming bc it is working!

All of these things are little victories and proof we are headed in the right direction!

22 days into this… but on the road to recovery!

And here’s a picture of progress

Was NOT Gullian Barre

Was NOT Menengitis

Was NOT Lymes

Was NOT Legionella

I am asking for your help to help our family out. We are incurring unexpected expenses like:

specialized wheelchair

specialized toilet

shower chair

renovations to the house to accommodate a wheelchair (door frames are too small, so I have to cut some more oversized door frames so that he can get around our home.)

sliding board for his transfers

antibiotics that he will get via IV until Nov 12th

emergency surgery

ICU

CT scans

MRIs

blood tests

therapy

I am sure there are a million things I have forgotten about because I am so overwhelmed. We have a road ahead of us. Help in any way is very much appreciated- prayers, words of encouragement- anything. They have helped out so much already. Thank you.